Search - Etta James :: Let's Roll

Etta's back at the right moment

Gianmarco Manzione | Tampa, FL USA | 06/27/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When professor James Earle Hines took five-year-old gospel prodigy Jamesetta Hawkins under his wing at the Los Angeles Baptist church choir, the World Trade Center wouldn't even be conceived for nearly three decades, and it would be half a century before the towers came roaring unforgettably down. Even Johnny Otis wouldn't know Jamesetta's name for another nine years, when he became so enamored of the 14-year old's soon-to-be hit, "Roll With Me Henry," that he had her record the song with he and his band. The song topped 1955's R&B charts, Otis inverted her first name to create the stage presence that would come to be known as Etta James, and the rest is history.In the years since Ms. Hawkins blossomed into the self-poclaimed "Matriarch of the Blues," many epochs, both personal and national, have drifted in and out of James's life. Tirelessly recording her way out of a long bout with drug addiction, Etta James's musical persona underwent several incarnations. From 50's doo-wop to 60's soul to 70's rock, funk and disco, Etta James reemerged in 1988 with the soulful Seven Year Itch on Island records. A series of mixed albums for various labels followed, including Elektra's The Right Time, produced by Jerry Wexler in 1992. 2000's Matriarch of the Blues saw James returning to form and command with a snarling collection of R&B rockers and ballads, covering everyone from Ray Charles to the Rolling Stones. Among the album's standouts was an invigorated rendition of Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody," a preachy tune from Dylan's born again years that served as the perfect invitation for James to revisit the days of the L.A. Baptist church choir. The album foreshadowed things to come, with sons Danto and Sametto lending their hands to Etta's rediscovered disposition.
With the drum, bass and percussion work of Danto and Sametto at her side again, Etta James offers the self-produced Let's Roll, titled in tribute to 9/11 hero Todd Beamer, a passenger on flight 93 that day who, after issuing the final words "let's roll," reportedly brought the plane down before it reached some more disastrous destination. "Over the years, I've sung jazz and blues and pop but I'm really a rock and roller at heart," James says of her latest release. The woman's not kidding. As Let's Roll explodes into the opening "Somebody to Love," one of two Delbert McClinton tunes featured on the album, Etta James seems poised to replace Mick Jagger as the Rolling Stones' leading voice and tongue. Known for wild stage antics verging on the obscene during live performances, such a shift in gears would likely suit James just fine. Guitarists Bobby Murray and Josh Sklain of James's "Roots Band" sizzle throughout, rivaling Robert Quine and Fernando Saunders of Lou Reed's famously blistering Blue Mask days. Singeing through standout rockers like the opening and immediately catchy "Somebody to Love," the ruggedly bluesy "The Blues is My Business," and the rollicking, textured "Old Weakness," Murray and Sklain slip unexpectedly into searing jams, bursting out of nowhere on the atmospheric ballad, "On The 7th Day." "On the seventh day, God made the blues," James intones. Time and trouble have entrenched themselves into James's voice, deepening it into the kind of pathos-ridden holler that lends itself perfectly to the album's onslaught of emotionally beleaguered lyrics. It is a lot to say that James, after all this time and struggle, can still approach the triumph of her trademark "At Last," her monumental 1961 soul hit, but throughout "Let's Roll," James revisits themes of passion and consequence with the unmistakable sincerity borne of so many wounds. "Passion will burn, burn like gasoline," James sings in her robust, embattled croon on "Please, No More," the album's most wrenching ballad:We start a fight
Who knows what for
Who knows who's winning
Who's keeping score
You say it's alright
As you slam the door
All I can say isPlease, please no moreWhile James's penchant for balladry endures, age has also proven unsuccessful in subduing her capacity for ripping into a tune. The uproarious "Strongest Weakness" sounds like some early 80's Eurythmics power ballad, minus the weird hair and synthesizer. One of the album's many fine pieces of production, "Strongest Weakness" illustrates the artful minimalism that allows each song to speak for itself. With many artists returning to the roots of rock and blues these days-John Mellencamp's folkish Trouble No More, Van Morrison's R&B laden Down the Road, and Richard Thompson's abandonment of recent, slicker albums in favor of his new, stripped-bare Old Kit Bag, to name a few-it seems that Norah Jones's appealingly understated Come Away With Me was more of a barometer of the contemporary listener's appetite than a one-time fluke. Etta James's resurgence, then, comes at precisely the right moment. Let's Roll's unremittingly raw approach seems just the thing the people want. But while the aforementioned artists strain to capture those traditional sounds lurking vaguely beneath the surface of their musical achievements, Etta James is merely unleashing the ghosts that have inhabited her voice since the first day she stepped into that L.A. church choir. This is no "return" to roots; these ARE the roots, in all their simple luster."

If there were more women like Etta....

O. J. Dean | Texas, USA | 05/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Etta James has a LOT of great albums. This is one of them, and it shows how talented she is. This album is a fine example of her great bluesy singing and an awesome showcase for her backing band, too. Believe it,there is something here for everyone. No one has ever phrased a lyric like Etta. No one. You feel her pain, her pathos, her happiness, her despair and her loneliness. It is a completely joyous experience to listen to this woman sing. Others have greater range or greater voices. None have the inimitable gift that Etta James possesses, allowing you to understand a lyric and feel it deep down in your soul."

Etta & Sons are tight baby

Jerry N. Jones | Ft. Lauderdale | 05/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every Etta James release date and subsequent trip to the record store is a much anticipated event. The buzz on Etta's self-produced disc certainly doesn't disappoint as Etta and her sons (The Roots Band)cook on 'Let's Roll'. Kudos to Ms. James for her dedication to Todd Beamer in the liner notes for what has become a catch phrase for doing what you just have to do, and in Etta's case, she's just gotta rock and roll. Stellar song selection here with Gary Nicholson/Delbert McClinton/Kevin Bowe penned tunes. My dream bill marquee would be Ms. James and Delbert McClinton, both of which I've unfortunately never caught live. The playing is tight and cooks but never steps out to overpower Etta, tasty harmonica belts pepper the selections. On the standout cut, 'A Change Is Gonna Do Me Good' Etta and company quiet it down for an absolutely beautiful rendering, then cook it up again on the next track, 'Old Weakness'...oh my this is tasty stuff! The 8 minute slow-pump reading of a 50 year old N'awlins blues dittie is to be savored. Etta you are indeed my Queen! and the Queen of the Blues. Rock on girlfriend."