Ruth Brown - Miss Rhythm (Mono)
ORDER LIMITED TO ONE ITEM PER CUSTOMER
Ruth Brown (vocal) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Ruth Brown]
Ed "Tiger" Lewis, Steve Lipkins, Joe Wilder (trumpet), Jimmy Cleveland, Richard Harris (trombone), Jimmy Mitchell, Jerome Richardson (alto saxophone), Arnett Cobb, King Curtis, Budd Johnson, Sam Taylor (tenor saxophone), Sylvester Thomas (baritone saxophone), Lee Anderson, Dick Hyman, Bu Pleasant, Mike Stoller (piano), Mickey Baker, Al Caiola, Allen Hanlon, Mundell Lowe, Charles Macey (guitar), Abie Baker, Percy Heath, Benny Moten, Lloyd Trotman (bass), Connie Kay, Joe Marshall, Noruddin Zafer (drums), Jerry Duane, Bob Harter, Artie Malvin, Bill Marine, Robert Miller, Ralph Nyland, The Rhythmakers, Maeretha Stewart (backing vocals)
Written by Manny Curtis (A1), Bobby Darin (A1), Jerry Wexler (A2), C. Taylor(A2), Rudy Toombs (A3), Brook Benton (A4), Belford Hendricks (A4), Ronald Mack(A4), Ahmet Ertegun (A5), Jimmy Lewis (A6), Ruth Brown (A6), Jerry Leiber (B1, B2), Mike Stoller (B1, B2), Rose Marie McCoy (B3), Charlie Singleton (B3), C. Small (B4), D. Moore (B4), Leroy Kirkland (B5), Mamie Thomas (B5), Joe Shapiro (B6), Lou Stallman (B6)
1 LP, standard sleeve
Limited edition
Original analog Master tape : YES
Record color : black
Heavy Press : 180g
Speed : 33 RPM
Size : 12'’
Mono
Studio
Record Press : unspecified
Label : Pure Pleasure Records
Original Label : Atlantic
Recorded May 7, 1954, March 1, 1955, September 25, 1956, April 15 and December 5, 1957, July 30, 1958 and March 7, 1959, in New York City
Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London
Originally released in 1959
Reissued in 2018
Tracks :
Reviews :
"Ruth Brown's second LP is a minor masterpiece, built around a handful of hit singles and B-sides from the prior year ("Book of Lies," "Just Too Much," "When I Get You Baby," "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'," "Why Me") and containing a pair of current single sides, "Jack O' Diamonds" and "I Can't Hear a Word You Say." Brown is amazing in her range, from the upbeat, romantic "I Hope We Meet (On the Road Someday)" to the jaunty shouter "Why Me" -- her timbre ranges from sweetly romantic to hard and raspy, and listening to the transformations, between the smooth, quick tempo "Just Too Much" to the hard, lusty "Somebody Touched Me," one thinks of a distaff Sam Cooke. Brown's accompaniments may have lacked the polish of Cooke's sides, and she wasn't really shooting for pop-crossover success (though she saw some). Her singing even overcomes excessively pop-oriented arrangements on "When I Get You Baby." At various times, in her upper register, Brown recalls Clyde McPhatter's falsetto singing, while in her middle and lower registers, as on "I Can't Hear a Word You Say," she comes up with a power that could melt a microphone stand." Bruce Eder, Allmusic
"Brown’s first LP for Atlantic, Ruth Brown, is a compilation of hit singles recorded between 1949 and 1956. Miss Rhythm collects her popular sides released between 1954 and 1959. By the early 1960s, she was gone from Atlantic, even though the imprint released The Best of Ruth Brown (which includes a 1960 session song with Eric Dolphy in the band) in 1962. During the 1960s, Brown released a handful of albums on the Solid Stated, Cobblestone, and Skye labels, and proceeded to continue touring for the rest of her life. The dozen songs on Miss Rhythm show the vocalist at the top of her game and relying on her incredible range. While the backing bands vary from song to song, they are uniformly composed of top jazz and session players.
The front cover of Pure Pleasure’s LP depicts the standard mono cover. However, on the back and in the vinyl deadwax, the catalog number is listed as SD 8206. While it’s unlikely these early singles were recorded in two-track stereo, the stereo sonics here do not sound electronically rechanneled for stereo. Indeed, the production sounds like mono—and very good mono at that, with a fairly wide stage rather than instruments lined up front to back in a mono row" Dennis Davis -Vinyl Reviews
Ratings :
Allmusic : 3.5 / 5 , Vinyl Reviews : 4 / 5