Tell Mama was recorded at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, on the encouragement of Leonard Chess, who successfully convinced James to record the album there. Allmusic reviewer, Bill Dahl praised the album's production, called its sessions, "skin-tight."[1] At Muscle Shoals, producers were able to mix her voice in order for it to sound stronger on previously-distorted high notes.[2] The album's title track became one of the biggest hits of James's career, becoming her first Top 10 hit in four years and her highest-peaking single on the Billboard Pop chart, reaching #23. It has since been considered one of her all-time classics. The album's cover of Otis Redding's "Security" also became a major hit, reaching the Top 20 on the R&B singles chart, while also making the Pop Top 40.[3][4]
Besides a cover version of Redding's composition, other cover versions included Jimmy Hughes's "Don't Lose Your Good Thing" and a pair of copyrights by Don Covay.[1] It also featured the title track's B-side, "I'd Rather Go Blind," which was originally not a hit, however it later became one of James's signature songs.[4] In the 1990s, Tell Mama was remastered and re-released on MCA/Chess. The album was remastered by Erick Labson at Universal Mastering Studios-West in North Hollywood, California. A compilation version of the album was later released and included ten additional bonus tracks, including cover versions of David Houston's, "Almost Persuaded" and Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe."[2]
Legacy
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Bill Dahl felt the album to be "one of her best and most soul-searing Cadet albums." Dahl called the title track "relentlessly driving" and "I'd Rather Go Blind," "a moving soul ballad." He also said that the album's producers, "really did themselves proud behind Miss Peaches."[5]
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