Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett is an R&B/rock singer. She moved to Memphis in the early '60s and became a session and backup singer for R&B and blues performers such as Fontella Bass and Albert King. She then became a member of the Ikettes, the backup singers for Ike & Tina Turner. That brought her to Los Angeles in 1967, where she met Delaney Bramlett, who had been a member of the Shindogs, the resident group on the TV show Shindig; they married within five days and formed a musical act, Delaney and Bonnie. Delaney and Bonnie cut an album for Stax Records in Memphis, backed by Booker T. and the MG's, but it was not released at first. They then formed a group called Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, who featured Leon Russell among others, and cut Accept No Substitute (1969). After Delaney and Bonnie and Friends toured opening for Blind Faith, Eric Clapton left that group and joined them along with such notables as George Harrison and Dave Mason. This resulted in the On Tour album, after which members of the Friends band worked with Clapton and Harrison, and on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Delaney and Bonnie made several more albums before divorcing. Bramlett then formed the Bonnie Bramlett Band and released her debut solo album, Sweet Bonnie Bramlett, backed by the Average White Band, in 1973. She then signed to Capricorn Records and made It's Time (1975), Lady's Choice (1976), and Memories (1978). She later became a born-again Christian and began singing gospel music. She turned to acting in 1987, under the name Bonnie Sheridan, and has since appeared in the film The Doors and the TV series Rosanne. In 2002 Bramlett returned to the music world with the release of her first album in over twenty years, I'm Still the Same on Audium. The record features Bramlett singing a variety of styles like jazz, blues, and adult contemporary in a voice that has lost little of its power.

William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Although Delaney Bramlett co-wrote the first track, "Your Kind Of Kindness" along with Bonnie and Jerry Allison, he is nowhere else to be found on It's Time, a project recorded in Macon, Georgia. This is Bonnie Bramlett with a little help from her friends, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, Chuck Leavell, saxophone player Randall Bramblett, Big Bill Stewart, Eddie Hinton, Clydie King, Shirley Matthews and lots of others. This is Bonnie going deep into Cajun soul music with chirping horns and earthy guitars. Ivory Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby" oozes authenticity with Tommy Talton's slide guitar and Chuck Leavall's keys. Even a cover of Jackie Wilson's smash "Higher & Higher" moves away from pop and gets immersed in Southern Rock and blues. And a modern instrument like Tom Ridgeway's ARP Synthesizer does nothing to change that. This is probably the artistic album Janis Joplin wanted to make, free from the constraints of a Top 40 mentality. The same year, Stone The Crows' Maggie Bell put out Queen Of The Night produced by Jerry Wexler in New York. The similarities - and differences - in these two albums by women whose voices shake the foundations of everything in their path, are worth studying. While Joplin electrified the Kozmic Blues with a touch of psychedelia five years earlier, Bonnie Bramlett takes the Gregg and Janice Allman title "Oncoming Traffic and creates a subtle explosion utilizing traditional sounds. From sweet to violent, Chuck Leavell on piano, Gregg Allman on organ, the result is mesmerizing. That the Allman Brothers enormous popularity, coupled with the success of Delaney & Bonnie did not propel It's Time to a more solid place in rock history is a mystery. Bonnie Bramlett is so much more than the gal on Roseanne's TV show - and these ten titles speak with an authority that Etta James' legion of fans have come to embrace. It's Time is a treasure ripe to be discovered by a new generation of blues enthusiasts, the title track just a magnificent and powerful work of art.

Review by Joe Viglione, Allmusic.com

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Raven Records has an uncanny knack for reissuing the right lost rock, country, and R&B titles. This pairing of Bonnie Bramlett's second and third solo outings after she and Delaney divorced is a case in point. Originally issued on Capricorn, both of these recordings – dating from 1974 and 1976, respectively – were produced by the great Johnny Sandlin of Allman Brothers fame. There is no attempt to reach the pop charts with these; they are both solid rock and R&B outings with a cast of musicians that would make anybody's head spin. On It's Time, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, Jaimoe, and Chuck Leavell from the Allmans all lend a hand, as do Eddie Hinton, Clydie King, Randall Bramblett, and a cast of two-dozen others. On Lady's Choice, Dickey Betts and Barry Beckett join the fold as well. Bramlett's voice is in fine form through this two-fer, doing singular interpretations of songs such as Hinton's "Cover Me" and "Where You Come From," as well as a funky version of the Jackie Wilson signature soul nugget "Higher & Higher" (before Rita Coolidge's revival read of it), Ivory Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby," and Gregg and Janice Allman's "Oncoming Traffic." Her performance is right-from-the-heart gritty Southern soul. On the latter set, her reads of soul classics such as David Porter and Isaac Hayes' "Hold On, I'm Comin'," Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," Gamble & Huff's "Never Gonna Give You Up," Jimmy Reed's "Ain't That Loving You Baby," and Ashford & Simpson's "Let's Go Get Stoned" are more than just inspired, they are revelatory. There are a few surprises here as well, such as the proto-soul version of Gloria Jones' "If I Were Your Woman." In addition, the reads of the early Motown hit "You Really Got a Hold On Me" and Hank Ballard's "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go," as fine as they are, are merely setups for an absolutely riveting and radical reinterpretation of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young." These two albums are presented in deluxe remastered sound with great liner notes for a fair price.

Review by Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Although Bonnie Bramlett is a good blue-eyed soul singer, and gets backing by top Muscle Shoals session musicians on this 1976 album, you need more than a good singer and a good band to make a good record. You also need interesting material, and while most of the songs presented here are good, they're mostly well-traveled soul and R&B covers. It seemed to be a holding pattern album of sorts, Bramlett opting to record half of the album with guest vocalists, including Gregg Allman, Dobie Gray, Bobby Whitlock, and Mickey Thomas (the last of whom sang lead on Elvin Bishop's huge hit "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" around this time). Any one or two of these songs would have been okay as album filler, but they in fact fill up almost the entire album, and they don't match the originals or come at them from noteworthy angles. An exception, perhaps, is Bob Dylan's "Forever Young," given a full mid-'70s rock-with-horns arrangement; at least it wasn't a composition that was overly familiar or often interpreted.

Review by Richie Unterberger, Allmusic.com

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Even those who remember her performances as copilot of the soulful all-star revue called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends will be startled by the intensity of this comeback album. With full-throated, empathetic vocals throughout I'm Still the Same, Bramlett connects a variety of pop traditions, from jump blues to gauzy romantic balladry, and makes it all work. Her ability to read a lyric on tunes like "Hurt" compares to that of Dinah Washington, and not unfavorably. At medium tempos, such as the Santana-style samba of "What If," Bramlett sings comfortably around the beat, working the tension between the steady pulse and her more rubato phrasing. She's strongest, however, when the groove is slow; the 6/8 crawl of "No Man's Land," for example, lets her draw full dramatic effect from the lyric, especially on long notes that she can twist, stretch, and milk dry through a carefully controlled vibrato, subtle timbral variation, and other tools of expression. And her wrenching, intimate revival of "Superstar," sweetened by Mickey Raphael's haunting harmonica fills, will induce chills, whether you remember the '70s or not.

Review by Robert L. Doerschuk, Allmusic.com

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett is an R&B/rock singer. She moved to Memphis in the early '60s and became a session and backup singer for R&B and blues performers such as Fontella Bass and Albert King. She then became a member of the Ikettes, the backup singers for Ike & Tina Turner. That brought her to Los Angeles in 1967, where she met Delaney Bramlett, who had been a member of the Shindogs, the resident group on the TV show Shindig; they married within five days and formed a musical act, Delaney and Bonnie. Delaney and Bonnie cut an album for Stax Records in Memphis, backed by Booker T. and the MG's, but it was not released at first. They then formed a group called Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, who featured Leon Russell among others, and cut Accept No Substitute (1969). After Delaney and Bonnie and Friends toured opening for Blind Faith, Eric Clapton left that group and joined them along with such notables as George Harrison and Dave Mason. This resulted in the On Tour album, after which members of the Friends band worked with Clapton and Harrison, and on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Delaney and Bonnie made several more albums before divorcing. Bramlett then formed the Bonnie Bramlett Band and released her debut solo album, Sweet Bonnie Bramlett, backed by the Average White Band, in 1973. She then signed to Capricorn Records and made It's Time (1975), Lady's Choice (1976), and Memories (1978). She later became a born-again Christian and began singing gospel music. She turned to acting in 1987, under the name Bonnie Sheridan, and has since appeared in the film The Doors and the TV series Rosanne. In 2002 Bramlett returned to the music world with the release of her first album in over twenty years, I'm Still the Same on Audium. The record features Bramlett singing a variety of styles like jazz, blues, and adult contemporary in a voice that has lost little of its power.

William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett has been putting out some great discs recently like I'm Still the Same & Roots, Blues & Jazz . On "Beautiful," she continues following her muse, picking out exquisite songs, and rendering them with equal mixtures of soul, swagger and rock & roll. The opener "Sure Got Away With My Heart" is a bouncy soul classic that sets your toe tapping and puts a smile on your face, "He got my head in a spin, got me wondering where I been." Randall Bramblett who was in Sea Level has put out a string of excellent CDs like No More Mr. Lucky & Rich Someday . He contributes two tracks to Bonnie's CD, the slow sexy horn-drenched "Witness for Love" & the power boogie "Shake Something Loose," "Come on baby, now turn up the juice; We gonna rock it up 'til we shake something loose." "Strongest Weakess" written by Bekka Bramblett & Gary Nicholson & also recorded by Tracy Nelson & Etta James, unleashes a powerful classic rock attack, "You been a run around for a long time now; I know all the games you play." The title track comes from Steve Conn's self-titled CD where Bonnie fully embodies this aching lovely ballad, "I need a drink; I need a dream; I need some hope & I need some love, and I need someone to tell me that I'm beautiful." On Stephen Stills' classic Buffalo Springfield track "For What It's Worth," I love the classic stops and starts in the song. These have been evened out a bit in Bonnie's arrangement, but its lovely melody & lyric still shine. "Bless 'Em All" penned by Gary Nicholson brings some humor as it smiles at all the religious denominations. Paul Hornsby's "It's Gonna Rain All Night" strikes a slow jazz torch groove, "You brought a change in the weather when you left me with all this pain; Now ain't no blue skies been seen since then." The CD concludes with Dan Penn's "He'll Take Care of You" which rides on a nice hook & glides on a catchy chorus, "You don't have to beg, you don't have to plead, Just tell Him you love Him, that's all He needs." "Beautiful" is an excellent set of classic grooves with Bonnie's lovely smoky voice fully inhabiting each track. Bravo!

Review by Lee Armstrong, Amazon.com

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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Bonnie Bramlett - Albums Collection 1974-2008 (6CD)

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