Customer Reviews

Best Of [Collectables]

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I bought this CD at the same time as Etta James earliest singles compilation (released by "Ace records" as "Miss Etta James: The Complete Modern and Kent recordings") and its interesting to compare two music legends from the time when they just started.This wonderful compilation have Esther Phillips long before her country/blues/standards/soul/disco incarnations and she was delighfful from the start - some says her voice was acquired taste but to me she was always excellent,recognisable and yes,there was more than hint of Dinah Washington in her singing style (I love Washington and dont mind this at all,it must have made her chuckle when she heard this little girl singing like her).Whats different between Etta James and than-Little Esther Phillips is that that James rocked while Phillips even at that age was closer to late-night plaintive blues (strange as it is to hear 16. year old singing that she likes her men the way she likes her whiskey,aged and mellow).There are some rockers here backed by The Dominoes but its blues sides that left the biggest impressions on me,she sounds so good on them that I'm surprised Ike Turner didnt snatch her from the craddle.(P.S. These are some of her earliest singles for "King" but even her earliest songs - really first singles - can be found on compilation of Savoy recordings when she recorded "Double Cross Blues" with The Robins at the age of 14!)