Search - Aretha Franklin :: Who's Zoomin Who

The Second Reign

J. Brady | PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC United States | 09/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Or Aretha, Part Two. By the end of the 1970's Aretha Franklin's relationship with Atlantic Records had soured and her commercial and critical clout had all but disappeared. Enter Arista Records, and the dawn of a new decade. Never having got caught up in the Disco craze, Aretha was able to wipe her slate clean and get on with her life and her career. A few mildly succesful albums followed, she was able to again get nominated for Grammy Awards, and get her name in the soul charts. But pop success alluded her, until "Who's Zoomin Who?" took the nation by storm in the mid 1980's. The single lead single "Freeway of Love" was a huge smash. It managed to do what none of her singles in the previous ten years did - attract a big mainstream audience without sounding compromised and without alienating her fan base. Part dance, part rock, part soul. It was a winning combination and an undeniable, unstoppable hit. She broke out in a big way, garnering a new, younger audience, and recapturing the momentum that was seemingly lost. A few more Top Ten hits followed, and the Queen was back on top. Looking back, twenty years after "Who's Zoomin' Who?" was released, I think this album stands up. It doesn't sound dated, like some of her other 80's releases. "Freeway of Love" is still exciting, and managed to get me on my feet when I saw her in a rare concert performance a few years ago. The title track is still as funky as anything she's ever recorded. The single "Another Night" still has sass, and a lyric that really bites hard ( "you were phasing out, my sweet, and I knew it...you didn't give a damn how I got through it" ) The album cuts are just as good. "Until You Say You Love Me" still sounds as sweet to my ears as it did coming out of my boombox in 1985. "Sweet Bitter Love" ( a song she had recorded in the early 1960's when she was still with Columbia Records ) has a vocal that is much more mature, much more worldy ( and world weary ) than the original. The hit "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" is a duet with Eurythmics' Annie Lennox, and is another deft blend of rock, dance and soul. And with all due respect to Annie, whom I love, Aretha really steals the show ( indeed, she has the Last Words on this cut, "Thank you I'll get it myself.") This album is a real winner. A great comeback, a must-have for fans, and a good introduction for the curious."

Doing It For Herself in The 80's

KRA | East End of LI | 08/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After getting back on track thanks to Arista Records, and 1982's dance and Soul Hit, Jump To It. Aretha took it up a notch with this record.



Freeway of Love became one of her biggest hits ever, and many thought her biggest hits were left in years past. Another Night and Who's Zooming Who are also great 80's Soul/Pop classics, and the bluesy Sweet Bitter Love was song that Re Re recorded many years ago for Columbia, and this song was a great in your face answer to anyone who thought that he 80's work was not mature enough.



The Regae sway of Ain't Nobody Ever loved You, and her duet with Annie Lenoxx, Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves, round out this release nicely.



Drop the top baby and lets cruise!









"

(3.5 stars) Totally '80s, but good. Oxymoron alert!

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 11/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I like this record. It's total '80s cheese, and the cover sucks big time, but I don't care. It's got a lot of variety, including a fun, funky Carribbean song ("Ain't Nobody Ever Loved You"), some funk (`Freeway of Love"), some pure lovely pop (title track; "Until You Say You Love Me"), even some pseudo-disco ("Integrity"). And some really bad pop, most of it in the typical overproduced '80s vein ("Push"; the hit "Another Night"; "Sweet Bitter Love"). And while I'm all for feminism, the Eurythmics collaboration "Sisters Are Doin' it for Themselves" ends in tears. Then again, the Eurythmics are one of my least favorite bands ever, so I've got biases the size of Alaska there. It's true that this is much more sterilized than Aretha's best material, and it's also true that it's really glossy, but it's a very solid, very entertaining soul record just the same."