Released August 21, 1968 Length 29:39 | Genre Soul, R&B, blues Producer Rick Hall | |
Recorded August 22 - December 6, 1967
FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama Label Cadet (original release)
MCA/Chess (re-release) | ||
Tell Mama is the eighth studio album by American singer Etta James. The album was released August 21, 1968 on Cadet Records and was produced by Rick Hall. Tell Mama was James's first album since 1963 to enter the Billboard 200 albums chart and contained her first Top 10 and 20 hits since 1964. It was also her second release for the Cadet record label.
Contents
Background
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." At Muscle Shoals, producers were able to mix her voice in order for it to sound stronger on previously-distorted high notes. 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.
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. 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. 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."
Critical reception
Allmusic critic Bill Dahl was pleased with the effort, stating it 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."
Track listing
- "Tell Mama" – (Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell) 2:20
- "I'd Rather Go Blind" – (Bill Foster, Ellington Jordan) 2:33
- "Watch Dog" – (Don Covay) 2:06
- "The Love of My Man" – (Ed Townsend) 2:37
- "I'm Gonna Take What He's Got" – (Covay) 2:32
- "The Same Rope" – (Leonard Caston, Jr., Lloyd Webster) 2:39
- "Security" – (Otis Redding) 2:44
- "Steal Away" – (Jimmy Hughes) 2:19
- "My Mother In-Law" – (George David, Lee Diamond) 2:20
- "Don't Lose Your Good Thing" – (Rick Hall, Spooner Oldham) 2:26
- "It Hurts Me So Much" – (Charles Chalmers) 2:34
- "Just a Little Bit" – (Rosco Gordon) 2:11
Personnel
Chart positions
Album – Billboard (North America)
Singles - Billboard (United States)