Ruth Brown: Miss Rhythm (Greatest Hits And More) - Disc 1 of 2 CD Track Listing
Ruth Brown
Miss Rhythm (Greatest Hits And More) - Disc 1 of 2 (1989)
1989 Atlantic Recording Corporation\n\nOriginally Released November 21, 1989\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Before Aretha Franklin was exalted as the Queen of Soul, Ruth Brown was dubbed "Miss Rhythm" -- and with good reason. A gritty, aggressive belter with an impressive range and a powerhouse of a voice, Brown was the top female R&B singer of the early to mid-'50s, and would directly or indirectly have an influence on such greats as Etta James and LaVern Baker. A two-CD set ranging from Brown's early hits to engaging obscurities and rarities, Miss Rhythm offers a fine overview of her Atlantic years. Early hits like "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean," "Teardrops From My Eyes," "Mambo Baby," and "5-10-15 Hours" point to the fact that a lot of early R&B was essentially blues at a fast tempo. The set also reminds of early R&B's connection to jazz -- in fact, classics like 1949's "So Long" (her first single) and "Have a Good Time" are examples of first-class torch singing. There are numerous Brown albums that are well worth acquiring, but for those interested in exploring her early music for the first time, Miss Rhythm is an excellent place to start. ~ Alex Henderson\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nBy the time she left Atlantic Records in 1963, Ruth Brown could look back on 24 R&B hits dating back to her first, "So Long," in 1949. Raised in the church, her chops honed in Lucky Millinder's Big Band, she could deliver technique and attitude to burn, breaking hearts with smoky ballads and raising the roof with brash jump-blues numbers. Over the years her reedy, delicate voice evolved into a deep, full-bodied instrument, more expressive in its varied colors than it was early on, and she used it to devastating effect, especially on her double-entendre workouts ("Wild Wild Young Men"). The 40 tracks on this 2 CD set chart all the early, towering entries, as well as some interesting non-hits (among these a scintillating foray into gospel-based pop, "I Can See Everybody's Baby") and three previously unreleased cuts. In recent years Brown has delivered exemplary work on the Fantasy and Bullseye Blues labels, but Miss Rhythm is the rock the legend is built on. --David McGee \n\nFrom Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD\nThis exceptional two-CD set has forty songs recorded between 1949 and 1960 by a major R&B star: twenty-four hits, twelve obscurities, four previously unreleased tracks. Even at age twenty-two, when Brown's first hit, "Teardrops from My Eyes," brought her national prominence, she was an accomplished singer with a simon-pure feel for incipient rock 'n' roll. As the chronologically displayed material bears out, her voice becomes weightier and the "tear" at the end of lines more supercharged with accumulated life experience. Splitting hairs, maybe, but the jazz-oriented production of Atlantic's cofounder Herb Abramson on the earlier numbers seems to suit that semisophisticated voice even better than the R&B settings shaped years later by Jerry Wexler. Sessions heroes include pianist Harry Van Walls and guitarist Mickey Baker. --
Category
: Music
Tags
: music songs tracks blues Rock & Roll
- Ruth Brown - So Long (02:40)
- Ruth Brown - Hey Pretty Baby (Previously Unissued) (02:38)
- Ruth Brown - I'll Get Along Somehow (Part 1) (02:37)
- Ruth Brown - I'll Come Back Someday (03:09)
- Ruth Brown - Sentimental Journey (02:37)
- Ruth Brown - R. B. Blues (02:39)
- Ruth Brown - Teardrops From My Eyes (02:52)
- Ruth Brown - Standing On The Corner (03:13)
- Ruth Brown - I'll Wait For You (02:37)
- Ruth Brown - I Know (02:49)
- Ruth Brown - Don't Cry (Previously Unissued) (03:06)
- Ruth Brown - The Shrine Of St. Cecilia (Previously Unissued) (03:00)
- Ruth Brown - It's All For You (Previously Unissued) (02:45)
- Ruth Brown - Shine On (02:53)
- Ruth Brown - Be Anything (03:06)
- Ruth Brown - 5-10-15 Hours (03:14)
- Ruth Brown - Have A Good Time (03:18)
- Ruth Brown - Daddy Daddy (02:53)
- Ruth Brown - Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean (02:55)
- Ruth Brown - Wild Wild Young Men (02:28)
