Genre Soul (and lots of it)
Evaluation Imagine my surprise, no SHOCK, when I saw that no one had reviewed some of the greatest vocal performances by a woman who’s career has now spanned 5 decades. Somebody was asleep at the wheel here.
Aretha Franklin’s voice is unmistakable. Somewhere in your life, unless you’re living on top of a mountain somewhere with a pet goat named Sid, you’ve heard this woman sing. She has been on the radio, on commercials, on TV specials, you name it, she’s been there. I heard her sing recently and her voice is almost the same as it was back in the mid 60’s. Brother, can she belt out a song. But I digress.
This album contains what they loosely call ’’hits’’, 30 of them to be exact. Some of them are indeed just that, her biggest hits. Many of the songs however are covers of other people’s material or relatively obscure tunes that never really made a big splash on the air waves. But that’s not the point of buying this album. The point, to put it bluntly, is this woman can sing ’’Mary Had A Little Lamb’’ and make it sound incredible. As a matter of fact, I would love to hear what she would do with that song. Maybe if I write to her and... Oh I’m sorry, off the track again. Anyway, the point is, you buy this album to hear a few great hits but mostly to hear one of the most incredible voices in soul. For those who care, here are some of the ’’hit-lites’’ of the album.
1) Respect ’’R. E. S. P. E. C. T. find out what it means to me’’. Probably her signature song and one she is most known for. Is this great music? Well, the song on it’s own is okay, but if I sang it you’d all go to sleep, trust me. No, this is one of those common cases where the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts because of this woman’s incredible delivery of this song. I have heard others cover this tune and let me tell you, they pale in comparison. This album is worth getting just to hear the job she does on this now classic.
2) (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman Certainly you’ve heard this one on one of those hair shampoo commercials if you weren’t lucky enough to hear it on the radio back in the 60’s. Again, it’s an okay song but what Aretha does with it is just pure magic. I’m surprised more writers don’t want her to sing their tunes. This is another Franklin classic.
3) Think A real upbeat tune. When she sings this I almost feel like she’s singing right at me telling me to ’’Think’’. You know, I’d hate to have this woman as a school teacher because she’d probably scare the beegeebees out of me. Of course if she sang in class she could grab my attention for a whole day let alone a whole period. The delivery on this tune will knock you out.
4) Bridge Over Troubled Water Not as beautiful as the Simon and Garfunkel version but boy, there’s enough energy in this song to send a rocket ship to Mars. Listen to it and compare it to the original. You’ll see that it’s almost like an entirely different song. That’s what this woman can do to a piece of music. Pure genius.
5) Spanish Harlem This was actually one of her biggest hits, coming out in the early 70’s. A little more laid back than her other songs but that same great voice is still there, just restrained a bit. Also this is one of the better songs that she did. Maybe she felt the material was good enough that she didn’t have to overpower it, which she has a habit of doing (not that I’m complaining).
6) Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) This is my personal favorite Aretha Franklin song. This was the perfect mix of A) A really good song B) Great Orchestration and Arrangement and C) Her fantastic voice. This is one of those songs that I never got tired of hearing. Don’t be surprised if this turns out to be your favorite song on the album, it’s THAT good.
The other songs are fine if for no other reason than she did them. There are as I said a few cover tunes and some really obscure songs. Also I left out a few of the hits in my review because I think you got the general idea which brings me to...
Bottom Line: Aretha Franklin will someday be inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame if she isn’t already there. There has never been a voice since hers. So if you want my opinion, and I’m not a big soul music fan, RUN, don’t walk, and get this truly amazing album by a truly amazing woman.