Lorraine Ellison - Sister Love, The Warner Bros. Recordings [2006] (3 x CD's)

LORRAINE ELLISON

Lorraine Ellison - Sister Love, The Warner Bros. Recordings [2006] (3 x CD's)

Lorraine Ellison is almost a perfect cult soul singer: she was blessed with a unique, powerful voice, she had two stone-cold classics to her name, 1966's "Stay with Me" and "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)," which was later popularized by Janis Joplin, which is enough success to get her remembered by aficionados but not enough to make her a star. It's also enough to suggest that Ellison deserved to be a star, that she had the talent and the material that deserved a wider audience, but like a lot of artists with a cult following, she's a great talent that may be an acquired taste for most listeners. Rhino Handmade's exhaustive three-disc set Sister Love: The Warner Bros. Recordings, released in a limited run of 5,000 copies in 2006 certainly suggests as much. For Ellison devotees, this is pretty much the Holy Grail, since it represents the first time all of her prime material has been released on CD. It has her first three LPs -- the 1966 debut Introducing Miss Lorraine Ellison b/w Heart & Soul and 1969's Stay with Me, both produced by Jerry Ragovoy, and the Ted Templeton-produced 1974 album Lorraine Ellison, plus various singles and sessions from the early '70s, a bunch of rarities, and a whole disc of unreleased demos from 1972. This set certainly fills the need that devoted Ellison fans have and in some ways exceeds their expectations, since it not only contains the original albums, it also has the outtakes -- the slow-burning "Haven't I Been Good to You," recorded in 1967; the loose, funky, gospel-inflected "Woman, Loose My Man" from 1970; the Al Kooper written and produced "Let Me Love You," a 1970 session which is paired with "Doin' Me Dirty,"  "Dear John," recorded at Muscle Shoals in 1970; a version of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" from 1971; and three outtakes from the Templeton album, "When You Count the Ones You Love," "Sister Love," "Sweet Years", plus the rarities that showed up on previous comps, plus the disc of stark piano-and-voice demos. Even though it's missing a few sides cut later in the 1970's, for all intents and purposes Sister Love is a complete recorded works and it offers plenty for the hardcore to sink their teeth into, both in its sheer size, three discs and 65 songs is a lot of music  but also because it touches on plenty of different kinds of soul, such as the dramatic and passionate soul-pop of Ragovoy's 1969 productions, the jazzy readings of standards and pop tunes on her debut, the deep soul from Muscle Shoals, and the intimate originals that comprise the demos.  Sister Love: The Warner Bros. Recordings is undoubtedly essential since it truly showcases her range and accomplishments and also articulates why Lorraine Ellison is a cult artist. (AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

If you haven't heard Lorraine you should do yourself a favor and have a listen. These recordings are no longer produced by Rhino and will become increasingly hard to find. 

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Track lists

CD1

01 I Got My Baby Back 2:20

02 Stay With Me (Mono Single Version) 3:33

03 Heart and Soul 3:05

04 Games That Lovers Play (Eine Ganze Nacht) 2:32

05 He's My Guy 2:47

06 What a Difference a Day Makes 3:03

07 A Change is Gonna Come 3:33

08 If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song) 2:17

09 When Love Flies Away 3:10

10 Cry Me a River 3:04

11 What is a Woman 3:02

12 That's for Me 2:36

13 My Man's Gone Now 3:22

14 Ain't That Peculiar 2:56

15 I'm Over You 3:01

16 Only Your Love 3:18

17 Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) 2:54

18 I'm Gonna Cry Till My Tears Run Dry 3:27

19 I Want to Be Loved 2:48

20 The Hurt Came Back Again 2:43

21 Stay With Me (Lp Version) 3:33

22 You Don't Know Nothing About Love 4:29

CD2

01 Haven't I Been Good to You 2:54

02 In My Tomorrow 2:54

03 You've Really Got a Hold on Me 3:00

04 Time is on My Side 3:28

05 Woman, Loose My Man 2:13

06 Let Me Love You 2:29

07 Doin' Me Dirty 2:08

08 He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother 5:19

09 Caravan 4:22

10 I'll Be Home 3:01

11 Dear John 2:58

12 You've Got a Friend 4:10

13 Walk Around Heaven 3:54

14 Country Woman's Prayer 3:59

15 Do Better Than You're Doin' 3:27

16 If Only I Could See Him 4:21

17 No Relief 3:11

18 I'll Fly Away 2:28

19 The Road I Took to You 3:53

20 Stormy Weather 3:43

21 Many Rivers to Cross 3:08

22 When You Count the Ones You Love 2:45

23 Sister Love 2:39

24 Sweet Years 2:55

CD3

01 True Love 4:42

02 I Need Your Love 4:09

03 Goodbye My Love 4:31

04 How Do You Think I Feel 5:19

05 You Can't Slow Me Down 3:47

06 Why Should We Say Goodbye 4:14

07 Anything You Need 4:01

08 Your Love Will Be Sweeter Someday 6:23

09 I Love You More Today 4:18

10 I Can't Get Along Without You 3:38

11 I Can't Stand to Wait Much Longer 4:58

12 Fools Are the Only Ones Who Have to Cry 3:29

13 Without Your Love 4:12

14 Same Old Thing Called Love 4:44

15 God Can Stop the Rain From Falling 5:51

16 Unknown Track 1:02

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