Etta James: Etta James Rocks the House [JACKPOT]

Why you'll love it

This remastered pressing adds "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby," "All I Could Do Is Cry" and "I Just Want to Make Love to You" to the original LP. It was her first live album, cut to catch her raw and fiery away from the studio.

This edition

• Remastered
• Bonus tracks
• Stereo mix

About the album

In 1963 Etta James was riding high on Argo with At Last! and The Second Time Around, lush records built around her ballads. The plan for the next one was to show the other Etta, the one who could shake the walls of a club, so the tapes rolled on September 27 and 28 at the New Era Club in Nashville, Tennessee.

Producer Ralph Bass, who also wrote the liner notes, kept things simple. The band features a young David T. Walker on guitar, Vonzell Cooper on organ and Garnell Cooper on tenor sax, with Marion Wright on bass and Freeman Brown and Richard Waters on drums. Her own "Something's Got a Hold on Me" opens the show in a gospel-charged rush, and from there she borrows from everywhere, from Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me to Do" and Ray Charles's "What'd I Say" to Berry Gordy's "Money (That's What I Want)," B.B. King's "Woke Up This Morning" and Jessie Hill's "Ooh Poo Pah Doo." "Sweet Little Angel" slows the room right down.

It stands among her finest live recordings, and it's the closest most of us will get to a Saturday night at the New Era. We've tried turning the shop lights down; it isn't quite the same.

Also at Kops: more Etta James on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On Argo / Jackpot (cat# JPR029), a reissue of the 1963 live album.