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Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul Audio CD

A fair review of the Aretha Franklin "Lady Soul" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Aretha Franklin reviews here, or go back to the Aretha Franklin tabs.

Band: Aretha Franklin
Title: Lady Soul
Rating:

Release Date: 1995-06-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Chain of Fools 2: Money Won't Change You 3: People Get Ready 4: Niki Hoeky 5: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman 6: Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby) 7: Good to Me as I Am to You 8: Come Back Baby 9: Groovin' 10: Ain't No Way 11: Chain of Fools [Unedited Version][*] 12: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman [Mono Single Version][*] 13: Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby) [Mono Single Version][*] 14: Ain't No Way [Mono Single Version][*]

*SIZZLING* Music from this Soul Sister!
It's remarkably cohesive even though some songs were left over from other recording sessions. There's not a single track on ARETHA: LADY SOUL that I didn't like.

Sure this dynamic album/CD contains the monster hits "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and "Chain Of Fools" but the real stand out for me is "Good To Me As I am To You. "

"Good To Me. . . " is a song that I've never heard of before. I don't remember it being available on all the numerous greatest hits and compilations albums for Aretha, but this song should have been right up there with the rest of her standards. The song is a blues-torch song with Aretha whooping and hollering like only she can and really proves that the title of the album was more than just a name.

There are four bonus tracks including the long version of "Chain Of Fools" with spoken intro. And there's updated liner notes from David Nathan and the original liner notes from Jon Landau of Rolling Stone magazine.

If you don't already own it, buy LADY SOUL now and you'll understand why Rolling Stone Magazine named her the greatest singer of all time.

A must have CD
But wait, there's more. The unedited version of "Chain of Fools" with the haunting blues opening makes this CD worth buying by itself. The hits fit well together with the lesser known songs; this CD may end up in my top ten of all time (I may have to drop a Beatles album because of it).

A bit overrated, but worth your while
I don't know about that myself; there is a lot of filler on this album, mostly mediocre to bad covers ("Groovin'", which never was that good a song in the first place - to generalize once again, covers of bad songs will probably turn out just as bad, if not worse; "Niki Hoeky" is, um. A lot of people rank this as Aretha's best album, or at least in her top three. . . hokey; "People Get Ready" is turned from moving to schlocky - try to find the Impressions' original instead; no amount of Aretha's belting can redeem "Come Back Baby"). The rest is far better, thank Gitchie Mondou. You get a classic unbridled soul shouter known as "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" - the single song I use to point out why Aretha is the greatest soul singer ever; "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman" and "Ain't No Way" are tender, moving ballads; "Chain of Fools" is my favorite Aretha Franklin song, a cup of proto-funk that would make James Brown proud. Speaking of James Brown, she also does a very good cover of his popular "Money Won't Change You". The most underrated of the batch is the slow, gritty blues "Good to Me as I Am to You", with a solid guitar riff from Eric Clapton. It was also written solely by Franklin, proving she could be quite a good songwriter herself: she also co-wrote "Since You've Been Gone" with Teddy White and "Ain't No Way" with her sister Carolyn. If you're addicted to Aretha, this will satisfy.

Aretha's Second Masterpiece
The same year as the success, she came out with another album called Aretha Arrives but it wasn't considered a classic and perhaps she should have waited before releasing another album so soon after. After releasing the mamouth I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You/Including Respect with the big hit "Respect" Aretha was crowned "The Queen Of Soul" and for good reason cause she was an extra-ordinary performer with a magnificient voice. One year after in 1968 however came the worthy successor to "I Never Loved a Man", and it couldn't been better titled then "Lady Soul". This album is simular in many ways and mostly mentioned in the same lines, as a classic 60's soul album with songs about love, faith and hope. Joe South, Bobby Womack, King Floyd and Eric Clapon contributed on diffrent instruments and Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy sang backround vocals. By that you can really understand that Aretha's albums with Atlantic were a project they always put alot of work in, apart from her previous Colombia recordings.

On "Lady Soul" there is once again a variation of newly composed songs and famous covers, in todays standards you could say that she covered too much but back in the day most albums were compiled like this. But what differs Aretha from other singers is that she always made the songs she sings her own and that is typical for a musicial prodigy like I would call her. 3 singles were relased from this album and all made the top 10, while the #2 single "Chain of Fools" became a synonym for Aretha and another female anthem of a woman who's taking alot of pain from her man who's being unfaithful, but in the last verse she confess "One of these mornings the chain is gonna break/ But up until then, yeah, I'm gonna take all I can take", the most famous part of this classic is probably the "chain chain chain" chant that is incredibly catchy. "Money Won't Change You" was a James Brown song and it's much more funky then the usual song here, but rather short. "People Get Ready" was a Curtis Mayfield composed classic from the time with the Impressions about the civil right movement but Artetha still manage to make a good version of it (just like she did on Sam Cooke's (A Change Is Gonna Come), even if it's slightly diffrent then the original in a slower pace. This song is wonderful and the lyrics in the first verse goes like "There's a train a-coming/ You don't need no baggage/ You just get on board/ All you need is faith/ To hear the diesels humming/ Don't need no ticket/ You just thank the Lord". Another brassy song in "Niki Hoeky" where a gifted backround band and gospel choir is helping her out. "(You Make Me Feel like) a Natural Woman" is perhaps the best song of this album together with "Chain of Fools", a typical Aretha classic with strong message of love and self esteem where she find strenght after being loved and respected from a great gentleman. Carole King wrote it with her partner Gerry Goffin, she later released it herself on her album Tapestry a few years later.

"Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)" reached the #5 on the pop charts and it was actually written by her and her husband Ted White. It's most funky and emotional with backround choirs and horns setting the tone. Bit short though. Aretha continued composing with "Good to Me As I Am to You" a slow ballad with stripped down bluesy arrangements. Next up is the cover of Ray Charles's "Come Back Baby" which is another worhhwile addition to a great album. "Groovin" is a cover of the Young Rascals immense hit from 1967, I actually prefer their original version cause it had better arrangements. "Ain't No Way" was written by Aretha's sister Carolyn and it is the closer. This is a slow love ballad, simular message like "Chain of Fools".

Overall, Another album another classic by one of our greatest female singers to date. This album is a needed brickstone in a devoted music fan's collection. For furhter listening, also check her next album Aretha Now which is almost equally strong.
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People get ready for this one
Everything fell into place in this beautiful production. It would be difficult to rate the best of Aretha's work, but this one must be considered. "People Get Ready" was made for Aretha, one of the best of all time, in my opinion.

You can see a complete list of all Aretha Franklin discography, or go back to the Aretha Franklin tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.