# Aretha Franklin



## jkl (May 4, 2021)

Ree is the Queen of Soul 

Does anyone here at TC admire her art and her singing?


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

jkl said:


> Ree is the Queen of Soul
> 
> Does anyone here at TC admire her art and her singing?


This guy does -

Sweet Soul Music - Aretha Franklin - The Atlantic Era - (1967 - 1979)

and apparently he's the only one - :lol: - based on the lack of "Like this post" clicks.

In the future - use the search engine of your choice and type in "TalkClassical Aretha Franklin soul music" as the internal search engine tends to be rather temperamental and rarely, if ever, returns the appropriate reply.


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## jkl (May 4, 2021)

Well, I guess it's time for a thread by an active member 

What about you?


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I wish I liked her music more but I really don't care for it that much. But nevertheless I've always admired her as a great artist and singer.

I feel the same way about James Brown. I guess I prefer a less commercial type of soul and r&b music.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

starthrower said:


> I wish I liked her music more but I really don't care for it that much. But nevertheless I've always admired her as a great artist and singer.
> 
> I feel the same way about James Brown. I guess I prefer a less commercial type of soul and r&b music.


Wow, I feel the complete opposite. They're both among those at the top of my list. So I guess I cancel out your vote.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Well I tried with James Brown. I bought some CDs and there's the three minute top 40 ditties and his later album oriented stuff which is very repetitive so it gets pretty boring. Of course Aretha was on Atlantic Records which is one of the greatest labels in the history of popular music so I respect all of their work. The last vintage soul collection I bought was a 2 CD Capitol collection by Lou Rawls and I love that stuff.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Yep - Aretha Franklin is the best. Did you see the mini series that recently came out? It dealt with her early years after the Columbia contract and her first records with Jerry Wexler, the Atlantic years - which were the best, IMO. It culminated with the Amazing Grace sessions. The only downside was all the soap opera plot lines about her father. A couple of years ago they released the Complete Amazing Grace Sessions - the uncut tapes - simply amazing.

But the music.

I have that box set you pictured in the OP - it is a good collection - but really all of those records are worth having.

It takes a great artist to cover a song by Otis Redding and make her version the definitive cut. Of course I'm talking about Respect. It didn't matter what song she sang, her version was the best: You've Got a Friend, Bridge Over Troubled Water - even Somewhere from West Side Story off _Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky)_ (1973), an album many overlook.

Beside her singing, her piano playing was phenomenal.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

*"I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You*)" is a 1967 single released on Atlantic Records, as the first big hit of her career, it became a defining song for Franklin, peaking at number one on the rhythm and blues charts and number nine on the pop charts. The B-side was "*Do Right Woman, Do Right Man*".






*"Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"* is a single released on February 10, 1967.

Rolling Stone listed it as number 476 in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'm a big fan of Aretha's Atlantic output from 67-73 - nine studio albums and three live albums were shoehorned into this period and only the second studio album, _Aretha Arrives_, is anything like a let-down, but that's only comparatively speaking. Apart from being a good enough pianist to accompany herself when necessary she also wrote or co-wrote some good songs of her own, proving she wasn't totally reliant on cover material or songs written by the Atlantic/Muscle Shoals in-house teams. She's one of my favourite female vocalists, (along with Laura Nyro, Sandy Denny, Katrina Leskanich, Bessie Smith, Nico, Siouxsie Sioux and Janis Joplin) and always will be.

Incidentally, as well as all the official albums from that time there is also this two-disc collection which is seriously worth considering:


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

What's not to like? I'm not a fan, but she has great vocal and some great songs.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I would have liked to go see her in concert but the two times she performed in my town they were free outdoor shows and I wasn't going to deal with crowds of 40,000 people. I went when they had a free Ray Charles/ Diana Krall double bill and I couldn't even see the stage it was so jammed.

Anyway, I liked that ballad that SanAntone uploaded. That's more to my taste than the "sock it to me" type stuff. Although I'd like to hear just voice and piano without the strings.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

I'm not too familiar with her work, but I do like her famous songs. 
This cover of 'Somewhere' isn't much for my taste. I've heard better versions. 
But I do like her cover of this Elton John song:


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

*"Respect"* is a song originally released by American singer-songwriter Otis Redding in 1965.

The song became a 1967 hit and signature song for singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few changes in the lyrics, the stories told by the songs have a different flavor. Redding's version is a plea from a desperate man, who will give his woman anything she wants. He will not care if she does him wrong, as long as he gets his due respect when he brings money home.

However, Franklin's version is a declaration from a strong, confident woman, who knows that she has everything her man wants. She never does him wrong, and demands his "respect" - in the form of appropriate levels of physical attention. Franklin's version adds the "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" chorus and the backup singers' refrain of "Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me...".

Franklin's interpretation was a landmark for the feminist movement, and is often considered one of the best songs of the R&B era, earning her two Grammy Awards in 1968 for "Best Rhythm & Blues Recording" and "Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female", and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored Franklin's version by adding it to the National Recording Registry. It was placed number five on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It was also included in the list of "Songs of the Century", by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.


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