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Album Title: Aretha's Best, Aretha Franklin
Why I Bought It: Hey, it's Aretha! 'Nuf said.
What I Like (Sassy): "Respect". Of course: probably her best-known song. Honorable Mention: "Who's Zoomin' Who".
What I Like (Penitent): "The House That Jack Built". "I got the house, but I ain't got Jack" - great line!
What I Like (Happy): "A Natural Woman". The first version I ever heard was Carole King's, which is good enough, but Aretha's ten times the singer King is; her version is much smoother. Honorable Mention: "Jump To It".
What I Like (Interesting): "Bridge Over Troubled Water". When Aretha covers a song, she doesn't copy; she makes it her own. This one's nothing like Art Garfunkel.
Overall: There are a number of other songs on this album that I could have mentioned. Her versions of "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Spanish Harlem" (in which she makes a point of saying "Black and Spanish Harlem", without disrupting the rhythm) are excellent; "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man" is a nice "warning" song, and "Day Dreaming" is beautiful. Then there's "Freeway of Love", which relaunched her career after Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" named her as a figure of a bygone age, and may be the flauntingest thing she ever sang....
Why I Bought It: Hey, it's Aretha! 'Nuf said.
What I Like (Sassy): "Respect". Of course: probably her best-known song. Honorable Mention: "Who's Zoomin' Who".
What I Like (Penitent): "The House That Jack Built". "I got the house, but I ain't got Jack" - great line!
What I Like (Happy): "A Natural Woman". The first version I ever heard was Carole King's, which is good enough, but Aretha's ten times the singer King is; her version is much smoother. Honorable Mention: "Jump To It".
What I Like (Interesting): "Bridge Over Troubled Water". When Aretha covers a song, she doesn't copy; she makes it her own. This one's nothing like Art Garfunkel.
Overall: There are a number of other songs on this album that I could have mentioned. Her versions of "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Spanish Harlem" (in which she makes a point of saying "Black and Spanish Harlem", without disrupting the rhythm) are excellent; "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man" is a nice "warning" song, and "Day Dreaming" is beautiful. Then there's "Freeway of Love", which relaunched her career after Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" named her as a figure of a bygone age, and may be the flauntingest thing she ever sang....
