Mickey Champion - Bam-A-Lam: The R&B Recordings 1950-1962 (2013)

Tracklist
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01. Bam-A-Lam
02. Good For Nothin' Man
03. Best Friend
04. He's A Mean Man
05. I'm A Woman
06. I've Got It Bad
07. Lovin' Jim
08. If That's The Way You Feel
09. Everybody Knew It But Me
10. If You Can't Hold Your Man With Your Kiss
11. Found Me A Sugar Daddy
12. Gonna Have A Merry Xmas
13. It's Raining A Long Way From Home
14. Won't Somebody Please Tell Me What To Do
15. I'm Tellin' You Baby
16. There Ain't Nothing Better


A journeywoman singer in the West Coast 1950s R&B/jump blues style, Mickey Champion wasn't able to get a hit over the course of a career that saw her do time with numerous notable indie labels, including Modern, Aladdin, Dootone, and King. This 24-track compilation mainly spans the sides she cut for those companies in the early to mid-'50s, also including a couple duets with Roy Milton; cuts on which she sang by the Nic-Nacs and Jimmy Witherspoon; and five previously unreleased recordings. Champion had a bold, assertive vocal delivery, but the material she had to work with was pretty average for the genre. One very notable exception was the salacious "I'm a Woman," more famous as done by Peggy Lee but bluesier in Champion's 1955 version; such is the strength of Champion's interpretation that it's a surprise it hasn't shown up on more various-artists blues anthologies. "Bam-a-Lam" is also notable, showing her edging toward rock & roll by singing in what sounds almost like a Little Richard-influenced style. Otherwise this is mostly one for 1950s blues/R&B specialists, mixing uptempo numbers and ballads.

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