Tag Archives: Chess Records

Etta James – Out On the Street, Again

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In light of another Etta James death hoax, I figured I’d pull out a side that I was sitting on for a while. The other day I got a message from Larry over at Funky 16 Corners asking if the Etta James death was true or not. I did some research, and fortunately for us, she was still alive. In fact, some internet scam group had set up a page to look like TMZ, ran the headline of James death, but had some malicious intent. I believe it was some kind of phishing scam, but whatever the case, we haven’t lost Etta yet. Here’s Etta James from 1974 on Chess Records with “Out On the Street, Again”.

From her early years in her local Baptist church in Los Angeles to Johnny Otis to the Chess years to heroin to modern times where she was snubbed at Obama’s inauguration to sing her rendition of the song “At Last” in favor of Beyonce, (where she claimed she’d whip her ass), Etta James has led a sordid and successful music career.

In fact, the last Etta James post I did, a duet with Sugar Pie Desanto “In the Basement”, is probably the most popular post over the years on FMF. From her early years in her local Baptist church in Los Angeles to Johnny Otis to the Chess years to heroin to modern times where she was snubbed at Obama’s inauguration to sing her rendition of the song “At Last” in favor of Beyonce, (where she claimed she’d whip her ass), Etta James has led a sordid and successful music career. A multiple Grammy winner and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Grammy and Rockabilly Halls of Fame respectively, James’ style has changed from Doo Wop to R & B to Soul, Jazz and Pop. A troubled life that included drug addiction, stints in rehab and psychiatric hospitals, and this past year a diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease as well as leukemia, there is no doubt that Etta James is one of our lifetime’s greatest female singers. While “In the Basement” was a dirty wall grinding after hours classic, “Out on the Streets, Again” visits Etta’s experimentation with a more gritty and raw, Blaxploitation soundtrack sound. This song could easily have been inserted in any one of many films, and Etta does her best to compete with singers like Betty Davis and the women alike who were challenging the male dominated Funk and Blaxploitation OST scene. Guys like Isaac Hayes, Willie Hutch, Marvin Gaye, etc. who really laid down a stone groove to these movies. James did have her problems in music and in life, but it was those exact problems that helped her raise the bar in her career. The struggle, like so many other musicians of balancing her music life with her personal life, the overlapping of tragedy, addiction, and trying to deal with the fame of Etta James helped shape her sound. It was stuff like this that led her to experiment with sounds, this time a raw funky groove. “Hey man, give me the dice…..let it roll.” This song mirrors her career at the time, betting it all on one roll, hoping to win and keep her head above water. This song was written by Gabriel Mekler, a song writer who had penned stuff for Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf and Janis Joplin. He also was the founder of Lizard Records, a great label for us 45 heads: Nolan Porter, Paul Humphrey and his Cool Aid Chemists, does that ring a bell? Mekler collaborated with James for two records, and they produced some great Funk, Soul, and Jazz grooves together. This is a perfect find here at FMF, a cheap 45 that packs a punch, and has some great history around it. Keep on swingin’ Etta, we’re all pulling for you. Keep Diggin’!

Download or Listen to Etta James – Out On the Street, Again from the Chess Records 45

PS: Larry over at Funky 16 Corners and I were on the same Etta wavelength. Check out his post here.

Etta James – All The Way Down

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Download or Listen to Etta James – All The Way Down from the Chess Records 45

About two or 3 Summers ago I bought a box of unsleeved 45′s at The Spot. It had hundreds of 45′s in it. It was the infamous box that I pulled out Mickey and the Soul Generation’s “Iron Leg” out of. I kept all the good 45′s. They sit in a bin, still unsleeved, with all the ones piled up I’m eventually gonna do something with. Today I decided to go through it. I pulled this very record out. It is a scorcher. This woman, for some reason, generates a lot of traffic to Flea Market Funk. At one time it had to do with Cadillac Records, but now it has more to do with the woman herself. That woman is Etta James. We close out the week with a great side from Chess Records in 1973, “All the Way Down”.

Jamesetta Hawkins, aka Etta James was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1938. Allegedly the offspring of her pool hustler father Minnesota Fats (or so claimed by her mother), James started singing at an early age. After starting out in the church, and relocating to San Francisco, she joined a female Doo Wop group. Discovered by Johnny Otis, the group eventually renamed the Peaches put out a side called “The Wallflower” (a reworking of a Hank Ballard tune) out on Modern Records in 1955. There was some success with the side which led to tours with Little Richard, Johnny “Guitar” Watson and Otis Redding. Her 50′s releases never made a large impact like “Wallflower”, but she release a good amount of singles none the less. James would go on to sign with Chess Records and it’s subsidiaries (Argo, Cadet), releasing sides such as “If I Can’t Have You” (with husband Harvey Fuqua), “My Dearest Darling”, and a song that still gets played at weddings from 93 til infinity: “At Last”. The 60′s proved fruitful for Etta, as she released a string of hits such as “Pushover”, “Pay Back”, “Loving You More Each Day”, and others. This decade would also be a dark period as well, her heroin addiction wasn’t a secret, and stays at a Psychiatric Hospital went until the end of the decade. As the 60′s came to a close and the 70′s started, James, while still making records (not so many hits), still was a great draw on the road. Her Muscle Shoals recorded record Tell Mama garnished some attention, but as a whole James kept busy recording on Chess until 1978 (even after the death of it’s founder). Later on in her carreer, James has recorded for Island, Elektra, collaborated with Def Jef on Delicious Vinyl, reunited with Jerry Wrexler, earned a Grammy, and has been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her road to success (with many bumps along the way including being arrested for drugs) has shaped her carreer, adding fuel to the fire that burns when she performs. She is a legend that is still going strong today.

“All The Way Down” could be a soundtrack to a Blaxploitation film. It’s horn work in the intro is superb. But wait, there’s more. You get the horn arrangements, the strings, lots of chucky wah-wah guitar, and we’ll thrown in the funky drums and bass line (in the pocket) for FREE! Recorded is Los Angeles, and apparently for some imaginary soundtrack to a film ( I’d like to think that), the record features work on keyboards from William D Smith, percussion from King Errisson, and bass from Chuck Rainey. This is one bad ass side from one bad ass woman. If you have any doubts that Etta James wasn’t living the life, making records, living hard, and doing it to the death, then this record should change your mind. I’ll be back after the weekend with more dusty goodness. I’ve gotten a few questions about my digging: do I still do it, and when will I publish more stories. The answer is yes and yes. I’m just DJing quite a bit, making some moves, and getting things done. I still dig every chance I get. Stay tuned. Keep Diggin’!