miércoles, 13 de mayo de 2009

Thelma Jones: Second Chance - The Complete Barry and Columbia Recordings (2007)

Aretha Franklin scored a smash hit in 1968 with ‘The House That Jack Built’, but Harlem-based Thelma Jones recorded the song first. And she did it better, too. It was a seal of approval when Aretha covered you; witness her versions of Ray Charles, Baby Washington, Johnny Ace, Dionne Warwick and Ben E. King songs. Thelma was in great company! Jones’ recording career came in two bursts: ten tracks cut for Barry Records in 1966 through 1968 (including her R&B Top 50 ‘Never Leave Me’ and the Northern Soul stomper ‘Souvenir of a Heartbreak’, both in 1967) and a dozen for Columbia a decade later, when she reappeared with ‘Salty Tears’, a beautiful ballad by the crack songwriting team of Teddy Randazzo and Victoria Pike. Eleven years after her first hit, Thelma brushed the R&B charts for a second and final time with a revival of the Miracles’ ‘I Second That Emotion’. Columbia released her eponymous album that same year. Since then, nothing. What a shame. The oft-funky Barry sides are infused with gospel fervour, while the Columbia decks are glossy, commercial and occasionally disco-fied (in a good way). Yet the two phases sit side-by-side very happily on this compilation, which contains virtually her complete recorded output, thanks to the common denominator of Thelma Jones’ fabulous vocals.~ http://www.acerecords.co.uk/

7 comentarios:

  1. http://rapidshare.com/files/196680161/Thelma_Jones_-_Second_Chance__The_Complete_Barry_and_Columbia_Recordings_.rar

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  2. Thanks for this. I'd never heard of Thelma Jones before, but I'm really enjoying these early recordings. Also, after some additional reading, I learned that she's recorded a couple albums recently: Close to the Ground (1999) and Law of Old (2006). I haven't heard them yet, but they're out there. Thanks again for this post, and all the great posts!

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  3. Oh, you can hear clips from those albums here:

    http://www.classylivemusic.com/thelma.html

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  4. the link seems to be incomplete. c'est dommage!

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  5. Thank you, great vocalist and good to hear about her new stuff too.

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