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Favorite Aretha Franklin LP?

GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
edited November 2006 in Strut Central
ok, same deal as the Gladys Knight thread I posted a couple weeks back.going through my albums I've found that I only got a handful or her LP'shere are the ones I've been able to digwhat else does she got that is essential?

  Comments

  • LamarTinsonLamarTinson 507 Posts
    Spirit In The Dark and Now are probably my favorites as well.

    Is this one any good?
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    Never Loved A Man The Way that I Love You.

    Nuthin' comes close for me.

    'Baby, I Love,' is my favorite a. franklin song.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    Spirit In The Dark and Now are probably my favorites as well.

    Is this one any good?

    oh I forgot to include this one (I keep my soundtrakcs in a seperate section) but yes this is good Curtis production and it contians the classic track "Giving Him Something he Can Feel"

    tends to be a dollar binner around these parts
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts

    what else does she got that is essential?
    Personaly I think they are all essential. Spirit In The Dark and Young Gifted And Black along with Never Loved A Man, I would say are the tops.

    The first double gospel lp on Atlantic is as good as the top three. She does a mash up of Precious Lord and You've Got A Friend. There is also budget lps of her 13 year old gospel recordings. She did an other gospel record in the 80s that is also worth a few spins.

    I like Aretha '69. Big band record. Tracks Of My Tears with the Spanish guitar and big band is my favorite from that one.

    The live in Paris record is fun, my favorite part is the indesipherable intro; "entratwa France!"

    Lots more.
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    I enjoy Aretha's entire Atlantic catalog up until the late-1970s, but this is the one that I would probably pull off the top of my head everytime.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts

    She does a mash up of Precious Lord and You've Got A Friend.

    MASH-UP? Naw, man, you mean a MEDLEY!! Been hangin' with the dance-music crowd too long, huh? j/k
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    I have reviews of a lot of her Atlantic material if anyone is interested:

    http://www.soulstrut.com/reviews/list.php?category=Soul&page=23
    http://www.soulstrut.com/reviews/list.php?category=Soul&page=24
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    It's agreed that most Aretha albums on Atlantic (from roughly '67-'74) are unfadeable, but The First Twelve Sides, a 1970's compilation on Columbia is surprisingly strong! This was before they had her doing tame Nancy Wilson-ish pop-jazz...it's basically Aretha and her piano with the Ray Bryant Combo, and is probably the rawest she ever got while she was on that label. "Today I Sing The Blues" is every bit as raunchy as "I Never Loved A Man...". The only difference is maybe seven years or so - she was young and just out of the church, so there's a girlish tint to her voice that was gone by the time she got to Atlantic.

    I enjoy Aretha's entire Atlantic catalog up until the late-1970s, but this is the one that I would probably pull off the top of my head everytime.


    Now this is an album I wanted to like, but couldn't really get into. The idea of Aretha doing an eclectic, piano-based, progressive-singer-songwriter album (somewhere between Donny Hathaway and an Afrocentric Carole King) looks good on paper, but on record most of the material just seemed weak. It's in my listening pile, so I intend to give it another shot before I write it off.
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    The reason why I like Young, Gifted and Black is because it's got a mix of styles. You got the Funk of Rock Steady, the mellow Soul of Day Dreamin, and then the title track. I could've picked any of her earlier Atlantic records as well or her live Fillmore LP as well, but I just love those 3 tunes so much it automatically comes to mind.
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts

    Now this is an album I wanted to like, but couldn't really get into. The idea of Aretha doing an eclectic, piano-based, progressive-singer-songwriter album (somewhere between Donny Hathaway and an Afrocentric Carole King) looks good on paper, but on record most of the material just seemed weak. It's in my listening pile, so I intend to give it another shot before I write it off.

    When you say progressive soul album are you sure you weren't thinking of this one? Hey Now Hey

    http://www.soulstrut.com/reviews/review/review_insert.php?item_id=1287
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts

    Now this is an album I wanted to like, but couldn't really get into. The idea of Aretha doing an eclectic, piano-based, progressive-singer-songwriter album (somewhere between Donny Hathaway and an Afrocentric Carole King) looks good on paper, but on record most of the material just seemed weak. It's in my listening pile, so I intend to give it another shot before I write it off.

    When you say progressive soul album are you sure you weren't thinking of this one? Hey Now Hey

    http://www.soulstrut.com/reviews/review/review_insert.php?item_id=1287

    Nope, I meant Y,G&B from the giddy-up. I bought it because I knew beforehand that it was in that "black progressivism" mode (also see: Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott-Heron, etc. - you know, what the kids now call "neo-soul!"). Matter of fact, I've been meaning to buy Hey Now Hey because it's apparently in that same vein (but hopefully better).
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    The reason why I like Young, Gifted and Black is because it's got a mix of styles. You got the Funk of Rock Steady, the mellow Soul of Day Dreamin, and then the title track. I could've picked any of her earlier Atlantic records as well or her live Fillmore LP as well, but I just love those 3 tunes so much it automatically comes to mind.

    Now that you mention it, "Rock Steady" and "Day Dreaming" (plus "Oh Me Oh My" - all three of which I have on singles) were the only songs that really stood out. I'll probably check it again.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    The reason why I like Young, Gifted and Black is because it's got a mix of styles. You got the Funk of Rock Steady, the mellow Soul of Day Dreamin, and then the title track. I could've picked any of her earlier Atlantic records as well or her live Fillmore LP as well, but I just love those 3 tunes so much it automatically comes to mind.

    Now that you mention it, "Rock Steady" and "Day Dreaming" (plus "Oh Me Oh My" - all three of which I have on singles) were the only songs that really stood out. I'll probably check it again.

    Day Dreaming. What a perfect arrangement. killer performance.
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    Never Loved A Man The Way that I Love You.

    Nuthin' comes close for me.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts

    Day Dreaming. What a perfect arrangement. killer performance.

    I agree 200%. When I was a child, "Day Dreaming" and Love Unlimited's "Walking In The Rain With The One I Love" were hit singles within a few months of each other, and both songs definitely have that same daydreamy production...to this day, can't think of one without free-associating to the other.

    "Day Dreaming In The Rain With The One I Love"...now that would be one hellafied mashup.
  • TheBeatGoesTheBeatGoes 711 Posts
    1) Young, Gifted & Black
    2) Lady Soul
  • FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts
  • oldnewsouloldnewsoul 238 Posts
    I gotta go with the Live at The Fillmore album. She turned the folk rock audience on their ear. That's probably a top 5 live live album in itself.

    Hey Now Hey gets a bad rap as well and that's a great album. Just when you think you have Aretha figured out she sits at the piano and murders "Somewhwere"and Angel
  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts

    My first Aretha record. I need to get back to listening to that.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts

    My first Aretha record. I need to get back to listening to that.

    anyone cop the "deluxe Cd" version of this album.

    I grew up w/ this and Spirit In The Dark.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Funny this post popped up again. I have been listening to early Columbia stuff. You have to pick and choose songs for the most part, but great stuff.
  • thursdayalleythursdayalley 87 Posts
    no love for her gospel 78's?
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Sorry for the plug but the dude James goes DEEP in this essay sparked by listening to a comp of Aretha's '80s-present material. http://soul-sides.com/2012/06/my-aretha/
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    thursdayalley said:
    no love for her gospel 78's?

    I've never come across them.
    I have heard the sides on the Chess reissue lps.
    They are OK. There are better 50s female gospel shouters, and she went on to do much better stuff.

    That Amazing Grace lp of hers is a favorite.
  • soulcitizensoulcitizen 304 Posts
    Forget the title track and listen to the rest of the 'Jump to it' album

    'This love's for real'

    LUSH
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    mannybolone said:
    Sorry for the plug but the dude James goes DEEP in this essay sparked by listening to a comp of Aretha's '80s-present material. http://soul-sides.com/2012/06/my-aretha/

    I am a big fan of James writing, but he needs an editor.
    I couldn't get to the part where he reviews the music.
    One paragraph on growing up, one on record collecting, one on real Aretha, would have been fine.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,954 Posts
    I've gotten abuse verging on the physical for saying, and meaning it, that I think Areatha is blessed with perhaps the greatest voice but cursed with dire choice of material - and that I like very little of it. It's like the producers are saying "Hey, Aretha, come here - this is my friend [insert name], do that thing where you scream the song."

    If that doesn't invoke the David Banner response (not him; I mean the "Real" semi-Ferrigno one) I then follow up with "I think this is the real Aretha right here" and talk about this tune being my favourite by far:



    Buzzed off this since it was released. Full spectrum of the voice. See the velvet glove that adorns the iron fist. Most goosebumps per minute for me of anything she's done. Bonus Luther and Tawatha Agee bv's. Marcus Miller co-wrote and produced it when he was 20. What's not to like, seriously?

    [insert abuse here]
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