Search - Aretha Franklin :: Aretha Arrives

Love Those Covers!

Steven Haarala | Mandeville, LA USA | 11/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I always look forward to covers by my favorite artists. They can be disastrous, or they can breathe new life into songs and produce something very different, especially when the songs vary significantly from their normal repertoire. Thank goodness most of Aretha's covers work. Some memorable ones from other albums include "A Change Is Gonna Come", "The Thrill Is Gone", "Border Song", "I've Been Loving You Too Long", "Let It Be" and "Oh Me Oh My". This album is no exception. She handles with ease songs that I associate with other artists. The Stones' "Satisfaction" gets the full Franklin treatment, with R&B piano and improvised lyrics. As for "You Are My Sunshine", I never thought it could sound like "Chain of Fools", but it does, after a long, dramatic intro. Aretha's version of "96 Tears", the one-hit wonder by ? and The Mysterians, bears little relation to the original, but it works as an Aretha track. "That's Life" is pretty close to Sinatra's version - as close as Aretha can get, anyway. Her personal stamp is unmistakable, of course.



The remaining material is what we traditionally associate with Aretha. There are three ballads of pleading and heartache: "Never Let Me Go", "Prove It" and "I Wonder". Two tracks are slow and bluesy: "Night Life" has beautiful string accompaniment (as do other tracks), while "Going Down Slow" is dominated by horns and piano. And for confident, upbeat numbers, we hear "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)" and the aggressively sexy hit of the album, "Baby, I Love You".



So, is it a big deal? Well, I admit to bias in her favor, but to me it's just another 5-star album in the career of the greatest soul singer in the history of the world, that's all."