--=[ Aretha Franklin 2 ]=--

Aretha Franklin - Jump to It [1982]


This album is produced by Luther Vandross, and is a polished but soulful collection of R&B/jazz cuts, spiced up by Aretha's 80's voice.

By this time, countless Kool cigarettes and experience exchanged some of her upper register for more low range. It works to great effect on this album. The obvious hit "Jump To It" is a classic, but you'll love Smokey Robinson's "Just My Daydream," as well as her duet with Levi Stubbs on "Wanna Make It Up To You." "If She Don't Want Your Lovin'" has her reunited with former Sweet Inspiration Cissy Houston (Whitney's mom), and Aretha even chooses to give us a few squalls.

"Jump To It" is a great mellow and quiet Aretha album, before she decided to let us know that she wasn't through screaming for us with 1986's "Aretha" (a SUPERB album, though quite different than this one -- she hadn't let it loose like that since "Amazing Grace").
















Aretha Franklin - Soul '69 [1969]

This is one of the supreme recordings in the history of the medium! Aretha in the absolute prime of her self-discovery on Atlantic, the hippest Muscle Shoals musicians around, musical arrangements that are unafraid of themselves, and a superior choice of material make this the Aretha Franklin album, in my view! Every cut is a highlight- the natural, high-flying vocal improvisations of 'Ramblin' and 'Bring It On Home To Me', Aretha's astonishing interpretation of Billie Holiday's 'Crazy He Calls Me', the remaking of 'Gentle On My Mind' into something finally so distinctive- what can one say about an art this Right, this Complete?

If you are into jazz you'll love this whether you're into Franklin or not. If you are a Franklin fan and you enjoy jazz though, you'll be beaming from ear to ear. This one's an absolute winner.
















Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul [1968]

Despite the presence of the sweetened (and great) single "A Natural Woman," Aretha Franklin's third Atlantic album is even more elegantly gritty than its two predecessors. She finds liberation in James Brown's "Money Won't Change You" and a revved-up take on Ray Charles's "Come Back Baby" much as she had in "Respect" and "Think" earlier, while Eric Clapton's guitar on "Good to Me As I Am to You" stings as much as her rueful, resigned delivery.

Aretha Franklin ~ Chain of Fools





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