Losers Weepers (11 bonus tracks)

2011 has turned out to be a bumper year for fans of the American Soul legend Etta James. February saw the "Who's Blue" Kent Soul compilation give us 24 elusive tracks on Chess and Cadet Records spanning 1961 to 1976 - whilst 31 October saw the first official release on CD of "Call My Name" - a criminally forgotten Cadet Records LP from 1967. I've reviewed both of them. And now this - another exclusive! A first-time-on-CD outing for a rare vinyl LP from 1970 with copious amounts of bonus tracks relevant to the period. Here are the details...

UK released Monday 31 Oct 2011 (15 Nov USA) - Ace Records/Kent Soul CDKEND 361 breaks down as follows (74:57 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 11 are the Stereo LP "Losers Weepers" - released December 1970 in the USA on Cadet Records LPS-847

Track 12 is "The Love Of My Man" - a 1970 USA 7" single on Chess 2100 [A]
Tracks 13 to 17 are "Tighten Up Your Own Thing", "Quick Reaction And Satisfied", "Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing", "Sound Of Love" and "The Man I Love" are all from the album "Funk" - released January 1970 in the USA on Cadet Records LPS-847
Track 18 is "I Found A Love" - a 1972 USA 7" single on Chess 2125 [A]
Tracks 19 and 20 are "W.O.M.A.N." and "Tell It Like It Is" - are the A&B Sides of a 1972 USA 7" single on Chess 2128
Track 21 is "Never My Love" - a 1973 recording Previously Unreleased until the 2000 3CD set "The Chess Box"
Track 22 is "I Never Meant To Love Him" - a 1973 recording Previously Unreleased until the 1993 2CD set "The Essential Etta James"
[Note: Tracks 12, 14, 17 to 20 are MONO - all others are STEREO]

This CD release will allow fans to sequence almost all of the 7 x 7" singles released off and around the 2 x 1970 albums - "Losers Weepers" and "Funk":
1. Tighten Up Your Own Thing [13] b/w What Fools We Mortals Be [Not on here] on Cadet 5664 (1970)
2. Sound Of Love [16] b/w When I Stop Dreaming [Not on here] on Cadet 5671 (1970)
3. Losers Weepers [5] b/w Weepers [6] on Cadet 5676 (November 1970)
4. The Love Of My Man [12] b/w Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing [15] on Chess CH 2100 (1971)
5. I Think It's You [3] b/w Take Out Some Insurance [1] on Chess CH 2112 (1971)
6. I Found A Love [18] b/w Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing [15] on Chess CH 2125 (May 1972)
7. W.O.M.A.N. [19] b/w Tell It Like It Is [20] on Chess CH 2128 (1972)

The first thing that hits you is the GORGEOUS SOUND QUALITY. Remastered by DUNCAN COWELL at Sound Mastering in London - I've sung this engineer's praises before - but again - he's outdone himself here. There's amazing clarity on every song - clean Stereo separation too and a huge presence on instruments - especially the brass and percussion. It's a blast from start to finish. The 12-page colour booklet is crammed with photos of 7" singles (most of the titles listed above), Cash Box magazine adverts and reviews from December 1970 - as well as a superbly detailed set of liner notes by noted writer and Soul lover DENNIS GARVEY. Like it's predecessor ("Call My Name" on CDKEND 360) - this is a typically classy effort...

Highlights for me are the slow Soul of "I Think It's You" and the cover of the Jackie Edwards nugget "Look At The Rain". It's also cool to get 5 tracks off the rare "Funk" album - especially the zippy 'message' soul of "Tighten Up Your Own Thing" (lyrics above). The bluesy "Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing" is hardly 'funk', but it's a proper Soul gem. An organ-led slowy, it's a pleader written by Johnny Morrisette and hardly surprising it got used as a 45-side - twice. The cover of The Bee Gees "Sound Of Love" is the only real clunker for me - it feels a little forced and too melodramatic - a little too pop for Etta. But the non-album single "W.O.M.A.N." is fab sexy Soul - even in Mono. At seventy-five minutes, there are loads of goodies on here...plenty to satisfy.

To sum up - once again Ace Records have delivered on all fronts - keeping the great lady's recorded legacy alive for future generations to savour and enjoy. A job well done.

Throughout the great musical sixties, Etta James established herself as "The Queen Of Soul" and those who were lucky to see the grand Diva live knew this title was well-earned as Etta James always gave her passionate all in live concert performances...early seventies "Losers Weepers" started off the great singer in peak form, had music been in a better place at this time than the start of bland singer/songwriters, this sublime masterful collection of varied amazing performances would have yielded numerous huge hits and deserved "Grammy Awards". Listening to remarkable Duke Ellington "I've Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" glorious performance or stunning tour-de-force of evergreen "For All We Know", easy to see why decades later Etta James went on to great acclaim singing classic standards, finally winning long overdue "Grammy Awards" which should have happened here. Thankfully Kent Records in UK know how to put together classic masterworks as "Losers Weepers", crystal-clear sound is superb, informative booklet & incredible mix of bonus tracks a nice plus to a first rate release. Sadly Etta James is gone but with great releases as this her memorable works will be enjoyed and create legions of new fans for years to come...any lover of great singers will enjoy this tremendous work that becomes greater with each repeated listen...sublime music as good as it gets, RIP sweet soulful lady and will love you forever, thank you dear Etta for years of amazing performances and great music that will live on and on...

Contrary to previous reviews this Cd sounds Great and plays well.
Now that is out of the way this is a very consistent enjoyable cd and i'm very happy I ordered it. Next i'm getting "Call my name" Please keep the reissues of hard to find Etta James coming.
RIP Etta you Are deeply missed