So good it hurts.
The quality and sound of this album crosses all genres. It's what Adam and Eve listened to in the Garden
Total Tracks: 16 Total Length: 61:59
The quality and sound of this album crosses all genres. It's what Adam and Eve listened to in the Garden
Amidst the thousands of words attached to Columbia Records 'massive overview or Aretha Franklin's five years on the label is a quote from her 2000 autobiography: "I look at my entire Columbia experience in a positive light. I wouldn't change anything." That a tepid, not-quite-double negative is the best evidence supporting evidence the set's producers can dig up says a lot about the low regard in which Franklin's pre-Atlantic period is typically held - that is,… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
Aretha Franklin was groomed from birth to sing. The daughter of a Detroit reverend, Franklin started recording at age 14 - first gospel, then pop. The string of records she made between 1967 and 1974, though, are the peak of the great American diva's magnificent career: rolling, roaring, heartstopping soul music (with flashes of rock 'n 'roll), political and sexual and spiritual all at once. Her interpretive gifts shine glory on everything she sings, but… more »
The Delta Meets Detroit: Aretha’s Blues is one of the few non-hits compilations that makes sense. Selecting 16 tracks from her Atlantic recordings, the disc spotlights Franklin at her bluesiest — there are no hits here, but there’s also no shortage of remarkable songs, either, as “Today I Sing the Blues,” “Night Life,” “Night Time Is the Right Time,” “Good to Me As I Am to You,” “Going Down Slow,” “Drown in My Own Tears,” and “Dr. Feelgood (Love Is a Serious Business)” rank among her grittiest performances. If you’re only familiar with the hits, this is an excellent way to dig deeper into her catalog, and if you already have this material on their original albums, The Delta Meets Detroit actually offers some revelations you may not have expected. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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