Esther Phillips: The Best of Esther Phillips (1962-1970) CD Track Listing

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Esther Phillips The Best of Esther Phillips (1962-1970)
Although former child R&B star Esther Phillips really hit her mature peak in the '60s, commercially she had a hard time finding a niche. "Release Me," her uptown R&B version of a country song, made the pop Top Ten in 1962. But she only dented the charts occasionally over the course of the next decade, despite recording frequently in a number of styles, usually (but not always) for Atlantic. This two-CD, 40-song set is an excellent distillation of work that isn't well known even by R&B devotees, drawing from about half a dozen albums and numerous singles, mostly from Atlantic, but also including 45s she made for Roulette in 1969; about half of the songs on this two-fer, in fact, were never issued on an album. Phillips was to a degree damned by her versatility: too suave and refined to be classified as a straight soul singer, she takes on jazz, pop, show tunes, blues, the Beatles (her gender-morphed "And I Love Him" was a substantial hit), the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, and more. Like Etta James, the Columbia-era Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simone, she was one of those singers that fell between genre cracks: not quite soul, rock, R&B, jazz, pop, or blues, though elements of all those styles were present in her work. Actually, she wasn't quite as good as any of those above-mentioned legends, with a nasal, edgy style that won't be to everyone's taste, somewhat reminiscent (though not as impressive as) Nina Simone's. The smooth arrangements mine the wide territory between Dinah Washington and Dionne Warwick, though again, she wasn't as well-equipped for success with such an approach as those two were. All these caveats aside, if you enjoy the work of any of the reference points listed above, you'll most likely like Esther's work on these recordings as well; she's just not quite in the same Hall of Fame class
This jazz cd contains 18 tracks and runs 67min 35sec.
Freedb: 0b0fd512

Category

: Music

Tags

: music songs tracks jazz Jazz

1. Esther Phillips - When a Woman Loves a Man (02:54)
2. Esther Phillips - Try Me (02:54)
3. Esther Phillips - When Love Comes to the Human Race (03:06)
4. Esther Phillips - I'm Sorry (02:32)
5. Esther Phillips - Please Send Me Someone to Love (05:54)
6. Esther Phillips - Cry Me a River Blues (05:27)
7. Esther Phillips - I'm Getting 'long Alright (05:56)
8. Esther Phillips - It Could Happen to You (04:04)
9. Esther Phillips - Set Me Free (04:07)
10. Esther Phillips - Brand New Day (04:17)
11. Esther Phillips - Crazy Love (02:46)
12. Esther Phillips - All God Has Is Us (04:00)
13. Esther Phillips - Too Late to Worry Too Blue to Cry (02:54)
14. Esther Phillips - I'm in the Mood for Love (Moody's... (03:47)
15. Esther Phillips - Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You (02:48)
16. Esther Phillips - Sweet Dreams (03:18)
17. Esther Phillips - Nobody But You (02:50)
18. Esther Phillips - Too Much of a Man (To Be Tied Down) (03:51)