Search - Irma Thomas :: Time Is on My Side Plus

The best of early Irma Thomas - but check the rest!!!

Sasha | at sea...sailing somewhere | 10/31/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Early 1960's were most commercially visible times for then-young Irma Thomas whose voice I found irresistible,but as this compilation shows,she actually just got better and better though the years.From the start Thomas had a certain earthiness about her and while other,better-selling names used vocal histrionics as their trade-marks,Thomas sound like real person who cries and cracks jokes.Her original "Time Is On My Side" sounds so much better than later-covered "Rolling Stones" hit and there are many gems here to be found,but her early singles were just embrio of future Thomas: check "Look Up" on which Allen Toussaint ferocious piano in background actually eclipses the singer.As good as this compilation of her early music is,Irma Thomas singing showed much more depth throught the next 30 years and while she never got close to succes of "Breakaway" (1963.),her recent albums are real Irma Thomas at her artistic peak.Woman frozen in time on this CD was a young,fresh-voiced talented singer who had big hits back then but her voice sounds much much better today - and no hits anymore."

The Best of the Soul Queen of New Orleans

James Morris | Jackson Heights, NY United States | 11/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Irma Thomas, known in Louisiana as "the Soul Queen of New Orleans", has been one of my favorite singers for years. I have never introduced her music to anyone who didn't pronounce her a genius on the spot. Her voice is powerful and expressive, even more so in her later years. Yes, Irma's still around, thank you, and she continues to record prolifically, even though her career started over 45 years ago. Over the years, I have introduced her records to several R & B aficionados who never heard of her, and they are almost always amazed at how good she is and puzzled at how she's managed to escape their attention.



Her early Minit records have never been put into a "definitive" collection; as a result, there are many anthologies available on many different labels. I have at least three, and bought them all for the one or two tracks on each that the others failed to include. But this particular album is my favorite of her CD anthologies, since it contains the highest concentration of her very best songs. There are 22 tracks on this CD and not a clunker in the bunch.



It's difficult to fathom why she is not a household name (like my other favorite singer, Tracy Nelson - Tracy so loves Irma's early records that her own releases, 22 albums strong, have contained numerous covers of Irma's early material). Then again, I am long of the opinion that a lack of national popularity in a musical artist is frequently a sign of true genius, superior artistic integrity, or both. Considering some of the mediocre non-talents that have made it to superstardom, while others with real voices languish in obscurity - well, you know what I mean.



This particular collection includes many of Irma's early hits. She had over a dozen "top thirty" hits on the R & B charts between 1959-69, but sadly has been practically forgotten by most R & B fans, except in New Orleans, where she is a major local celebrity and a household name. I have never been introduced to anyone from the state of Louisiana without asking them, "Louisiana? Do you know Irma Thomas?" and the reply is always, "Irma? Everybody loves Irma!"



She is most remembered for introducing Time Is On My Side before the Rolling Stones did it. Her soulful version will make you forget theirs, maybe even if you're a die hard rock and roll lover. Her biggest hit was probably her self-penned autobiographical number I Wish Someone Would Care (which is NOT a love ballad - it's about her career) which I still hear on oldies stations from time to time. And then there was her first hit from 1959 (unfortunately not included here), You Can Have My Husband, But Please Don't Mess With My Man, which has my vote as the greatest song title ever devised.



Of her later stuff, I am particularly fond of her two first Rounder albums, The New Rules and The Way I Feel, but the woman never recorded a bad song in her life. You simply cannot go wrong with Irma.



This album contains many of the best of her classic hits. From her wonderful up-tempo material to her numerous heartbreaking ballads, you will have trouble deciding what she's better at - the slow stuff or the fast stuff. And that's mighty rare in any genre. I Done Got Over It, I Did My part, Somebody Told You, and Break-A-Way (a guaranteed finger-snapper) are some bouncy standout examples of her up-tempo material. All are included here, but my favorite may be Two Winters Long, with her wistful, delicate phrasing. As for her ballads, if Times Have Changed, Some Things You never Get Used To or I'm Gonna Cry Til My Tears Run Dry don't get to you, you have no soul. Or maybe you've just never been in love. Try Irma and you're guaranteed to fall in love (with her music).

"

The best of the best

Stephen Espinola | Brooklyn NY | 02/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is absolutely the first Irma Thomas collection I'd buy...I agree with the reviewer who says it has the highest concentration of great early songs.



The Razor and Tie "Soul Queen of New Orleans" set is very good, too (mastered very well by Steve Hoffman), and catches three greats this one misses ("Cry On," "Long After The Night Is All Over" and "Hittin' On Nothin'"), as well as some strange obscurities and historically interesting misfires unavailable elsewhere. (Irma attempting Motown??? etc)



BUT....this Kent collection has a superior mix of "Break-A-Way"...and a VERY mysterious and superior alternate version of "It's a Man's Woman's World." No matter what the notes claim, this is NOT Pts 1 & 2 of the single, but a different edit that contains a far more feminist and funny monologue than the single. (The actual side 1 of the single is on the Razor and Tie collection.)



This collection also contains the following super-essential songs missing from the Razor and Tie: "Baby Don't Look Down", "Wait Wait Wait", "Somebody Told You" "I Haven't Got Time To Cry", "Some Things You Never Get Used To", "Look Up (When Ever)", "(I Want a) True True Love", "Two Winters Long", "Gone",....and two or three others I don't care about so much. But...that's ELEVEN songs not on the Razor and Tie that you really, really need to hear.



I'd probably follow up these two collections with something containing the remainder of the 16 Allen Toussaint-produced Minit sides, though most of them are on one or the other of these collections. Unfortunately, the CD I have of those complete sides, "Ruler of Hearts", has incredibly bad sound. I'd hope that one of the other more recent collections has improved on it.



But again, start here."