Etta James: "Etta James"

A funk record by the iconic Etta James?  You know I’m down.  This one had been popping up in the beat-head blogs lately, and surprise surprise, I happened upon it in a local record store.  The whole album’s not funky—much of it is the blues belting that Etta does best.  But there are a couple of tracks that are definitely groovers, and another element that makes for an interesting listen is the fact that Etta, for some reason, chose to cover a bunch of Randy Newman songs here, all of which are drenched with dark themes and molasses-thick-sarcasm.  The band is also phenomenal, featuring renowned session bassist Chuck Rainey, drummer Kenneth “Spider Webb” Rice, and virtuoso percussionist King Errisson.  Beautiful and strange.