Come a Little Closer Tracks
1. Out on the Street Again
2. Mamma Told Me
3. You Give Me What I Want
4. Come a Little Closer
5. Let's Burn Down the Cornfield
6. Power Play
7. Feeling Uneasy
8. St. Louis Blues
9. Gonna Have Some Fun Tonight
10. Sookie, Sookie
11. Lovin' Arms
12. Out on the Street Again [Single Edit][*]
Come a Little Closer Review
Come a Little Closer is a surprisingly effective mating of a distinctive singer with seemingly incongruous material and production. Helmed by Gabriel Mekler, who'd produced Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night, the record features Etta James supported by a slew of hotshot L.A. session men (including Little Feat's Lowell George). The song selection ranges from "St. Louis Blues" to Randy Newman's perverse "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield" to the dramatic, melismatic "Feeling Uneasy," in which the junk-hungry James improvised wordlessly over an otherwise blues progression. Here's more evidence that Etta is one of the most versatile vocalists of her era. --Steven Stolder
Particular to this Cd is the title track, come a little closer....deep growls, fierce vocal affectation that is souly Etta and a production which is only slightly polished. It, at it's best lets Etta sing...after all that is what she does best. The orgasmic sound of Feeling Uneasy is the only true song the lets you know that a true lover hesitates at nothing to believe...and to believe in Etta James, one need to listen to no other recording to hear her at her most vulnerable and unigue best!