Rating:
Genre:
Blues
Release Date: 03/17/2009
Buyer beware: this is not nearly "the very best of
Etta James"; the title of this addition to
Sony Legacy's
Playlist series is wildly misleading.
James cut her best sides for
Chess; that is the critical as well as the commercial view. In the late '90s and early part of the 21st century, she made a series of recordings for the
Private Music and
RCA imprints, and that's where the music on this 14-track set comes from -- including the version of
"At Last" tacked on at the end, which is a live version from
Burnin' Down the House. That is not to say that this music isn't worth hearing or isn't good; it's all quite good. One complaint is that her killer ballads album
Love's Been Rough on Me is underrepresented here, but that's life. This set should be considered an adjunct to
Etta James'
Chess sides. If one has her true greatest hits already, this is a wonderful counterpart to fill out the portrait of the artist, but it is not what it claims to be.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
;)
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