Sunday, August 24, 2014

Some Sunday Soul...


Originally known as Little Esther, the supremely talented Esther Phillips started her career on the Savoy label in the early 50's and after a few label changes, and a break from the music industry due to her problems with heroin, she released, in the early 60's a crackin' version of "Release Me". Her career started to really take off when she signed to Atlantic Records where she expanded her style and adopted a more jazzy feel to her music. She continued to record well into the 70's and early 80's and recorded some of her best work, including a sadly prophetic cover of Gil Scott Heron's tale of heroin addiction, "Home Is Where The Hatred Is".

Home Is Where The Hatred Is
Try Me  

4 comments:

  1. I've never made the connection between Little Esther and Esther Philips even although it appears pretty obvious!

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  2. I hadn't either CC. I've got a few R&B swingers by Little Esther but haven't heard that cover before which is really good. Thanks Scott.

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  3. Great great songs Scott. That first one, that I'd never heard before, belongs in that top echelon of hard-hitting soul/funk songs from the early 1970s, along with some of Curtis Mayfield's work.

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  4. More than almost any other soul singer, her records are so varied in sound from the Little Esther recordings, through the social commentary stuff like the Gil Scott Heron cover and even, I believe, some disco stuff in the late 70's. Talented woman, real shame so got so mixed up with the heroin.

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