At Last! [Remaster]

Performer: Etta James
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Etta James, Harvey Fuqua (vocals); Riley Hampton Orchestra. Producers: Leonard Chess, Phil Chess. Reissue producer: Andy McKaie. Originally released on Argo (4003). Includes liner notes by Andy McKaie. Digitally remastered by Erick Labson (MCA Music Media Studios, North Hollywood, California). When Etta James signed with Chess Records in 1960, the label decided to pair her raw, bluesy singing with a full backing band and lush orchestrations. AT LAST!, her Chess debut, shows the formula working to fine effect, as it highlights the singer's facility with different approaches including torchy balladry, jazz crooning, growling blues, and R&B shouting. She sounds equally at home on Willie Dixon stompers ("I Just Want To Make Love To You"), standards ("Stormy Weather"), and down-tempo soul workouts (the beautiful title track). James performs several duets with Moonglows vocalist (and then-boyfriend) Harvey Fuqua, including Dixon's "Spoonful," the duo's self-penned "My Heart Cries," and the chart-hit "If I Can't Have You." The emotionally wrenching "All I Could Do Is Cry" (the lyrics have the singer watching her beloved marry another), and soothing, romantic "Trust in Me" were hits on both the pop and R&B charts, assuring the singer's name recognition and paving the way for her future successes. AT LAST! is a fine set of R&B, blues, and jazz songs that showcase James's versatility and powerhouse pipes.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.124) - Ranked #116 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "[S]he hit the pop and R&B charts with three of the songs here and created a new vocal model: the crossover diva."

Though Californian belter Etta James is widely known as one of the greatest blues singers, famed for her '60s Chess recordings and '70s Muscle Shoals work, her story is bigger than that. She started out with the Johnny Otis band in the '50s as a hard-edged R&B singer of the kind whose records would've been called rock & roll if made by a white singer. The tireless James never stopped working, and by the '90s, she'd covered everything from jazz standards to Steppenwolf and CCR.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25