Etta James’ health has been deteriorating in recent years, so as sad as the announcement is that “The Dreamer” is her final album as she retires from music, it isn’t a shock. The songs on the 73-year-old R&B-blues-jazz singer’s first collection in five years have none of the overt swan-song character of the album Glen Campbell turned out earlier this year with the help of producer Julian Raymond. Instead, we get a career-twilight portrait of James and her darker-than-ever voice in a set of moody, bluesy and slow-jam groove numbers. One exception may be the chugging “Too Tired,” an up-tempo Read more on Last.fm.
