Etta James - The Complete Singles As and Bs 1955-62 (2017)

Etta James is widely regarded as one of the finest female blues, R&B and soul singers of the modern era, second only in some eyes to Aretha Franklin - Atlantic's Jerry Wexler called her the greatest of all modern blues singers. After a chequered early life, she was discovered in Los Angeles singing with a vocal group at the age of 16 by Johnny Otis, who signed her to Modern, and she scored an R&B No. 1 in 1955 with her debut recording The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry), a re-working of Hank Ballard's Work With Me, Annie, following it up with another Top 10 R&B hit Good Rockin' Daddy. After recording briefly for Modern subsidiary Kent, she signed to the Chess label, and began recording material that combined the intensity of R&B with the accessibility of pop and the polish of jazz, switching to the Chess sister label Argo in 1960, and hitting the pop and R&B charts with more than fifteen records between 1960 and '62, including Top 5 successes like All I Could Do Was Cry, My Dearest Darling, At Last, Trust In Me and Something's Got A Hold On Me, before aspects of her life began to unravel in subsequent years. This great-value 52-track 2-CD set comprises all her A & B sides during those first important years of her career, plus a bonus album version of Dance With Me Henry, so it's a comprehensive overview of her early work.

TRACKLIST

01. The Wallflower (Roll with Me Henry) 03:05
02. Hold Me Squeeze Me 02:30
03. Hey Henry 02:53
04. Be Mine 02:50
05. Good Rockin Daddy 02:27
06. Crazy Feeling 03:18
07. W-O-M-a-N 02:46
08. That's All 02:15
09. Number One 02:24
10. I'm a Fool 02:31
11. Tears of Joy 02:29
12. Shortin' Bread Rock 02:32
13. Tough Lover 02:10
14. Fools We Mortals Be 02:23
15. Good Lookin' 02:11
16. Then I'll Care 02:33
17. Market Place 02:56
18. The Pick-Up 02:22
19. By the Light of the Silvery Moon 02:13
20. Come What May 02:06
21. Sunshine of Love 02:26
22. Baby, Baby Every Night 02:24
23. I Hope You're Satisfied 03:04
24. If It Ain't One Thing 02:18
25. How Big a Fool 02:41
26. If I Can't Have You 02:45
27. My Heart Cries 02:34
28. Spoonful 02:49
29. It's a Crying Shame 02:53
30. All I Could Do Was Cry 02:56
31. Boy of My Dreams 02:23
32. My Dearest Darling 03:03
33. Tough Mary 02:26
34. At Last 03:02
35. I Just Want to Make Love to You 03:08
36. Trust in Me 03:00
37. Anything to Say You're Mine 02:36
38. Fool That I Am 02:58
39. Dream 02:26
40. Don't Cry, Baby 02:26
41. Sunday Kind of Love 03:17
42. It's Too Soon to Know 02:48
43. Seven Day Fool 03:02
44. Something's Got a Hold on Me 02:48
45. Waiting for Charlie to Come Home 02:07
46. Stop the Wedding 02:51
47. Street of Tears 02:34
48. Next Door to the Blues 02:48
49. Fools Rush In 02:00
50. How Do You Speak to an Angel 02:37
51. Would It Make Any Difference to You 02:39
52. Dance with Me Henry 02:21