Customer Reviews

Great reissue of a tremendous album - By: Docendo Discimus, 11 Jun 2005
More soul than blues, Etta James' "Tell Mama" originally came outin 1968 as a twelve-track LP. And here it isin its remastered 2001 incarnation, bolstered by no fewer than ten bonus tracks which earns the reissue the subtitle "The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions".
The sound is terrific, clear & realistic, as is the production by Rick Hall. And those who feel that Etta James' Chess recordings featured too many violins & not enough power need to pick up "Tell Mama" right away!

The original album was top-notchin its own right, featuring the all-time classic soul ballad "I'd Rather Go Blind", excellent covers of Ed Townsend's "I'm Gonna Take What He's Got", Otis Redding's "Security" & Jimmy Hughes' "Don't Lose Your Good Thing", & a couple of driving up-tempo numbers, most notably Don Covay's "Watch Dog" & the magnificent title track.
Etta James never sounded better than during these four 1967-1968 sessions, & the various musicians never set a foot (or a finger) wrong.

There really isn't a single weak track among the twelve songs originally issued. Even practically unknown songs like the swaggering "My Mother In Law" & the slow "It Hurts Me So Much", which have never been covered by anyone & don't appear on any of Etta James' compilation albums, are highly enjoyable, & Etta's rendition of "Just A Little Bit" (AKA "I Just Want A Little Bit") is a supremely funky slice of soul-blues.

And the bonus tracks aren't rejects by any means. They include "Almost Persuaded", "Misty", the rocking "You Took It", a very good interpretation of Sonny Bono's "I Got You Babe", & two soulful takes on "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", a song which has been interpreted by everybody from Aretha Franklin to the Flying Burrito Brothers.
I'm no big Etta James fan, actually, but this album is something special. I completely fell for it the first time I put it on, & to me "Tell Mama" is the best thing Etta James has ever made, one of the finest, most cohesive soul records of the late 60s.
You really ought to give it a listen.