Esther Phillips: The Best Of Esther Phillips (1962 - 1970)

 

Esther Phillips (born Esther Mae Washington; December 23, 1935 – August 7, 1984) was an

American singer, best known for her R&B vocals. Esther Phillips was perhaps too versatile for her own good, at least commercially speaking; while she was adept at singing blues, early R&B, gritty soul, jazz, straight-up pop, disco, and even country, her record companies often lacked a clear idea of how to market her, which prevented her from reaching as wide an audience as she otherwise might have.
                      

She was an influence on many other artists including Aretha Franklin. She was already a mature singer

at age fourteen, and won the amateur talent contest in 1949 at the Barrelhouse Club owned by Johnny Otis. Otis was so impressed he billed her as 'Little Esther' and added her to his traveling revue, the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan. Her first hit record was "Double Crossing Blues" (#1 R+B), recorded in 1950 for Savoy Records.
                     

An acquired taste for some, Phillips' voice had an idiosyncratic, nasal quality that often earned

comparisons to Nina Simone, although she herself counted Dinah Washington as a chief inspiration. Phillips' career began when she was very young and by some accounts, she was already battling drug addiction during her teenage years; whenever her problems took root, the lasting impact on her health claimed her life before the age of 50. 
                    

She rose to prominence in 1950, scoring several major R&B hits including "Double Crossing Blues"

and "Mistrustin' Blues" under the moniker "Little Esther." In the 1960s, she achieved chart success with the country song "Release Me" and recorded in the pop, jazz, blues and soul genres. Phillips received four Grammy nominations, including for her album From a Whisper to a Scream in 1973, as well as for the album that featured her disco recording of "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes," which was a major hit in 1975. She died from liver and kidney failure due to long-term drug abuse in 1984. 
                      

Although former child R&B star Esther Phillips really hit her mature peak in the '60s, commercially she had a hard time finding a niche. "Release Me," her uptown R&B version of a country song, made the

pop Top Ten in 1962. But she only dented the charts occasionally over the course of the next decade, despite recording frequently in a number of styles, usually (but not always) for Atlantic. This two-CD, 40-song set is an excellent distillation of work that isn't well known even by R&B devotees, drawing from about half a dozen albums and numerous singles, mostly from Atlantic, but also including 45s she made for Roulette in 1969. 
                        

About half of the songs on this collection, in fact, were never issued on an album. Phillips was to a degree damned by her versatility: too suave and refined to be classified as a straight soul singer, she

takes on jazz, pop, show tunes, blues, the Beatles (her gender-morphed "And I Love Him" was a substantial hit), the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, and more. Like Etta James, the Columbia-era Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simone, she was one of those singers who fell between genre cracks: not quite soul, rock, R&B, jazz, pop, or blues, though elements of all those styles were present in her work. 

                             

Esther Phillips – The Best Of Esther Phillips (1962–1970)
Label: Rhino Records – 8122-72624-2
Series: Atlantic & ATCO Remasters Series
Format: 2 x CD, Compilation
Country: Europe
Released :1997
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Soul, Blues

CD1.

                             

01. Release Me    3:20
02. Am I That Easy To Forget    2:47
03. I've Forgotten More Than You'll Ever Know About Him    3:12
04. No Headstone On My Grave    3:20
05. Hello Walls    3:24
06. Mo Jo Hannah    2:25
07. I Saw Me    3:13
08. Esther Phillips With Jimmy Ricks – Double Crossing Blues    2:41
09. It's Too Soon To Know    3:01
10. Out Of The Blue    2:50
11. Makin' Whoopee    2:46
12. Shangri-La    2:44
13. 'Tis Autumn    2:28
14. Moonglow & Theme From Picnic    2:52
15. And I Love Him    2:40
16. Some Things You Never Get Used To    2:28
17. Let Me Know When It's Over    2:20
18. I Could Have Told You So    2:44
19. The Party's Over    2:07
20. As Tears Go By    2:45
21. Every Time We Say Goodbye   3:07    
22. Crazy He Calls Me    3:35

Flac Size: 343 MB

CD2.

             

01. When A Woman Loves A Man    2:54
02. Try Me    2:54
03. When Love Comes To The Human Race    3:06
04. I'm Sorry    2:32
05. Please Send Me Someone To Love    5:53
06. Cry Me A River Blues    5:27
07. I'm Gettin' 'Long Alright    5:56
08. It Could Happen To You    4:04
09. Set Me Free    4:07
10. Brand New Day    4:17
11. Crazy Love    2:46
12. All God Has Is Us    4:00
13. Too Late To Worry, Too Blue To Cry    2:53
14. I'm In The Mood For Love (Moody's Mood For Love)    3:47
15. Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You    2:48
16. Sweet Dreams    3:18
17. Nobody But You    2:50
18. Too Much Of A Man (To Be Tied Down)    3:51

Flac Size: 363 MB