Tell Mama | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 1968 | |||
Recorded | August 22 - December 6, 1967 FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama | |||
Genre | Soul, R&B, blues | |||
Length | 29:39 | |||
Label | Cadet (original release) MCA/Chess (re-release) | |||
Producer | Rick Hall | |||
Etta James chronology | ||||
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Singles from Tell Mama | ||||
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Tell Mama is the seventh studio album by American singer Etta James. Her second album release for Cadet Records, produced by Rick Hall at his FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, it was James's first album since 1964 to enter the Billboard 200 chart. It contained her first Top 10 R&B hits since 1964 – the title cut and "Security". The "Tell Mama" single gave James her all-time highest Billboard Hot 100 position, reaching number 23.
Tell Mama was recorded at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, on the encouragement of Leonard Chess, who successfully convinced James to record the album there. Allmusic reviewer, Bill Dahl praised the album's production, called its sessions, "skin-tight." [1] At Muscle Shoals, producers were able to mix her voice in order for it to sound stronger on previously-distorted high notes. [2] The album's title track became one of the biggest hits of James's career, becoming her first Top 10 hit in four years and her highest-peaking single on the Billboard Pop chart, reaching #23. It has since been considered one of her all-time classics. The album's cover of Otis Redding's "Security" also became a major hit, reaching the Top 20 on the R&B singles chart, while also making the Pop Top 40. [3] [4]
Besides a cover version of Redding's composition, other cover versions included Jimmy Hughes's "Don't Lose Your Good Thing" and a pair of copyrights by Don Covay. [1] It also featured the title track's B-side, "I'd Rather Go Blind," which was originally not a hit, however it later became one of James's signature songs. [4] In the 1990s, Tell Mama was remastered and re-released on MCA/Chess. The album was remastered by Erick Labson at Universal Mastering Studios-West in North Hollywood, California. A compilation version of the album was later released and included ten additional bonus tracks, including cover versions of David Houston's, "Almost Persuaded" and Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe." [2]
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Bill Dahl felt the album to be "one of her best and most soul-searing Cadet albums." Dahl called the title track "relentlessly driving" and "I'd Rather Go Blind," "a moving soul ballad." He also said that the album's producers, "really did themselves proud behind Miss Peaches." [5]
In 2000 it was voted number 667 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums . [6]
James' cover of "I Got You Babe" was featured in a 2021 TV commercial for Walmart. [7]
Side one
Side two
Bonus tracks
Album – Billboard (North America)
Year | Chart | Position [8] |
---|---|---|
1968 | R&B Albums | 21 |
Pop Albums | 82 |
Singles - Billboard (United States)
Year | Single | Chart | Position [9] |
---|---|---|---|
1967 | "Tell Mama" | R&B Singles | 10 |
Pop Singles | 23 | ||
"Security" | R&B Singles | 11 | |
Pop Singles | 35 |
Jamesetta Hawkins, known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz, and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.
Clarence George Carter is an American blues singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. His most successful songs include "Slip Away", "Back Door Santa", "Patches" (1970) and "Strokin" (1986).
Donald James Randolph, better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s.
"At Last" is a song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical film Sun Valley Serenade (1941). Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded the tune several times, with a 1942 version reaching number two on the US Billboard pop music chart.
"I Got You Babe" is a song performed by Sonny & Cher and written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from their debut studio album Look at Us. In August 1965, their single spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States where it sold more than 1 million copies and was certified Gold. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and Canada.
At Last! is the debut studio album by American blues and soul artist Etta James. Released on Argo Records in November 1960 the album was produced by Phil and Leonard Chess. At Last! also rose to no. 12 upon the Billboard Top Catalog Albums chart.
"I'd Rather Go Blind" is a blues song written by Ellington Jordan and co-credited to Billy Foster and Etta James. It was first recorded by Etta James in 1967, released in 1967, and has subsequently become regarded as a blues and soul classic.
FAME Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of the American music industry, FAME has produced many hit records and was instrumental in what came to be known as the Muscle Shoals sound. It was started in the 1950s by Rick Hall, known as the Founder of Muscle Shoals Music. The studio, owned by Hall until his death in 2018, is still actively operating. It was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 15, 1997, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The 2013 award-winning documentary Muscle Shoals features Rick Hall, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and the Muscle Shoals sound originally popularized by FAME.
Barry Edward Beckett was an American keyboardist, session musician, record producer, and studio founder. He is best known for his work with David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Roger Hawkins, his bandmates in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which performed with numerous notable artists on their studio albums and helped define the "Muscle Shoals sound".
The discography for the American singer Etta James consists of 29 studio albums, 3 live albums, and 12 compilations. She has also issued 58 singles, one of which, "The Wallflower ," reached number 1 on the Rhythm and Blues Records chart in 1955.
Etta James Sings for Lovers is the fourth studio album by American Blues artist, Etta James. The album was released on Argo Records in 1962 and was produced by Phil and Leonard Chess. The arrangements were by Al Poskonka and Riley Hampton.
Etta James Top Ten is the first compilation album by American rhythm and blues artist, Etta James. The album was released on Argo Records in 1963 and was produced by Leonard Chess. The album peaked at number 117 on the Billboard 200 in 1963, her first album to make that chart since 1961.
Call My Name is the sixth studio album by American blues artist, Etta James. The album was produced by Leonard Chess and released on Cadet Records in 1967.
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Right On is the tenth studio album release by R&B and soul singer Wilson Pickett released in 1970. Hit covers of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and The Archies' "Sugar Sugar", as well as the Pickett original "She Said Yes" came from these sessions. The album, however, had dismal sales, staying in the bottom parts of the Billboard 200.
"Baby What You Want Me to Do" is a blues song that was written and recorded by Jimmy Reed in 1959. It was a record chart hit for Reed and, as with several of his songs, it has appeal across popular music genres, with numerous recordings by a variety of musical artists.
"Tell Mama" is a song written by Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel and Wilbur Terrell. It is best known in its 1967 recording by Etta James. An earlier version of the song was first recorded in 1966 by Carter, as "Tell Daddy".
Hey Jude is the ninth studio album by soul singer Wilson Pickett, recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and released in 1969. The title track, a cover of The Beatles song of the same name, was a success, peaking at #13 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and #23 on the top 200. Also released as a single was a cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", which was less successful.
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