Heart and Soul: A Retrospective

For more than five decades, the great Etta James has been a musical force—a dynamo in concert; a major R&B hit-maker in the '50s, '60s, right into the '70s; a jazz Grammy winner in the '90s; and an acknowledged influence on singers from Irma Thomas to Janis Joplin to Christina Aguilera. Throughout that time, James created a remarkably deep and diverse catalog of R&B, blues, soul, pop and jazz recordings, a 53-year catalog of powerful music that this 280-minute, 4-CD box set celebrates. Being the first complete, extensive overview of Etta's career, Heart And Soul draws from her Modern, Argo, Chess, Warner Brothers, Fantasy, Island, Private Music and RCA Victor recordings, 1955 to 2008 – the last year represented by a previously unreleased recording of Rodney Crowell's chestnut "Ashes By Now." The package begins with her first Top 10 hit, "The Wallflower," and traverses through the originals of her signature songs, classic album tracks and greatest hits, including "At Last," "W-O-M-A-N," "A Sunday Kind Of Love," Something's Got A Hold On Me," "Tell Mama," and "I'd Rather Go Blind." The set includes two tracks from her Grammy Award-winning Mystery Lady album, duets with B.B. King, the Moonglows' Harvey Fuqua, Sugar Pie DeSanto, and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, as well as four previously unreleased tracks: "It's Here For You" from Chess in 1965; two tracks recorded for Island in 1989, a hot version of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and a funky "What's Wrong"; and a wonderful upbeat "Ashes By Now."