At Last!
| At Last! | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 15, 1960 | |||
| Recorded | January – October 1960 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 29:11 | |||
| Label | Argo (original) MCA/Chess (re-release) | |||
| Producer | Phil Chess Leonard Chess | |||
| Etta James chronology | ||||
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| Singles from At Last! | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [4] |
At Last! is the debut studio album by American
At Last! was ranked at #191 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[3] It was ranked as the 62nd best album of the 1960s by Pitchfork.[6]
History
The original release of At Last! was issued as a 12-inch
LP consisting of ten tracks, five songs on each side of the LP. Phil and Leonard Chess believed that James's voice had crossover pop potential, so with this debut album, they backed her with orchestral arrangements on many of the tracks.[7] At Last! eventually spawned four singles being "All I Could Do Was Cry", "Trust in Me", "At Last", and "My Dearest Darling". The album also included covers of pop and jazz standards, such as "Stormy Weather", "A Sunday Kind of Love", and "I Just Want to Make Love to You".[1] In 1987, the album was released for the first time by MCA/Chess, and then digitally remastered and reissued on compact disc in 1999 with four bonus duet tracks performed with Harvey Fuqua: "My Heart Cries," "Spoonful," "It's a Crying Shame," and "If I Can't Have You."[1]
Covers
The album's title track has been covered by artists such as
Connie Wilson and Christina Aguilera. "All I Could Do Was Cry" was covered by both Beyoncé and Gladys Knight & the Pips
.
A
"My Wedding Stories".[8]
Critical reception
Since its release, At Last! has been praised by many music critics. Stephen Cook of
jazz standards." Cook also praised the material that was recorded for the album, saying that At Last! had "strong material throughout." He also went on to say that James's voice, "expertly handles jazz standards like "Stormy Weather" and "A Sunday Kind of Love," as well as Willie Dixon's blues classic "I Just Want to Make Love to You." James demonstrates her keen facility on the title track in particular, as she easily moves from powerful blues shouting to more subtle, airy phrasing; her Ruth Brown-inspired, bad-girl growl only adds to the intensity."[1]
The writer for Rolling Stone exclaimed, "James bloomed into a fiery interpreter on this spellbinding LP."[3]
Commercial response
At Last! rose to no. 12 upon the Billboard
RIAA.[10]
Track listing
Side one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Anything to Say You're Mine" | Joe Josea | 2:27 |
Side two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "I Just Want to Make Love to You" | Willie Dixon | 3:08 |
| 7. | "At Last" | 3:02 | |
| 8. | "All I Could Do Was Cry" | 2:58 | |
| 9. | "Stormy Weather" | 3:10 | |
| 10. | "Girl of My Dreams" | Charles "Sunny" Clapp | 2:25 |
| Total length: | 29:11 | ||
Bonus tracks on 1999 CD reissue
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | "My Heart Cries" (with Harvey Fuqua) |
| 2:36 |
| 12. | "Spoonful" (with Harvey Fuqua) | Dixon | 2:50 |
| 13. | "It's a Crying Shame" (with Harvey Fuqua) |
| 2:54 |
| 14. | "If I Can't Have You" (with Harvey Fuqua) |
| 2:50 |
| Total length: | 40:21 | ||
Personnel
- Etta James – vocals
- Harvey Fuqua – vocals
- Leonard Chess – producer
- Phil Chess – producer
- Riley Hampton – arranger, conductor
- Don Kamerer – liner notes[1]
- Don Bronstein - cover
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Singles
|
References
- ^ a b c d e f Cook, Stephen. "At Last! > Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
- ^ Petrusich, Amanda (April 24, 2016). "Etta James: At Last! Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
- ^ a b c "Etta James, 'At Last!'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
- ISBN 978-0195313734.
- ^ a b c "Etta James: At Last". Billboard. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
- ^ "The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s". Pitchfork. 22 August 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ Dahl, Bill. "Etta James > Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
- ^ The Sims (February 8, 2022). "The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories: Official Reveal Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
- ^ a b "Etta James: Hot R&B Songs". Billboard.com.
- ^ "Etta James: RIAA Certification". RIAA.
- ^ "Etta James: Hot 100". Billboard.com.
- Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4. ed.). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
