The Heart of a Woman Tracks
1. You Don't Know What Love Is
2. Good Morning Heartache
3. My Old Flame
4. Say It Isn't So
5. At Last
6. Tenderly
7. I Only Have Eyes for You
8. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
9. You Go to My Head
10. Sunday Kind of Love
11. If It's the Last Thing I Do
12. Only Women Bleed
The Heart of a Woman Review
There's no doubting the power and passion of Etta James's voice. That alone is enough for her to give Aretha Franklin a run for her money, and on Heart of a Woman she gives that voice free rein. Something of a companion to 1998's Life, Love & the Blues, Heart of a Woman takes what feels like a deliberately feminine approach, from the selection of the material to its arrangement. If there's a weakness to the result, it's that James's voice often overpowers the music, leaving the mood-setting piano and gentle guitar in the dust. The strongest moments occur when the music rises to match James's singing, as with the sax solo on "My Old Flame," the smoky piano on "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," and the overall building of intensity toward the end of "You Go to My Head." Another highlight is a reworked version of James's classic "At Last." --Genevieve Williams
