Customer Reviews
Fully recommended - By: Laurence Upton, 11 May 2008 
Etta James was with Chess for over fifteen years (appearing initially on their subsidiary labels Argo & Cadet) between 1960 & 1976, adapting & rolling with the times, trying out new ideas, never selling out, & making a heap of great blues & soul records. If squeezing fifteen years of material onto just three discs seems a tall order, imagine the absurdity of trying to compile The Best Of Etta James, which is a single CD of her Chess years. This box set represents far better value & is fully recommended, with just a couple of small caveats.
Firstly, there are too many mono mixes, even from the nineteen-seventies when stereo versions were prepared as a matter of course & are available elsewhere, & secondly, there is too little detailed documentation.
Finally, whilst I have no quarrel at all with the title, The Very Best Of Etta James, the subtitle The Chess Singles is just misleading. Some A-sides are absent, seven B-sides are included (just as well, as these include All I Could Do Was Cry, I Just Want To Make Love To You & I'd Rather Go Blind) & contrarily there are several album tracks & even a couple of outtakes that weren't released at the time at all. These include her brilliant version of Do Right Woman, Do Right Man recorded at Muscle Shoals & inexplicably leftin the can until 1993.
This collection would be well complemented by Miss Etta James - The Complete Kent And Modern Recordings, the period before she signed to Chess. It's worth remembering that when these days artists are expected to be at their peak after one single, singers like Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone & Etta James had been learning their craft for several years before becoming established, & Etta James' first single appearedin 1955.
What a voice! - By: Helen Ferry, 04 Oct 2005 
I bought this 3 disc compilation set over the single CD version, because it features all of the songs plus about 30 more for hardly any more money. Was it a good buy? You bet! Etta James is one of the best soul singers, especially if you like you soul a little bit on the bluesy side. 'At last' is worth the cost of the CD alone, but there are about 50 more great tracksin this set-you can't lose.
