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List Price: $6.99 | | Label: Sbme Special Mkts.
Salesrank: 13957
Released: August 4, 2009 |
| Our Price: $3.64 |
| Used Price: $3.64 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Life, Love & the Blues Track Listing:
1. Born Under a Bad Sign
2. I Want to Ta-Ta You Baby
3. Here I Am (Come and Take Me)
4. Running Out of Lies
5. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
6. Spoonful
7. Life, Love & the Blues
8. Hoochie Coochie Gal
9. Cheatin' in the Next Room
10. If You Want Me to Stay
11. Love You Save (May Be Your Own)
12. I'll Take Care of You
Editorial Review:
On Life, Love & the Blues, Etta James returns to her blues and soul repertoire, enlivening even the hoariest of tunes ("Spoonful," a gender-flopped "Hoochie Coochie Gal") with her growl. The tinges of funk underpinning "Born Under a Bad Sign" are given full room to stretch on a cover of Sly Stone's "If You Want Me to Stay," and James nearly swipes "The Love You Save May Be Your Own," one of Joe Tex's great preaching ballads, from the master. --Rickey Wright
Description of Life, Love & the Blues:
Etta James followed her two deeply jazzy mid-'90s albums of torch songs with Love's Been Rough on Me, a flirtation with Nashville writers. On Life, Love & the Blues, she returns to her blues and soul repertoire, enlivening even the hoariest of tunes ("Spoonful," a gender-flopped "Hoochie Coochie Gal") with her growl. The tinges of funk underpinning "Born Under a Bad Sign" are given full room to stretch on a cover of Sly Stone's "If You Want Me to Stay," and James nearly swipes "The Love You Save May Be Your Own," one of Joe Tex's great preaching ballads, from the master. --Rickey Wright
Life, Love & the Blues Reviews:
Etta James Is In The House- Again 
2009-12-16 - The name Etta James goes back in my memory to associations with my first listening to rock music on the old transistor radio in the late 1950's. At that time, I believe, her music was in the old doo wop tradition of the late 1950's, a music that I was fairly soon to dismiss out of hand as the `bubble gum' music that was prevalent in that period between the height of Elvis/Jerry Lee/Carl Perkins classic rock & rock and the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. That is where things were left until a dozen years ago or more when Etta `stole the show' at the Newport Folk Festival. Well, we live and learn.
The stand outs here include: the blues rocker "Born Under A Bad Sign," Willie Dixon's classic "Spoonful," and Etta's own version of the Dixon/Muddy Waters classic, "Hoochie Goochie Gal". Not her best album but solid enough.
Solid but not Spectacular 
2003-03-28 - There are far worse ways to spend an hour than letting Etta James wail and croon her take on the blues and R&B numbers she appropriates on "Life, Loves, & the Blues." Still, one has to concede that her takes are not really all blues or all R&B but a hybrid propelled by lots of bluesy sounding guitar riffs and plenty of horns to fill out the songs. Her band and guests musicians cook up a thick gumbo that bubble along mostly in the background.
Solid throughout but never quite spectacular, this session is largely driven by formula, for neither Ms. James nor her band take many chances with the arrangements and delivery no such chestnuts as Spoonful. A few tracks, such as the overly long reworking of Marvin Gaye's Inner City Blues and Hoochie Coochie Gal, overstay their welcome.
On the other hand, Ms. James and her band sound vital and fresh on the title track, the one original number. And it's impossible not to tap along with the infectious energy of If You Want Me to Stay. Even if this recording does not win Ms. James many new fans, it should satisfy her core fans and make a few converts.
Love it!! 
2002-05-02 - This is one of the best Etta CD's I own. As you can see by the other Etta fans here, you really need to check this one out. I had the honor of seeing Etta sing live, and listen to her sing "I Want to Ta Ta You Baby" on this CD brings me right back to that magical moment in time. What a fabulous artist she is!
This is the best female blues recording ever produced!
2002-04-05 - 5 STARS IS NOT ENOUGH!! There is no greater blues recording by a female artist than this! I have played it over & over again and still, a year later, I listen to it every day. It is in my car, my wife has it it her car. I have it in both of my CD jukeboxs in my home stereo systems (bedroom and main room). Everyone who hears it wants to have it. I have an extensive Blues & Jazz collection and have been an avid blues fan since the early 60's. I recommend that you don't even think about buying another blues recording until you own this. People who don't enjoy or listen to the blues always ask what it is that I am playing. If I stop at a traffic light, pull into a parking lot or just drive down the road I constantly have to answer the same question. WHO IS THAT??? I turned a friend of mine onto this recording. She works nights in a convienience store and plays it continuously. She told me that the customers rave about the music. They stop in their tracks frequently and hang out listening until a song or the CD ends. This is the BEST. This is Etta James at her best. The recording is "Life, Love & The Blues". Simply stated, if you have LIFE and are still breathing, whether or not you know LOVE or the BLUES, you will be deeply moved by this recording.
Contempory Blues Cd
2000-10-11 - Etta James is fantastic. She has made a great contempory Blues album while still retaining an authentic rootsy sound. Only someone with the experience and chops of the very talented lady could pull this off. She is backed by musicians equally talented and experienced on this Cd. Bobby Murray plays a wide variety of styles and always sounds tasteful. Great stuff, keep it up!
