Etta James' 1973 original on Chess was pretty great - see http://uzine.posterous.com/james-etta - but Esther Phillips' 1976 remake on Kudu (~ CTI) is the best take, imho! It's been reissued on cd by Sony in 2010 - see also http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2010/03/esther-phillips-capricorn-princess-to.html
Pt. 2 of http://uzine.posterous.com/im-etta-james … I.M. Etta James (1938-01-25 > 2012-01-20). Hey and do check Esther Phillips' 1976 version of "All the way down" here: http://uzine.posterous.com/esthers-version
RIP soul queen Etta James (73) who'd been taken into hospital, suffering from leukemia. Legendary for her recordings on Chess, she had recently released what had been announced as her last album on Verve Forecast: "The Dreamer" (2011-11-08) - before that she was on RCA Victor. On the reissue front, there's just been a box set on Hip-O Select: "Heart & Soul - A Retrospective" (2011-10), while Kent / Ace have equally launched a number of reissues with bonus tracks viz. "Call My Name" and "Losers Weepers". More on Etta in my next post!
= featurette by Matt Bowden of Dimmerswitch Productions, who's also working on a New Orleans gospel documentary together with Zinnia Films. \ Baltimore collector Ian Nagoski has his Fonotopia radio show on WLOY, runs his own Canary record label and has compiled the "Black Mirror: Reflections In Global Musics (1918-1955)" v/a cd for Dust-to-Digital (DTD10, 2007-11-20) and, more recently, the "To What Strange Place: The Music Of The Ottoman-American Diaspora 1916-1929" v/a 3cd for Tompkins Square (TSQ2608, 2011). [Tnx4tip GS - also for tipping "Don't Trust Your Neighbors - Early Albanian Traditional Songs And Improvisations, 1920s-1930s" on Hinter (2011)!]
http://soundcloud.com/towhatstrangeplace/zabelle-panosian-groung
Yes, the Big Lebowski classic … bùt do note: the original version is by Jerry Lee Lewis, off his "Soul My Way" lp (1967)! Mickey Newbury didn't release his own version of his song (a Jimi Hendrix favourite) until his 1968 debut "Harlequin Melodies". The First Edition's version (featuring Kenny Rogers) is from the same year. Bettye LaVette's wonderful cover version (1969) of "Just dropped in (to see what condition my condition was in)" can be found on Trikont's first "Dirty Laundry - The Soul Of Black Country" (US-0333, 2000) v/a comp … whilst Sharon Jones' version (with the Dap Kings) dates dates from 2002 or 2004. Carcass frontman Jeff Walker's cuntry metal version dates from 2006, Supergrass' "Condition" is off 1995's "Alright / Time" single, and die Haut's is off 1988's "Headless Body In Topless Bar" lp and features Nick Cave. Got that?
Madeline Bell, Alan Parker c.s. in 1976, for Parker's Themes International library label … just reissued on (Dutton) Vocalion (CDSML 8473, 2011). The sleeve's nicked off Millie Jackson's "It Hurts So Good" (Spring 1973), actually.
After 2004's "Marvel Of Marvin - The Heard Instinct - Essential Covers & Cookies" v/a comp on Harmless (HURT057), there's this year's "Jazz Loves Marvin Gaye" on Verve Jazzclub / Trends (Universal Germany). And see also: http://funky16corners.lunarpages.net/?p=2009
A 1974 stomper and four tracks off "Get Down With It: The Soul Sides 1963-67" (Kent CDKEND357, 2011-07), a compilation of some sixties solo recordings by the New Orleans drag queen and former front man of Huey 'Piano' Smith’s Clowns, including Marchan's 1967 remake of Smith's "Rockin' pneumonia" … "Funny style" is also featured on Kent's "The Fame Studio Story 1961-1973 Home Of The Muscle Shoals Sound" v/a 3cd, incidentally. More on that elsewhere.
