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Personnel: Rita Coolidge (background vocals); Marc Benno (vocals, guitar); Jerry McGee (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dobro); Clarence White, Stephen Stills (guitar, acoustic guitar); Booker T. Jones (guitar, piano, electric piano, organ); Charlie Freeman, Bobby Womack (guitar); Ry Cooder (bottleneck guitar); Rusty Young (steel guitar); Wilbert Nuttycombe, James Getzoff, William Kurasch, Leonard Malarsky, Ralph Schaeffer, Harry Bluestone (violin); Gareth "Garry" Nuttycombe, Samuel Boghossian (viola); Jerome Kessler, Jesse Ehrlich (cello); Don Brooks (harmonica); Nick DeCaro (accordion); Don Menza (bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); John Kelson, Jr. (bass clarinet, tenor saxophone); Jim Horn (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); George Bohanon, Plas Johnson (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Clifford Scott, Pete Christlieb (tenor saxophone); Chuck Findley, Dalton Smith, Al Aarons, Ollie Mitchell (trumpet, flugelhorn); Arthur Maebe, William Hinshaw, David Duke , Vincent DeRosa (French horn); Dick Hyde, Jack Redmond, Lew McCreary, Ernie Tack (trombone); Spooner Oldham (piano, electric piano, organ); Leon Russell (piano, organ); Tommy McClure (organ); Mike Utley (keyboards); Jim Keltner (drums, percussion); Hall Bobby Porter (congas, bongos, tambourine); The Blackberries, Clydie King, Donna Weiss, Graham Nash, Priscilla Coolidge, Randy Bishop, Bob Segarini, Venetta Fields, Shirley Matthews (background vocals). Audio Remasterer: Andrew Thompson . Audio Remixer: Glyn Johns. Liner Note Author: John Tobler. Recording information: A&M Studios, Hollywood, CA; Sunset Sound Records; Wally Heider Studios. Director: Ronald Stone. Photographer: Bob Jenkins. Arrangers: Horn, Jim & His Dynamite Horn Section; Booker T. Jones. This twofer neatly captures the beginning of Rita Coolidge's career by combining her first two albums, which both came out in 1971. Each one dented the bottom rungs of the charts, but Coolidge's star didn't really ascend until her third album. Nevertheless, this is an intriguing look at her beginnings, and a reminder of what a soulful singer she was, right from the start. While there's a bit of high-gloss pop here and there, the overwhelming feeling one comes away with is that of a straight-up R&B singer giving her all on everything from the Albert King blues classic "Born Under a Bad Sign" to Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road."
