Tags
Language
Tags
May 2024
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31 1

Esther Phillips - Here's Esther...Are You Ready? (1979) & Good Black Is Hard To Crack (1981) [2011, Reissue]

Posted By: BlondStyle
Esther Phillips - Here's Esther...Are You Ready? (1979) & Good Black Is Hard To Crack (1981) [2011, Reissue]

Esther Phillips - Here's Esther…Are You Ready? (1979) & Good Black Is Hard To Crack (1981) [2011, Reissue]
R&B, Funk/Soul, Blues, Disco | EAC Rip | FLAC, Tracks+CUE+LOG+Scans (JPEG) | 01:16:55 | 548,02 Mb
Label: Soul Music.com (UK) | Cat.# SMCR2 5007 | Released: 2011-01-17 (1979/1981)
Esther Phillips - Here's Esther...Are You Ready? (1979) & Good Black Is Hard To Crack (1981) [2011, Reissue]

With few exceptions, greats who established themselves during soul's golden era were not well served by the disco era, when arrangements and material often poorly suited their abilities. Such was the case with the final two albums by Esther Phillips, Here's Esther...Are You Ready (1979) and Good Black Is Hard to Crack (1981), here combined onto one CD with historical liner notes. As producer Harvey Mason recalls in those notes, he and Phillips had "a mandate from Mercury to mostly do uptempo material" for Here's Esther...Are You Ready, resulting in an album dominated by disco dance tunes as that genre neared the end of its peak popularity. Phillips is still in fine voice, and not averse to injecting the material with a sly playfulness it doesn't always deserve, or which doesn't even always fit its mood. Covers of "Philadelphia Freedom" and "Our Day Will Come" were never going to challenge or redefine the originals, and while a couple ballads made for something a little more up her alley, they weren't strong enough to make a mark. Notable jazz musician Benny Golson took the production reins for Good Black Is Hard to Crack, and while it's not too much of a departure from the previous album, the settings are generally looser and a little more sympathetic. The songs aren't great, but Phillips sounds more at ease with at least some of them, and hits an acceptably engaging soul-jazz groove on "City Lights." There are still some formulaic disco tunes, though, and none of the tracks on this or its predecessor stand among Phillips' finer work, though she retained enough vocal skill to go out with some dignity.
~Review by Richie Unterberger

Esther Phillips - Here's Esther...Are You Ready? (1979) & Good Black Is Hard To Crack (1981) [2011, Reissue]


Release of these albums: "Here's Esther…Are You Ready?" (1979) [LP Mercury, Cat.# SRM-1-3769, USA] / "Good Black Is Hard To Crack" (1981) [LP Mercury, Cat.# SRM-1-4005, USA]
Release of this CD: 2011, January, 17 [CD Soul Music.Com (UK), Cat.# SMCR2 5007 / UPC: 5013929070738]
"Here's Esther…Are You Ready?" ℗ 1979 Phonogram, Inc.
"Good Black Is Hard To Crack" ℗ 1981 Phonogram, Inc.
This compilation ℗&© 2011 Soul Music.Com Records
Marketed and Distributed by Cherry Red Records Ltd.

Credits:

Alto Saxophone – Hank Crawford (tracks: 14 to 16)
Arranged By – Benjamin Wright (tracks: 1 to 8), Bill Meyers (tracks: 1 to 8), Charles C. Mims Jr. (tracks: 1 to 8), Kenny Mason (tracks: 1 to 8)
Backing Vocals – Alexandra Brown (tracks: 1 to 8), Julia Waters Tillman (tracks: 9, 10, 12 to 17), Marti McCall (tracks: 9, 10, 12 to 17), Maxine Waters Willard (tracks: 9, 10, 12 to 17), Obie Jessie (tracks: 1 to 8), Roy Galloway (tracks: 1 to 8), Stephanie Spruill (tracks: 1 to 8)
Backing Vocals, Arranged By [Vocals] – Sam Dees (tracks: 11)
Drums, Bongos – Melvin Webb (tracks: 9 to 17)
Electric Bass – Steve Kenoly (tracks: 9 to 17)
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Eric Daniels (tracks: 9 to 17)
Engineer – David Costell (tracks: 9 to 17)
Executive-Producer – Bobby Martin (tracks: 9 to 17), Esther Williams
Guitar – Gemi Taylor (tracks: 9 to 17), Greg Poree (tracks: 9 to 17), Wilton Rabb (tracks: 9 to 17)
Mastered By – Bernie Gruman (tracks: 9 to 17)
Producer, Arranged By, Backing Vocals – Harvey Mason (tracks: 1 to 8)
Producer, Synthesizer [Moog], Synthesizer [Oberheim OBX], Arranged By [Rhythm, Horn, Vocal And Synthesized Strings], Programmed By [Moog Synthesizer] – Benny Golson (tracks: 9 to 17)
Programmed By [Oberheim OBX] – Geoff Farr (tracks: 9 to 17)
Trombone – Garnet Brown (tracks: 9 to 17), George Bohannon (tracks: 9 to 17), Maurice Spears (tracks: 9 to 17), Thurman Green (tracks: 9 to 17)
Trumpet – Bobby Bryant (tracks: 9 to 17), Eugene "Snooky" Young (tracks: 9 to 17), Oscar Brashear (tracks: 9 to 17)


Tracklist:

"Here's Esther…Are You Ready?" (1979)

01. Mr. Melody (04:00)
(Chuck Jackson, Marvin Yancy)
02. Philadelphia Fredom (05:35)
(Bernie Taupin, Elton John)
03. I Hope You'll Be Very Unhappy Without Me (03:54)
(Bill LaBounty, Jay F. Senter)
04. Love Makes A Woman (05:25)
(Carl Davis, Eugene Record, Gerald Sims, William Sanders)
05. Out Day Will Come (05:22)
(Bob Hilliard, Mort Garson)
06. Bedtime Stories (03:43)
(Jonah Ellis)
07. Oo Oop Oo Oop (05:28)
(Alvin Fields, Michael Zager)
08. I'll Close My Eyes (04:00)
(Eunice Burgess, James Burgess, Red Rowe)

"Good Black Is Hard To Crack" (1981)

09. Crazy (03:51)
(Willie Nelson)
10. Reaching Out For Love With Love (03:43)
(Alvin Fields, Cissy Houston, Doug Frank)
11. Cry To Me (04:51)
(David Cameron, Sam Dees)
12. Pull Yourself Together (04:17)
(Shedrack Anderson)
13. Woman Enough (03:38)
(Jim Lang)
14. You Can't See Thunder (04:06)
(Barry Richards, Bobby Hart)
15. We've Got A Good Thing Going (05:09)
(Berry Gordy Jr, Deke Richards, Fonze Mizell, Freddie Perren)
16. City Lights (04:18)
(Joel Webster, Mabelle John)
17. Changin' (05:37)
(James McClelland, Jerry Peters, Lynn Mack)

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 20. April 2011, 14:23

Esther Phillips / Here's Esther Are You Ready - Good Black Is Hard To Crack

Used drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7590S Adapter: 2 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%x" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%v" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=%v" -T "COMMENT=EAC Secure Mode, Test & Copy, AccurateRip, FLAC -8" %s


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:59.47 | 0 | 17971
2 | 3:59.47 | 5:34.48 | 17972 | 43069
3 | 9:34.20 | 3:53.44 | 43070 | 60588
4 | 13:27.64 | 5:24.53 | 60589 | 84941
5 | 18:52.42 | 5:21.62 | 84942 | 109078
6 | 24:14.29 | 3:42.61 | 109079 | 125789
7 | 27:57.15 | 5:27.57 | 125790 | 150371
8 | 33:24.72 | 3:59.47 | 150372 | 168343
9 | 37:24.44 | 3:51.34 | 168344 | 185702
10 | 41:16.03 | 3:43.21 | 185703 | 202448
11 | 44:59.24 | 4:50.39 | 202449 | 224237
12 | 49:49.63 | 4:16.47 | 224238 | 243484
13 | 54:06.35 | 3:37.53 | 243485 | 259812
14 | 57:44.13 | 4:06.16 | 259813 | 278278
15 | 61:50.29 | 5:09.35 | 278279 | 301488
16 | 66:59.64 | 4:18.08 | 301489 | 320846
17 | 71:17.72 | 5:37.11 | 320847 | 346132


Track 1

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\01 - Mr Melody.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 8EDB549E
Copy CRC 8EDB549E
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [327F8972]
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\02 - Philadelphia Freedom.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 3.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 47FBFAAB
Copy CRC 47FBFAAB
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [3F43E399]
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\03 - I Hope You' Ll Be Very Unhappy Without Me.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 3.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 82CD96AD
Copy CRC 82CD96AD
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C178038F]
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\04 - Love Makes A Woman.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 5C9E6CE5
Copy CRC 5C9E6CE5
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [2B455FFC]
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\05 - Our Day Will Come.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC EC69ABA8
Copy CRC EC69ABA8
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [D28BAECC]
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\06 - Bedtime Stories.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 3.5 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 79A5D2E8
Copy CRC 79A5D2E8
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [23E49934]
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\07 - Oo Oop Oo Oop.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.1 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC BC0FA728
Copy CRC BC0FA728
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9D99EB07]
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\08 - I'll Close My Eyes.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 5BA48589
Copy CRC 5BA48589
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C8BD561C]
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\09 - Crazy.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC FDFE1DB1
Copy CRC FDFE1DB1
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [6D964F86]
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\10 - Reaching Out For Love With Love.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C5D008D6
Copy CRC C5D008D6
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [3EF87C04]
Copy OK

Track 11

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\11 - Cry To Me.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 804B9886
Copy CRC 804B9886
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [61EAA792]
Copy OK

Track 12

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\12 - Pull Yourself Together.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 6DBE3F2F
Copy CRC 6DBE3F2F
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [D7E98F75]
Copy OK

Track 13

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\13 - Woman Enough.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 189AFC4B
Copy CRC 189AFC4B
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [941655DD]
Copy OK

Track 14

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\14 - You Can't See Thunder.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 80E9A800
Copy CRC 80E9A800
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [0E99459E]
Copy OK

Track 15

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\15 - We've Got A Good Thing Going.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.1 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 30BC7DE6
Copy CRC 30BC7DE6
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [DF767D01]
Copy OK

Track 16

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\16 - City Lights.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 6.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A717B968
Copy CRC A717B968
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [5332B757]
Copy OK

Track 17

Filename C:\Addis Gugsa Is Ethiopian\17 - Changin'.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 6.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3EB72A20
Copy CRC 3EB72A20
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [D215649B]
Copy OK


All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

==== Log checksum 20D19F74B1A590596D4E1EBDBAB0E76A332C45CF7C7EE4899DF1457C9584BAFF ====

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Esther Phillips / Here's Esther Are You Ready & Good Black Is Hard To Crack
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR12 0.00 dB -14.95 dB 4:00 01-Mr Melody
DR13 0.00 dB -15.41 dB 5:35 02-Philadelphia Freedom
DR11 0.00 dB -14.59 dB 3:54 03-I Hope You' Ll Be Very Unhappy Without Me
DR11 0.00 dB -14.46 dB 5:25 04-Love Makes A Woman
DR12 0.00 dB -13.76 dB 5:22 05-Our Day Will Come
DR11 0.00 dB -14.07 dB 3:43 06-Bedtime Stories
DR13 0.00 dB -15.08 dB 5:28 07-Oo Oop Oo Oop
DR12 0.00 dB -14.48 dB 4:00 08-I'll Close My Eyes
DR11 0.00 dB -13.68 dB 3:51 09-Crazy
DR11 0.00 dB -12.86 dB 3:43 10-Reaching Out For Love With Love
DR11 0.00 dB -13.55 dB 4:51 11-Cry To Me
DR11 0.00 dB -13.73 dB 4:17 12-Pull Yourself Together
DR12 0.00 dB -14.28 dB 3:38 13-Woman Enough
DR12 0.00 dB -13.63 dB 4:06 14-You Can't See Thunder
DR11 0.00 dB -12.75 dB 5:09 15-We've Got A Good Thing Going
DR11 0.00 dB -13.79 dB 4:18 16-City Lights
DR11 0.00 dB -13.10 dB 5:37 17-Changin'
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 17
Official DR value: DR11

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 861 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

Thanks to Addis

See also:

♫~Welcome To My Blog~♫

password: BlondStyle