Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You/Including Respect

This is the album on which Aretha finds her voice. She'd previously recorded for another label, but this Atlantic debut created the sound that has come to define her. The tracks read like a greatest hits collection: "Respect," "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man," "Dr. Feelgood," "Baby, Baby, Baby," "A Change Is Gonna Come," and the title track. She's alternately pumped full of soul or scraping her inner being to find more. A classic. --Robert Gordon Amazon.com essential recording

"YOUR DEEP SOUL STARTING POINT!"

Or should I say 'The One That Started It All!' After this Legendary Album Aretha has NEVER had a dry spell and/or looked back (Over 5 Decades of #1 Hits And Countless Top Ten Hits). Starting with the #1 Smash Title Track,
Aretha come back with even a BIGGER Hit: "Respect" that has become the All-Time Female Anthem. Tucked away B-Sides: "Do Right Woman-Do Right Man" & "Dr. Feelgood", along with Album Killers: "Baby, Baby, Baby",
"Drown In My Own Tears" & "A Change Is Gonna Come" Aretha was offically
off and running!!! Just for the History Records: This Album has NEVER been Out Of Print since it first seen the light of day. The down side to this Compact Disc Reissue is that it is presented in Mono with the exception of: "Respect", "I Never Loved A Man" & "Do Right Woman-Do Right Man" being Repeated (They call them 'Bonus Tracks'???). This I don't understand when this entire project was Released In Stereo back in the day (Yes!, I still have my Stereo Vinyl/Record of it!). In the meantime this is a Must-Have for ANY Collection, and who knows, maybe one day we'll get a Massive Box Set Of Aretha's Complete Atlantic Outpet of ALL of Her Recordings for the label...Wouldn't that be nice????
November 13, 2007

No doubt about it folks

this album is a killer. Aretha smokes on this one!!! She's made some excellent albums and had a seemingly inexhaustable run on various singles charts, but the fire, energy, and intensity she puts forth here takes some beating, and is a joy to behold. Is this the best soul album of all time? Probably would spark a huge debate, but I tell you what, in my humble opinion, it's close. Released 40 years ago (I bought the album when it first came out-oops, hahaha) and it's STILL an incredible listen today. I know what you're waiting for so I'll say it: "It's a classic." September 20, 2007

R.E.S.P.E.C.T Her

What could I possibly say about Aretha Franklin that haven't been said before. We all know she's a tremendous singer with huge impact on Soul music, just mentioning her name is Respect giving. Aretha probably got the most recognizable female voice in history and one of the greatest too. But she also had a huge impact for female solo singers and women in general. Many of her anthems dealt with woman's emancipation in the turbulence of the late 60's just aswell as plenty of political songs for the civil rights movement. Aretha comes out as a strong independent woman with alot to say that craves respect from anyone, but she was actually one of the first female Soul/R&B singers to make it solo. Based on her magnificient voice it isn't hard to see why but back in the day there were few female singers. Most were stuck in diffrent kind of manufacted groups singing music that had been written and produced by profesionals like Phil Spector with very little artistic creativity of their own. The Ronettes, The Marvelettes, The Supremes were just a few examples in a myriad of rather simular sounding early 60's girl groups where oftengood looks were more important then actual talent. Aretha would never have fit into any of those bands cause she didn't look like Diana Ross but thanks got she went solo instead cause she opened doors to so many others and the recordings she left behind are nothing short of majestic.

Things could have gone diffrently though. Aretha was under contract with Columbia Records for six years and released several albums for them. Unfortunately, the music that was released was more Jazzy then the Gospel Soul that later became her trademark, While it wasn't bad per se it just seemed that Columbia wanted something diffrent out of her and this stopped her artistic development. After very few memorable hits and a sound that wasn't her own she accepted an offer from Atlantic in 1966. After 1 year in the studio she released this, a true landmark for Soul and Aretha would make her nickname "The Queen of Soul" justice.

The not so aptly titled album "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You" feauture classics like "Respect", "Dr Feelgood" and the title track "I Never Loved A Man" ofcourse. Alot of the songs were actually written by men, Otis Redding who sadly died in the same year wrote "Respect" the biggest female anthem of all time but it suits Aretha perfect and became "her's" with her outstanding vocal performence and great backround choirs. The way she sings this one makes is hard for any man not to respect her. The song spent an impressive 8 weeks at #1 on the pop charts in 1967. "Drown in My Own Tears" was previously recorded by Ray Charles and it's a slower piano based song of sorrow, in this case a woman who misses her man and will literally drown in her own tears if he won't come back. Aretha puts her whole soul into this song and you will hear it time after time on this album. "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I love You)" is another strong number and the lyrics are very straight forward of a woman that had enough of her man that can't treat her right "You're a no good heart breaker/ You're a liar and you're a cheat/And I don't know why, I let you do these things to me" Aretha even gives herself dignity and sais "Baby, you know that I'm the best thing That you ever had". "Soul Serenade" is actually more or less an instrumental, she just sings the title while her band backs her up perfect. Even if many of the Aretha classics weren't written by her, she co- wrote the next song "Don't Let Me Lose This Dream" with her by then husband Ted White. Personally I think it's one of the best songs. Next song "Baby, Baby, Baby" was co-written by her and her sister. A very powerful love song with alot of soul and Aretha shows talent for writing aswell.

She and her husband wrote the song "Dr Feelgood" aswell. More bluesy, yet soulful and the most famous of Aretha originals. Based on the sexy lyrics I bet Ted White was a great lover. "Good Times" is the first of two Sam Cooke covers. This is a great but a it short recording and mostly a feel good song, backed by a jazzy band. The wonderful "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" another female anthem is summed up perfect with these lines "A woman's only human/You should understand/She's not just a play thing/She's flesh and blood just like her man". This song was written by two young white men and it got this country feeling. Once again Aretha made it her own in her special way. She wrote "Save Me" which is an uptempo song slightly simular to "Respect" with great horns and bass. The closer "A Change Is Gonna Come" was a hit for Sam Cooke (my alltime favorite singer) and it's one of the greatest songs I know. It was a song about the civil rights movement and the message is very clear. Cooke's version was slightly diffrent, slower more forward while Aretha's is more soulish and powerful. As hard as it is to challenge Cooke's undisputed classic, Aretha makes a great job and I like both versions.

Overall, A true classic in every way. Aretha delivers from song to song and there's nothing here that isn't brilliant, the only problem I have is that too many of the recordings are cut short and would be much better if they would be longer but back then few songs were over 3 minutes. This would be a landmark for alot of upcoming soul and the new-start of a long and successful career. It's hard for me to express how good this album is, so if you haven't heard it yet go get it. This is a must have in your collection and if You're further interested in her music, check out Lady Soul aswell which is equally good. There can only be one Queen of Soul and she's in full control. September 4, 2007

FOREVER ARETHA, FOREVER THE QUEEN OF SOUL

If you don't have this CD in your collection, you are truly missing a treasure. With this CD, we see "Aretha" bringing the "fervor" of gospel music to the world of circular music in a way that no other African-American musical artist has done with the exception of Ray Charles and James Brown. She is unapologetic as she lets her voice soar to a spiritual place that can only be reached by someone who's church upbringing is as much a part of her being as the water she drinks and the air she breaths. You will "go to church" when you hear her sing Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" and the song that has become every woman's anthem, "Respect".

On this CD, Aretha not only defines Rhythmn and Blues; she also defines her version of the Blues. Her Blues is not the Blues of Big Mama Thorton, KoKo Taylor, or Etta James. Aretha's Blues doesn't try to compete or "rock" like a man's Blues. Aretha's Blues is a woman's Blues--smart, sassy, pleading, proud, and defiant all at the same time. One gets to feel it all when she belts out "I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You," "Soul Serenade," and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man".

And the piano playing--yes, that's Aretha--that pure syncopated gospel style that many church going African Americans take for granted on any given Sunday morning.

Add this body of work to your Aretha collection. You won't have the blues for long and you will come to understand what it means to "go to church."

March 8, 2007

Soul is a Serious Business - and She's Got it Down!

Yeah, I've always been a fan of Aretha's. But I gained a new appreciation for her upon hearing this soul landmark. It's seriously up there with those Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder classics. She is, simply, the ultimate soul singer, with the ultimate soul anthem to her credit: Respect. She took the Otis Redding song and gave it quite the makeover. Sure, Otis' version is great, but this one puts it and any other covers of it to shame and back. The rest of the album lives in Respect's shadow, but there's lots more to like about it: the bluesy title track, for one, as well as moving versions of Do-Right Woman, Do-Right Man and Sam Cooke's oft-covered A Change is Gonna Come. Speaking of covers, I love her versions of Drown in My Own Tears and Good Times. Sure, both are overrecorded, but Aretha somehow gives them personality. And Dr. Feelgood has to be her most underrated. Even a few of the minor tracks (Soul Serenade; Baby, Baby, Baby, Save Me) would've led the way on a lesser album.
Be sure to buy this. I know that most consider soul a more singles-based genre than an album-based one, but there are quite a few good soul LP's out there that deserve the same recognition as the '60's rock classics. This is one of them. February 22, 2007

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