Robert Christgau's Music Criticism Blog - Expert Witness - MSN Music

Etta James

Great Voices Get Even More Precious When You Know They're Gone

By Xgau Feb 17, 2012 6:35AM

 

Etta James: The Dreamer (Verve Forecast)

A hard liver, she's sounded old for a while. This is different--weary, diminished. Yet the physical and even mental diminution enriches the music. It was cool for her long-passed youngblood homeboy Johnny Watson to claim he was "Too Tired," but it's cooler for James to remember that song half a century later and sing it against tempo as if she may not get all the way to 2:34. The "Surely someone will understand me" of Bobby Bland's failed crossover title tune resonates differently from a dying woman. It's also different for a ghetto woman born and raised to seize "Welcome to the Jungle" and tell Axl, "If you got the money we got your disease." And having eased right into Otis Redding's blissful "Champagne and Wine," she then transforms his bone-tired, just-off-the-road marriage proposal "Cigarettes and Coffee" into an evocation of old love so calm you believe she achieved some bliss of her own, and domestic bliss at that. A MINUS

 

Etta James: Matriarch of the Blues (Private Music '00)

Produced by the well-bred rhythm section of drummer Donto James and bassist Sametto James, this is half riskily irreverent rock and roll and half perilously imperious blues. Beyond an inconclusive Creedence cover, she co-owns every non-blues‑-"Miss You"! "Gotta Serve Somebody"! "Try a Little Tenderness"! Otis's chortling "Hawg for Ya"! Al's unremembered "Rhymes"! "Hound Dog," which counts aab or not! But neither the horns nor the B.B. homages will inspire the dutiful bluesboy to return to his long-abandoned O.V. Wright and Little Milton studies. From Big Mama Thornton to Shemekia Copeland, no woman has sung such material with more power. So maybe power isn't what it needs. Maybe it needs more irreverence. B PLUS

 

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280Comments
bradluen
Feb 20, 2012 8:06PM
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My 1969 listening has been short on revelations, but here's one: Nick Drake, disinclined as I am to revere etc., was a *brilliant* guitarist.
Nick Celender
Feb 20, 2012 8:04PM
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Love your descriptions of Brazil, Raul.  As someone who leaves Pittsburgh maybe 2-3x a year, it's definitely interesting.  Based solely on the pictures of Rio I've seen, it looks like a really incredible city.

Cam Patterson
Feb 20, 2012 7:59PM
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Richard-- The 1969 Hag album that's in my top 10 isn't any of those. In fact, it isn't really Hag: The Strangers: The Instrumental Sounds of Merle Haggard’s Strangers. It's their first (of several) instrumental albums, and this one is a doozy. Country-surf music. Roy Nichols!
JY49NY
Feb 20, 2012 7:57PM
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Same train different time really is terrific
Richard Cobeen
Feb 20, 2012 7:53PM
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Merle Haggard released five albums in 1969.  He could have easily combined them and released one album that would reach my top ten.  This would be my album:

Working Man's Blues
Hungry Eyes
Silver Wings
I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am
Okie From Muskogee
California Blues
I'm Bringing Home Good News
She Thinks I Still Care
Every Fool Has a Rainbow
Peach Picking Time in Georgia

Country albums only included 10 songs back those days, so I'm stopping there.  There were a couple more covers I could have included.  It may be heresy, but as a Parsons non-believer, I would rather listen to this than Gilded.

Cam Patterson
Feb 20, 2012 7:52PM
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Archers of Loaf reissues:

1. Icky Mettle-- Let's leave the liner notes aside and focus on the music. The reissue of Icky Mettle itself is earwax-clearing. They got so much crud out of the grooves that hearing it now is like Tom Hanks character must have felt at the buffet after he'd been rescued in Castaway. But the real ticket is the bonus disc: It's got the vs. the Greatest of All Time EP followed by 4 excellent singles in a row. From "Audiowhore" to "South Carolina" to "What Did You Expect?", there is treat after treat. The sound quality through the second set is strong and, key point, consistent. It's like getting a new AOL album after  all these years. Now throw in those liner notes and you've got a full meal.

2. Vee Vee-- The original cover has been lost to time, and while Vee Vee itself is still crazy good after all these years, there is really not a lot else here to recommend. The extra disc is a hodgepodge-- some singles, some radio mixes, some demos, like that. If you don't have this yet, definitely pick it up, but I can't recommend buying it twice.
Raul Roque
Feb 20, 2012 7:39PM
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I don't know what that consists of, but it sure sounds like a whole lotta fun. 

(unless it involves people falling from the sky - that's just dangerous)
Preferably, if not necessarily, girls.

Some days ago I heard that Brazil is one of the most popular countries with transsexuals, which has its sad side across prostitution, also popular with females, and here in São Paulo this thing grew quickly, but I just don't know yet if it came from stress and refuge. Really, São Paulo is a stressful city, a lot like New York City, but a little bit less urbanized (or the sense of it), I think. So there's many of them on some streets. Some estrategic parts of the city, mainly around richer grounds. I have a nonsensical friend (the one who took a picture of some girls in the rich restaurant) who said, with totally no embarrassment while we, at work, was having lunch, he has courage to pay/going out with a beautiful transsexual he used to see everyday after work when he was leaving for home. Nobody, male, would dare to say something like that between some male friends, but he said it so confidently and funnily that everyone laughed.

Carnaval in São Paulo is more like a personal party between people - who have money. Samba isn't much strong here, but Rio. You know, in Rio the people are hotter, the temperature is hotter, indeed. The people more friendly, talkative, spontaneous. São Paulo has buildings, people running out of time, silence and, surely, it must be easier to be lonely in São Paulo than Rio de Janeiro. There's a train I use to catch to go back home from work that I see the tiredness on the face of the people, almost everyone silent or sleeping. This is one of the most poor trains of São Paulo. The other one, which I go after that, is modern and passes through richer parts of the city. There, I can hear more people talking, smiling or planning something.

The Soccer World Cup will be in Brazil in 2014, and São Paulo will be one of the hosts of it, in a stadium that isn't yet constructed, but being build, in a poor zone of here, Itaquera. Well, it is a chaos when simply Brazil plays in some World Cup game outside our country, so I'm guessing here what will it turn out when the games were here. Our transport and airport systems are currently really troublesome. Education is far from ideal, and our governments receive much more than our teachers. It's a never-ending vicious circle. Of corruption, also. Brazil being a host is, at first glance, a glory, that can quickly become a shame. 2 years left, and counting.
Ñīçkÿ
Feb 20, 2012 7:29PM
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HOW WILL I BE ABLE TO VOTE WITH SO MANY STONES LEFT UNTURNED?
You could start with Let It Bleed. 

...

Ba-dun-cha!

Your post was blocked because it appears similar to a hundred other terrible music jokes we've heard. This is the case for sure. 
Marcus2010
Feb 20, 2012 7:26PM
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Hey, Greg Teta, i was pretty positive i knew what you meant, but I guess sarcasm can be hard to read online. That said, I stated clearly that I thought what was written was inappropriate (inexcusable nonsense) and I agreed the perpetrator should have been fired. I still got 4 thumbs down. I can only assume there are people here who have no problem with racial slurs as long as they are used in a (not) funny pun.
Hairy Irene (dzdzdz)
Feb 20, 2012 6:54PM
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Boys, bros, bees, etc. http://goo.gl/DcX6d

I feel really behind. I need to quit writing so much about the things I like. HOW WILL I BE ABLE TO VOTE WITH SO MANY STONES LEFT UNTURNED?
same thing backwards - patrick
Feb 20, 2012 6:36PM
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drinking and catching everyone

I don't know what that consists of, but it sure sounds like a whole lotta fun. 


(unless it involves people falling from the sky - that's just dangerous)

same thing backwards - patrick
Feb 20, 2012 6:35PM
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Patrick, is Liege and Leaf a 1970 release under the Pink Flag rules?

Yup. According to Wikipedia and discogs, it came out in Dec. 1969 in the UK and July 1970 in the US.

Not. Milo. Miles.
Feb 20, 2012 6:31PM
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2 Girls etc --- was insanely gross.

Exactly. "You like a song called 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'? Puke, man."


Nick Celender
Feb 20, 2012 6:25PM
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Most sources I've found (Interwebs) have said the forced stereo effect made the recordings sound "unnatural".  That word is a little harsh for me, but when you hear them in mono with everything center, it is much better (sometimes).  When the bass and drum are panned way to the right channel and vocals/harmonica/gui​tar to the left, it does sound kind of weird. 

 

2 Girls etc --- was insanely gross. 

 

It's kind of like work to compare these versions, but if Sgt. Pepper/Freewheelin' are any indication, it may be worth it.

Robert Christgau (Xgau)
Feb 20, 2012 6:17PM
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Teta: Maybe you got thumbs down because nobody could tell WTF you thought. I sure couldn't. And since I do--very much--think he should have been fired, I'm gonna go add a negative thumb myself.

Edit: Only for some reason I couldn't.


Not. Milo. Miles.
Feb 20, 2012 6:14PM
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I was quite surprised how striking and potent the Dylan mono mixes were because there had been relatively little comment about them over the years. Freewheelin' is indeed a standout.

In defense of the unevenness of the first two Stooges, you gotta have a reminder of how way, way off the charts it was to be into those albums, even back in 1972 when our little batch of sick puppies got into them. Really, it was like saying your favorite video was "2 Girls 1 Cup."

Closest I'm coming to 1969 is the Mr. Bongo label's respectful and welcome reissue of Tom Ze's 1968 debut Grande Liquidação (booklet includes complete lyrics but no translation -- boo! -- and nothing else -- double boo!). I wouldn't have had a clue how to enjoy it back then.
Greg Teta
Feb 20, 2012 5:55PM
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So I received many thumbs down because

1)you agree with me that the ESPN reporter should be fired

2)you disagree with me because the ESPN reporter shouldn't have been fired

3)you agree with me that the ESPN reporter should have been reprimanded but not fired

4)you agree with me that the ESPN reporter should have not been reprimanded or fired

5)you agree with the ESPN reporter that Jeremy Lin has "a chink in his armor"

6) you disagree with the ESPN reporter that Jeremy LIn has "a chink in his armor"

7)you disagree because political correctness is very annoying

8)you care alot because it's just wrong what the ESPN reporter said

 I'm a number 3 guy myself-but how could the reporter be so "brilliant"-as in stupid.

 

 

Raul Roque
Feb 20, 2012 5:38PM
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Hi there! I'm totally late and slightly back, listening to the two electronic indications Xgau did: the one of Skrillex and Clams Casino, and liking more the second, although I know Skrillex and some of his songs are good, but too noisy for now, even now being Carnaval here in Brazil. Well, I'm not going out, drinking and catching everyone like there's no tomorrow, but I've had (thankfully) a special night with a girl last friday. I know she probably wanna a more serious relationship, but I don't think I can exactly and, more importantly, sincerely afford it. So we should go out sometimes and seeing where will it get us. I just hope I don't feel in my skin Jens Lekman singing "I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You" and the sad consequences of it.

On a side note, I confess I tried to find Thomas Anderson album to download, but I couldn't, but I know where to buy it and I'm almost doing it. Man, sometimes I hate how these things works, because what costs 10 dollars in USA, it's the equivalent of 20/25 reais in Brazil. It's the double. I liked very much the previews and it sounds different, maybe more organic. Some days ago I was talking with one of my friends who called me - joking - communist just because I said the perfect thing would be a global-virtual service of music store which would sell for the same, especific and fair price every record around the world. It's the only way to end piracy, isn't it? One could argue it's monopoly, and I agree, but well, something is always standing-out, luckily we're different from another. It's all about fairness. We deeply lack it.
Nick Celender
Feb 20, 2012 5:32PM
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Speaking of OCD, I'm at this moment listening to the mono version of Sgt. Pepper for the first time and am up to Mr. Kite.  It's definitely an improvement, how much I can't say yet but the mix sounds better to me.  I know this is probably old news but I just now took the time to read about the differences.  Luckily by 1968 or so everything started to be stereo so I only in theory have ~10 years of albums to obsess over.  But I'm stopping at The Beatles and Dylan.  From most accounts the Stones mono/stereo aren't as big a deal as the mixes themselves.  The mono Freewheelin' is way, way better, and for John Wesley Harding and Blonde on Blonde I can't tell a difference.  So far that's all I've compared.
Richard Cobeen
Feb 20, 2012 5:23PM
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Patrick, is Liege and Leaf a 1970 release under the Pink Flag rules?
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about the blogger

Robert Christgau

Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.

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