Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Release Me
2. Am I That Easy to Forget?
3. I've Forgotten More Than You'll Ever Know About Him
4. No Headstone on My Grave
5. Hello Walls
6. Mojo Hannah
7. I Saw Me
8. Double Crossing Blues - Esther Phillips, Jimmy Ricks
9. It's Too Soon to Know
10. Out of the Blue
11. Makin' Whoopee
12. Shangri-La
13. 'Tis Autumn
14. Moonglow/Theme from "Picnic"
15. And I Love Him
16. Some Things You Never Get Used To
17. Let Me Know When It's Over
18. I Could Have Told You So
19. Party's Over
20. As Tears Go By
21. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
22. Crazy He Calls Me

Disc 2:

1. When a Woman Loves a Man
2. Try Me
3. When Love Comes to the Human Race
4. I'm Sorry
5. Please Send Me Someone to Love
6. Cry Me a River Blues
7. I'm Getting 'Long Alright
8. It Could Happen to You
9. Set Me Free
10. Brand New Day
11. Crazy Love
12. All God Has Is Us
13. Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry
14. I'm in the Mood for Love (Moody's Mood for Love)
15. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You
16. Sweet Dreams
17. Nobody But You
18. Too Much of a Man (To Be Tied Down)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86899 in Music
• Released on: 1997-03-04
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com
Esther Phillips was 14 when she first began hitting the R&B charts; this collection of recordings for Lenox, Atlantic, and Roulette finds her trying to maintain her success in the face of changing trends. The stylistically diverse material and arrangements are held together by Phillips's powerful voice and vulnerably intuitive phrasing; among the highlights are smoky covers of Beatles and Stones ballads ("And I Love Him" and "As Tears Go By," respectively), remakes of Nashville hits ("Release Me," "Am I That Easy to Forget"), the sophisticated soul of "Some Things You Never Get Used To," and the jumping "Cry Me a River Blues," with Phillips free-associating verse after verse of the American songbook from Bessie Smith to Julie London. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Fascinating Overview of an Aimless Period
Does it even the score if Atlantic was as misguided and directionless with the great Esther Phillips as Columbia was with Aretha Franklin?

The earliest work on here was recorded for independent label Lenox records under the tutelage of Kenny Rogers' brother Leland Rogers (later responsible for the 13th Floor Elevators!). This material is an excellent mix of country/soul in the style popularized by Ray Charles. If, like me, the only version of "Release Me" you have ever heard is the sappy Engelbert Humperdinck take, Esther's offering will be a revelation. Not even the terminally square Anita Kerr Singers in the background can damage this fantastic performance. However, once Atlantic got its mitts on Ms. Phillips she was put to work on lounge/supper club things with overblown showbiz backings. She's good at this material, but this is unquestionably NOT what Esther Phillips is all about. While the person writing the annotations seems to think that she transformed Lennon/MacCartney's "And I Love Him" and Jagger/Richards' "As Tears Go By," her versions sound very ill at ease. They make me want to go back and listen to "Release Me" again.

Things improve dramatically with the second disc. There's a smoking sex-changed version of Percy Sledge's signature song ("When a Woman Loves a Man"), a set of timeless live cuts that finally unleash all the blues in Esther's voice, and a perfect update on the country/soul approach with Bob Dylan's "Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You." Ah, but by the time of this last track, Esther had moved to Roulette Records and been reunited with Lelan Rogers who obviously had not forgotten how to produce her. Along the way, Esther places her inimitable stamp on "Moody's Mood for Love" and a string of really decent late 1960's/early 1970's singles. After hearing this occasionally bewildering collection, you have to marvel at how well her musical career was taken in hand by Creed Taylor in the 1970s.

The annotations are great and include some very funny stories about the woman. The sound quality is up to Rhino's usual excellent standard.

What a discovery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to amazon.com I had ordered this beautiful CD thinking its just another obcure diva, but I can't stop playing it again and again, since this is realy awesome collection.She is like a little crazy sister of Dinah Washington, Nina Simone and Carmen McRae, possesed very strong, recognisable voice and a style that could be emoployed in very various musical settings.It is little painfull to listen how desperately her producers wanted to find right direction for her, because she was such a talent that couldn't be put in one category.I love her early country recordings and I think she was really great doing just that.But than comes the blues.And then disco.If she is still alive, who know what she could be up to?

A Great Collection From A Great Singer
Esther Phillips is for me one of the best singers of all time. This collection showcases her development as a singer as she matures into one of the truly great jazz/blues singer.

It is especially welcome for including some really hard to find tracks, especially from her 1970 Live album. The booklet is also really informative.

5 Stars are insufficient for this album