Aretha Franklin - The Very Best of Aretha Franklin: The 60's

This 16-track disc and its companion piece (Volume 2) do a great job of recapitulating Aretha's singles career at Atlantic. Some of the most compelling music ever recorded, these sides bring forth the best of one of the great singers. Whether all but rewriting "Respect" ("That girl stole my song," an admiring Otis Redding said) or barely masking the pain behind "Call Me," she tells some of the truest stories around. And what a piano player. --Rickey Wright Amazon.com

ARETHA FRANKLIN IS THE BEST!

Whenever I go to the Longmont Public Library, I always get the CD, The Very Best Of Aretha Franklin. I would take it home, put it in my stereo and play it. I feel in love with all the songs. I am going to rate the songs one by one from a scale of 1 to 5. There are times I will go over the 1 to 5 scale:

1.RESPECT: I give this song a 8/5 because I love the words and how Aretha sings it. She sings it with such clarity, emotion and power. This song swept me off my feet and I love to sing along with it.

2.BABY I LOVE YOU: I give this song a 7/5 because I love to move to it. The words and the tune sounds great!! I'd be singing along with it and began to dance to it. It would be hard to sit still or not sing along with the song.

3.I NEVER LOVED A MAN: I give this song a 7/5 because I love to move and sing along with it. The background music is awesome and quite electrifying. I esppecially love the sound of the guitars!!!!

4.CHAIN OF FOOLS: I give this song a 8/5 because I LOOVE the beginning part of the song to the end. The story is very realizitic because many women have fell love with men that they so caught up in into them that they are blind to the fact that the men are no good, errogant users that take love for granted. The friends of the women whose going out that with those types of men always warn them that they are no good and the women should go out with them.Aretha tells about how much she still love her man in spite of the fact that people saw something bad in him that she was too blind by love to see. She was literally her boyfriend's CHAIN OF FOOL.

5.DO RIGHT WOMAN-DO RIGHT MAN: I give this song a 8/5 because I love the words and the sound to it. The part I like is "Woman's only human. You should understand. She's not just a play thing but flesh and blood just like her man. If you want a do right, all days woman, you gotta be a do right, all night man."

6.(YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE)A NATURAL WOMAN: I give this song a 8/5 because it is so beautiful and peaceful. I find myself singing along with this song. In the song, Aretha is telling the man how much he menas to her and what he has done for her.

7.(SWEET SWEET BABY): I give this song a 6/5 because I love the song.Aretha does a wonderful job singing about this song.

8.AIN'T NO WAY: I give this song a 5/5 because even though I heard and like the song, I don't remember about how the song or the tune goews.

9.THINK: I give this song a 8/5 because I love the words and the tune. I love how Aretha adds sassiness to the song as she demands respect from her trifling boyfriend. The part I like is "You better think. Think about whatcha try to me. Yeah, let's think. Just let yourself be because FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM! OH,FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM! I love singing that part of the song.

10.SEE SAW: I give this song a 8/5 because I love this song. The words, the sound and Aretha's voice makes this song phemononal and awesome. My favorite part is "Your love is like a see-saw. Your love is like a see-saw, baby. You love is like a see-saw. Going up,down all around." I love singing that part as well as the whole song.

11.THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT: I give this song a 8/5 because I love the words and tune to the song. I enjoy singing along with the song. I feel soory for Jack because he's such a hard worker in building that house that bad things came upon him. So right after he finished building the house, he left seeking a better life somewhere else.

12.I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER: I give this song a 7/5 because I love this song. I love how the music and the words flows together as Aretha sings the song.

13.THE WEIGHT: I give this song a 8/5 because I love this song. Aretha does an awesome job singing the song and I love the music (esppecially the guitars!!!) behind her voice, which makes the song phenomonal.

14.ELEANOR RIGBY: I give this song a 6/5 because I love how the words and the music flow together as Aretha sings her song about Eleanor Rigby

15.SHARE YOUR LOVE WITH ME: I give this song a 5/5 because I like the song. I don't remember a whole lot about the song.

16.CALL ME: I give this song a 5/5 because it's a great song. Even though I heard it, I don't remember much about the song.

Total score: 112/80. This is a great CD. If anybody love the early projects of Aretha Franklin, you should get this CD. I know I need to buy the CD myself since I always check the CD from the Public LIbrary. I recommend it! November 8, 2005

They don't call her, "Lady Soul" for nothin'.

Since I don't know a better way to review this, I'll do the rate-the-song-on-a-scale-of-one-to-ten gag.
1. Respect: 10/10. How can you not rate this a 10?
2. Baby I Love You: 10/10. Listen to that VOICE!
3. I Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You): 10/10. With the help of her voice and incredible backup vocals, she turns a cliche into something awesome.
4. Chain of Fools: 11/10. My favorite, it's a great slice of proto-funk.
5. Do-Right Woman, Do-Right Man: 9/10. Still good, but doesn't quite do it for me.
6. (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman: 8/10. If it weren't overly orchestrated, this would be a 10.
7. (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone: 10/10. Great song.
8. Ain't No Way: 10/10. Best of the slower songs.
9. Think: 10/10. Again, listen to that VOICE!
10. See Saw: 7/10. It's okay.
11. The House That Jack Built: 10/10. Second-best song. Have you noticed how unlucky this Jack guy is? Come on, bad stuff happens to him here, on Ray Charles' Hit the Road Jack, AND on Steely Dan's Do It Again.
12. I Say a Little Prayer: 8/10. Good not great.
13. The Weight: 10/10. Incredible guitar and, as usual, vocal performance.
14. Eleanor Rigby: 3/10. Really dumb.
15. Share Your Love With Me: 10/10. Another amazing song.
16. Call Me: 5/10. Another one I don't like.
This is good stuff! September 7, 2005

This Is Truly An All Time Great CD!!

When I played this CD in my car...my mother asked for it, so I had to buy another Vol. 3-Very Best of Aretha Franklin! My mother and I agreed that they simply don't make songs like this any more. Aretha's CD brought back wonderful memories of the 60's. Today, we listen intent to exactly what Aretha was saying in these musical messages. We now understand Aretha's songs better than in the past. The music is wonderful, the background voices are majestical. What a wonderful combination of words, messages, instruments and singing. Yes, lay back - listen and enjoy this wonderful CD...They just don't make them like this anymore. July 15, 2002

Ambassador of Love

To me Aretha was an ambassador of love when i heard this CD. All My troubles go away when I listen to her sweet loving songs. They're soulful and romantic but most of all full of self respect. And what could that emanate more than love. Not violence, not dark depressive singin'.
I'm glad to be celebrating life in this world that produced Miss Aretha. Thank you. February 8, 2002

SOUL MAGIC

Like all RHINO's best of,this is a commandable collection of ARETHA's works in her early days at ATLANTIC.RESPECT,YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A NATURAL WOMAN and I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER(marvelous cover of the BACHARACH-DAVID song ,first recorded by DIONNE WARWICK)can be considered the highlights,but everything deserves to be there.ELEANOR RIGBY is my only complaint(RAY CHARLES's cover is great).If all the best of collections could be of the quality of those at RHINO,it would be heaven on this earth. February 6, 2002

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