Aretha Franklin - 'Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics'

Well I have just played all of Aretha’s new album and was far from impressed. Now I love Aretha and have all of her Columbia & Atlantic recordings. The only Arista one I have is ‘Who’s Zoomin’ Who’. She’s now 72 so no one can expect her to sound like she did in her heyday. However there comes a time when every good singer should call it a day and Aretha’s time has come. Oh she’s not unlistenable like some I could mention but her higher register has gone but she will insist in reaching for those high notes and sounds like a seagull in pain! As you know the album is all cover versions of well known songs, well all bar one at least. I’d never heard of ‘No One’ by Alicia Keys before!

So let’s go back to the ‘60’s. Many of Aretha’s greatest hits were cover versions :- Respect/Natural Woman/I Say A Little Prayer/Bridge Over Troubled Water/Spanish Harlem/Don’t Play That Song/Eleanor Rigby/Satisfaction and many others. She made these songs her own although I can’t stand her version of ‘Prayer’! Sadly on her new album Aretha has not been able to work the same magic with perhaps the exception of the aforementioned Alicia Keys song which I didn’t know anyway. ‘I’m Every Woman’ still belongs to Chaka Khan even with it turning into ‘Respect’! ‘I Will Survive’ should be left only to Gloria and that includes Di’s dismal version. ‘People’, Teach Me Tonight’ & ‘At Last’ have all been done to death and Aretha adds nothing to them. The final nail in the coffin for me is her totally murderous version of the Prince penned Sinead O’Conner classic weepy ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. Where Sinead under sings it with great depth of feeling that reduces me to tears Aretha has turned it into an up tempo big band swing version with scatterings of scat! I was reduced to tears of a different sort.

I would have loved to have loved this album but I just don’t. Aretha over sings, the backing of many tracks is just too loud, the whole album is over produced. Sorry Aretha, time to retire gracefully.

Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics track list.

1. "At Last" [[Etta James Cover)
2. "Rolling In The Deep" [[Adele Cover)
3. "Midnight Train To Georgia" [[Gladys Knight and The Pips Cover)
4. "I Will Survive" [[Gloria Gaynor Cover)
5. "People" [[Barbra Streisand Cover)
6. "No One" [[Alicia Keys Cover)
7. "I’m Every Woman" [[Chaka Khan Cover)
8. "Teach Me Tonight" [[Dinah Washington Cover)
9. "You Keep Me Hangin’ On" [[The Supremes Cover)
10. "Nothing Compares 2 U" [[Sinéad O’Connor Cover)

I've only heard two songs from it so far and not impressed by what I heard. Sounds like schlockmeister Clive Davis steered Aretha down the wrong path, artistically, with this, yet another covers album. But I bet, given all the promo, that it well sell pretty decent, at least the first week out. BTW, I know Rolling the Deep has some autotune; was autotune used for any of the other songs to get a current hit radio vibe for the song?

Most of the reviews are not very good.

Rolling in the Deep/Mountain is not bad; most of the rest seems pretty weak and even on record, the decline of her voice seems evident on some of the tracks.

It's not fun to watch people like Aretha and Martha Reeves struggle; even if they enjoy what they are doing, it can be painful to see.

I think this release will do significantly better than her last one though.

Billboard Magazine
Aretha Franklin, 'Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics': Track-by-Track Album Review
ArticlesAlbum ReviewBy Dan Reilly | October 15, 2014 10:40 AM EDT

Aretha Franklin-- Sings The Great Diva Classics Review
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Aretha Franklin and Clive Davis' relationship began in 1980, when the Queen of Soul signed with the mogul's Arista Records. "And 20 years later, I made the right decision," Franklin tells Billboard of agreeing to that union. She had plenty of hits during that era, most notably her 1987 no. 1 with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting [[For Me)," though both eventually left that label for other projects.

This year, though, they're back with her new RCA album, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, which finds her covering some of the greatest female vocalists in history, including Etta James, Adele, Gladys Knight, Sinead O'Connor, Barbra Streisand, Gloria Gaynor, and Destiny's Child, with production help from Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Outkast's Andre 3000. A week ago, her version of "Rolling in the Deep" entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at 47, making her the first woman and only fourth artist ever to place 100 titles on that list.

"We knew from the very beginning that there will be certain cuts that will be left of center, certain cuts that will be entirely different from the original," Davis says about the project's genesis. Franklin knew she wanted to cover some songs she bought as a young woman, such as the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On." "I absolutely loved doing it. I had a real ball. I had a good time," the 72-year-old says with emphasis.

Check out our video interview with Franklin and Davis about Diva Classics, and check out our track-by-track review of the album below.

"At Last": At first, this Babyface-produced version doesn't stray much from Etta James' 1961 classic, beginning with the hit's signature string intro and featuring some added vocal flourishes from Aretha. Then it gets a more contemporary jazz feel, with modern-sounding percussion and the addition of a saxophone that wails away through the end of the song. It's the perfect way to ease into a covers album – familiar and exciting at the same time.

"Rolling in the Deep [[The Aretha Version)": This Adele cover hit over 2 million YouTube views within two days of Aretha performing it on Letterman, to the shock of pretty much nobody. The greatest diva of all time taking on the biggest soul single in decades is a no-brainer, and Aretha takes it back to the '60s by mashing it up with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," showing she still has the pipes to belt out the best tracks of any decade.

"Midnight Train to Georgia": For this Gladys Knight and the Pips single, Franklin starts off singing with a little more reserve, holding back on the vibrato-heavy high notes in favor of some softer crooning. The highlight here comes from her veteran team of backing vocalists: Fonzi Thornton, Tawatha Agee, Brenda White-King, Latrelle Simmons, and Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother. They add a gospel feel that, with Babyface's production, wouldn't sound out of place on late '90s TLC or Whitney mid-tempo ballad. There's not much to be gained by trying to outdo Gladys, but this version gives a little too much spotlight to Franklin's back-ups.

"I Will Survive [[The Aretha Version)": Chicago house DJ Terry Hunter adds an updated beat to the Gloria Gaynor disco smash, but a big surprise comes up around two-and-a-half minutes – the tempo drops, the bass booms, and Franklin veers into "Survivor" by Destiny's Child. After the interlude, the 72-year-old kicks back into the dance track with some scatting and spoken-word sass, the diva attitude in full force. It makes even more of an "I'm still here and you better recognize" statement than "Rolling in the Deep."

"People": Tackling Barbra Streisand's signature song is the first real derivation away from soul and R&B on the album but really, how could you leave Babs out of an album called Diva Classics? It's a refreshing, slightly bluesier version, and a great homage to Streisand that fans of the original will definitely appreciate it.

"No One": During a lunch meeting, Davis brought up this album to Alicia Keys, who quickly had the idea to have Franklin redo the 2007 chart-topper with Caribbean vibes. It'll definitely appeal to fans of both singers, though anyone who's a bit more of a reggae purist will yearn for more traditional instrumentation and sounds instead of the digital production.

"I'm Every Woman/Respect": Another no-brainer, blending Chaka Khan and Franklin's career-making singles about female empowerment. At five minutes long, it's guaranteed to be a hit at weddings or any other party where people who like the classics are on the dance floor.

"Teach Me Tonight": The traditional pop standard, done by dozens of big-name artists but forever owned by Dinah Washington in 1954, has long been a favorite of Franklin's, leading her to seemingly treat it with more reverence than the rest of the Diva tracks, maybe because it's the oldest of them all. Unlike most of the LP, the production is restrained and given a classic feel even with all the modern technological advances it employs. Franklin has way more rasp and vocal strength than Washington, but she doesn't let it overpower the beauty of the words and arrangement. In that regard, it's probably the finest balanced song on all of Diva Classics.

"You Keep Me Hangin' On": This project wouldn't be complete if Aretha didn't take on Diana Ross. Once again, producer Hunter adds a heavy four-on-the-floor beat, but it feels more like a remix of the Supremes' '66 single that steals the vibe of Sister Sledge's "We Are Family." Unfortunately, more expansive vocals from the Queen don't quite compare to Ross and co.'s streamlined, even-keeled harmonies.

"Nothing Compares 2 U": It shouldn't be a surprise that Andre 3000 producing a cover of this Prince-written Sinead O'Connor ballad would produce by far the most original sounds of the album, but it's hard to prepare for what he did here. From the opening drum fill, the up-tempo swinging version erases all visions of O’Conor shedding tears as Franklin sings this heartbreaker. If anything, the big-band arrangement and Franklin scatting like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn flips the sad sentiments into almost a tribute of a love who's only away on vacation or an extended business trip, not gone forever. It's so unrecognizable that, if you're not prepared for it, you'll find yourself saying, "Wait, is that...? No, it can't be... Wow, it really is!" It's a terrific way to close out Diva Classics, and one that makes us hope the Queen takes a stab at even bolder covers in the future.

I agree with Copley there are still moments of classic Aretha here mainly when she sings in a lower register, I don't understand why when singers reach the stage when they can't reach the high notes it's just then that they decide to reach for them.
I too wanted so much to like this album and as I say in the main there are moments that I do but each and every track seems to be spoiled by the singer trying to perform vocal gymnastics that she just cannot do. It's a crying shame. Having said that I'm sure there are a myriad of contemporary singers who without the help of auto tune would be equally as bad. At least she is still trying and if this opens the door to just a few more fans of her vintage material then more power to her elbow. Aretha is till up there in my top ten divas of all time and the best thing is she's still out fighting to hang onto her audience.

thanks for making me laugh today, copely..."a seagull in pain"...love it. Will have to remember that one.

I bought Aretha's new cd and I love it. Even songs that I was iffy about like AT LAST sound much better than they did when I listened to the stream that she and Clive had at the Y a few weeks back.

In particular, I really like ROLLING IN THE DEEP, I'M EVERY WOMAN / RESPECT, YOU KEEP ME HANGIN' ON, TEACH ME TONIGHT, I WILL SURVIVE, and NOTHIN' COMPARES 2 U. Probably the only song I could do without is NO ONE, which in its original form I never much cared for anyway.

I do think that the instrumentation sometimes sounds a bit canned or programmed. I also don't feel that Aretha "inhabits" these remakes like she did her earlier ones, like RESPECT, BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER, YOU SEND ME, and others, making them almost new. But back then, she was much more involved with the arrangements than she is now. Some of the keys could have been lowered to take advantage of Aretha's still rich lower register. But I find the cd far from the screeching mess that some have described on other sites. It was also nice to see that her old friend Cissy Houston sang background on many of the tracks.

Re packaging, there are some nice notes from David Nathan, as well as Aretha. I must admit that I wish some of the pictures had not been airbrushed so heavily. One photo is done so badly it looks as if Aretha's head was put on another person's body, which I don't believe it was. Recent albums by Dionne have suffered from the same issue.

All in all, it is a great album, and I hope is does well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reese

I bought Aretha's new cd and I love it. Even songs that I was iffy about like AT LAST sound much better than they did when I listened to the stream that she and Clive had at the Y a few weeks back.

In particular, I really like ROLLING IN THE DEEP, I'M EVERY WOMAN / RESPECT, YOU KEEP ME HANGIN' ON, TEACH ME TONIGHT, I WILL SURVIVE, and NOTHIN' COMPARES 2 U. Probably the only song I could do without is NO ONE, which in its original form I never much cared for anyway.

I do think that the instrumentation sometimes sounds a bit canned or programmed. I also don't feel that Aretha "inhabits" these remakes like she did her earlier ones, like RESPECT, BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER, YOU SEND ME, and others, making them almost new. But back then, she was much more involved with the arrangements than she is now. Some of the keys could have been lowered to take advantage of Aretha's still rich lower register. But I find the cd far from the screeching mess that some have described on other sites. It was also nice to see that her old friend Cissy Houston sang background on many of the tracks.

Re packaging, there are some nice notes from David Nathan, as well as Aretha. I must admit that I wish some of the pictures had not been airbrushed so heavily. One photo is done so badly it looks as if Aretha's head was put on another person's body, which I don't believe it was. Recent albums by Dionne have suffered from the same issue.

All in all, it is a great album, and I hope is does well.

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Great review Reese, thanks! I hope it does well too.