Esther Phillips .......Are You Ready ......

[remicks]

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I'm listening to Esther Phillips' disco rendition of
PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM on her 1979
HERE'S ESTHER ARE YOU READY lp

I'm thinking to myself how appropriate it is that I'm listening after watching a parade of ghastly American Idol auditions ...

...... this performance likewise would not have earned Esther that gold ticket to Hollywood .....

To quote Simon :
Sorry dear .... It's a no !

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it's a shame too ... because in all other ways this version rocks !!

[remicks]

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--- And then there's what could be a tremendous version of OUR DAY WILL COME 5:28 found on this same LP ..........


Appropriately punchy and vibrant ..... moved by a lively incessant guitar and punctuated with an assortment of percussion clunks & thumps ... wonderful wood block ....
The opening piano tinkering seems contrived ...odd because I usually think you can't go wrong by adding piano to a disco song (fortunately it drops out ) ... Romantic strings that hold long notes ... at times especially pretty with the xylophone accompaniment. Backup vocals doing 40’s style cooing and later chanting
Now roll , from side to side, side to side, do the rock

Lots of horn blasting … one (way too brief) segment where the horns take over and go crazy … trumpet against trombone

So what is the problem with this song ......what prevented it from being a bigger club hit in '79 ....?
Well, besides being a thickly produced 100% real instrument production released at the time in the disco era when that sound was rapidly dropping out of favour ..... I regretfully have to say ......it could be specifically the use of Esther Phillips .
She's one with a voice I think people either like or don't ... (and I'd bet there are more in one camp than the other ) . For me there's something bothersome and distracting in a voice that each time it attempts to hold a note … instead just weakly fractures apart ...... (sorry Esther ). I think it’s a good voice for other types of songs (piano bar … blues ) …. but disco ?
I suspect almost any other voice would have been a better choice … and while we're at it .... using someone younger ... after all this is a song boasting youthful optimism about one's future ...
Our day will come and we‘ll have everything .....
Esther’s vocal style seems inappropriately old for the sentiment as well as failing to put fresh paint on those familiar lines.

There is a large middle of this song ….where Esther Phillips is absent ....and this is where this song takes off ….
Sure wish there’d been an all- instrumental “B” side of this …………

Maybe someone will now tell me I’m all wet on this one ........but the song didn't do too well for some reason () .....
....and that's how I interpret it it on this Friday night .....February 2 , 2007 ….


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[normvork]

Yes, this is a controversial voice. Sort of an acquired taste. You are describing the Ethel Merman Syndrome of 1979.
There is something about Esther's recordings that I like, the voice is distinctive. Somehow, I wish I could hear Grace Jones doing some of these songs, as well as Ethel's tracks. Why can Grace Jones' eccentric vocals work so well with Disco and these other ladies seem so inappropriate?

[discorecordplayer]

I appreciate her unique voice. Unfortunately I dont have any of her music in my library yet.