tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post3486308606615990486..comments2024-01-26T20:41:02.065+13:00Comments on Quote Unquote: Happy birthday, Aretha FranklinStephen Stratfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-8943935084691628162014-03-28T02:19:33.193+13:002014-03-28T02:19:33.193+13:00Nice write up! I love young Aretha! Nice write up! I love young Aretha! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15588836014018778110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-33147588610089294312014-03-27T11:36:18.471+13:002014-03-27T11:36:18.471+13:00There's a case to be made that "Young Gif...There's a case to be made that "Young Gifted and Black" is her greatest album. Even her early Atlantic albums have filler, too many standards and cover versions. This too has cover versions, but with the R&B/fusion players you've mentioned - so much more experimental and subtle than the great Muscle Shoals players she had used for all her Atlantic albums 'til "Spirit in the Dark" - they aren't covers at all, but interpretations. Even 'Long and Winding Road' or 'I've Been Loving You Too Long' she makes her own, in a delicate, sparse, emotional way (similar to what Roberta Flack was doing at the same time). Several originals by Aretha stand alongside classics such as the ecstatic, slow-building 'Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time',Elton John's 'Border Song' - which she turns into a genuine gospel song - and the uplifting 'A Brand New Me', which swings like Basie. After the gentle, tightrope walking openers 'Oh Me Oh My' and her own 'Day Dreaming', the funk classic 'Rock Steady' is a bit of a shock, and - great as it is - not in keeping with the rest of the album. The title song, originally by Nina Simone, is of course a manifesto that has never been bettered, handled without stridency. If one can ever burn out to the classic early Atlantic period (maybe 'Respect' but never 'I Have Never Loved a Man' or 'I Say a Little Prayer'), this is the Aretha album that keeps on giving; it's the ultimate soul desert island disc.Chris Bourkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00778690327406325923noreply@blogger.com