- Audio CD (20 July 1998)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Private Music
- ASIN: B000007SNA
- Other Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
143,854 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
- #79 in Music > Blues > Female Singers
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Etta James followed her two deeply jazzy mid-1990s albums of torch songs with Love's Been Rough on Me, a flirtation with Nashville writers. On Life, Love & the Blues, she returns to her blues and soul repertoire, enlivening even the hoariest of tunes ("Spoonful", a gender-flopped "Hoochie Coochie Gal") with her growl. The tinges of funk underpinning "Born Under a Bad Sign" are given full room to stretch on a cover of Sly Stone's "If You Want Me to Stay", and James nearly swipes "The Love You Save May Be Your Own", one of Joe Tex's great preaching ballads, from the master. --Rickey Wright
Product Description
Cd > Popular Music > JazzCD > POPULAR MUSIC > JAZZ
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
21 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Solid but not Spectacular
28 Mar 2003
Format:Audio CD
There are far worse ways to spend an hour than letting Etta James wail and croon her take on the blues and R&B numbers she appropriates on "Life, Loves, & the Blues." Still, one has to concede that her takes are not really all blues or all R&B but a hybrid propelled by lots of bluesy sounding guitar riffs and plenty of horns to fill out the songs. Her band and guests musicians cook up a thick gumbo that bubble along mostly in the background.
Solid throughout but never quite spectacular, this session is largely driven by formula, for neither Ms. James nor her band take many chances with the arrangements and delivery no such chestnuts as Spoonful. A few tracks, such as the overly long reworking of Marvin Gaye's Inner City Blues and Hoochie Coochie Gal, overstay their welcome.
On the other hand, Ms. James and her band sound vital and fresh on the title track, the one original number. And it's impossible not to tap along with the infectious energy of If You Want Me to Stay. Even if this recording does not win Ms. James many new fans, it should satisfy her core fans and make a few converts.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
I can't stop listening to this CD. It is SUPERB
30 April 1999
Format:Audio CD
Of every 10 blues CD's in buy, I usually hate 9 and like the tenth, simply due to the diversity of the music and artists. This Etta James album is a work of art and only came my way, due to a chance listening at a friends drunken party. Thankyou to that friend for playing it that night and to Etta for a truly magnificent album, where EVERY single track is listenable and 5 are truly awesome. Put this one in your shopping cart ahead of all others...... it is simply one of the very very best.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
This is the best female blues recording ever produced!
5 April 2002
Format:Audio CD
5 STARS IS NOT ENOUGH!! There is no greater blues recording by a female artist than this! I have played it over & over again and still, a year later, I listen to it every day. It is in my car, my wife has it it her car. I have it in both of my CD jukeboxs in my home stereo systems (bedroom and main room). Everyone who hears it wants to have it. I have an extensive Blues & Jazz collection and have been an avid blues fan since the early 60's. I recommend that you don't even think about buying another blues recording until you own this. People who don't enjoy or listen to the blues always ask what it is that I am playing. If I stop at a traffic light, pull into a parking lot or just drive down the road I constantly have to answer the same question. WHO IS THAT??? I turned a friend of mine onto this recording. She works nights in a convienience store and plays it continuously. She told me that the customers rave about the music. They stop in their tracks frequently and hang out listening until a song or the CD ends. This is the BEST. This is Etta James at her best. The recording is "Life, Love & The Blues". Simply stated, if you have LIFE and are still breathing, whether or not you know LOVE or the BLUES, you will be deeply moved by this recording.
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