In between tears – and there are many - Irma Thomas shows all the signs of being one tough woman. The kind you wouldn’t want to mess with. She needs to be: so many of the men she’s known have been losers, wasters, cheaters... and now she ain’t taking no more shit. She’s a woman’s woman and as many of the songs on the album attest, she loves her men and is patient to a point, and she’s had her share of heartache and heartbreak, but she’s not going to be anyone’s doormat.
‘Tell him that I’m not signing any papers. I don’t wantcha. And I know how much money you make so you better bring it all home and take care of these kids. And she’ll never be your wife.’ ‘Coming from Behind’ finds her stepping up and speaking out for women: the subtitle ‘Monologue’ is entirely fitting.
She also has an excellent voice. It conveys that she’s lived it. Smooth and rich and textured, gutsy and capable of carrying great depth of emotion... soulful I guess you might say. On ‘Wish Someone Would Care’ she really gives it all.
To comment that this album sounds of its vintage isn’t a criticism but a compliment, as it has that ‘classic’ vibe etched right into its very fabric. Commentators who place Thomas, ‘The Soul Queen of New Orleans’ alongside Etta James and Aretha Franklin have clearly got a point, and she surely deserved greater success. Originally released in 1973, her third album was produced and released (and mostly written by) by Swamp Dogg, another artist who failed to achieve the commercial status he so richly deserved.
|
This reissue with two bonus cuts, both sides of her 1971 single ‘I’d Do It All Over You’ / ‘We Won’t Be In Your Way Anymore’ might not bring her to a mainstream audience, but should at least go some way toward raising her profile and is a definite boon for fans of authentic vintage soul.
Irma Thomas Online
|
