Just when you think that career-summarizing box sets were a dying art form... "To say that Aretha Franklin was one of the greatest American artists of all time is an understatement. Her multi-octave voice moved millions around the world during an unrivaled career that spanned six decades and garnered the singer-songwriter every achievement and honor imaginable. Her reign as the Queen of Soul will play out across four discs on a new boxed set from Rhino that is the first to span her entire career, including songs from every label she recorded with. Among the collection’s 81 newly remastered tracks, 19 are making their CD and digital debuts, including alternate versions of classic hits, demos, rarities, and live tracks, like her stunning performance of “(You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman” at The 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors in 2015. To put Franklin’s life and career into perspective, the collection is accompanied by liner notes written by Rochelle Riley, author and director of arts and culture for the City of Detroit, and David Nathan, a music journalist and soul historian who interviewed Franklin more times than any other living writer. The collection also features stunning artwork by celebrated artist Makeba KEEBS Rainey, who provides her signature style to a photo of the Queen Of Soul taken by the legendary photographer, Neal Preston. Rhino’s new boxed set will arrive shortly before the premiere of Respect, the highly anticipated biopic about Franklin’s life starring Jennifer Hudson. Arranged in mostly chronological order, ARETHA opens with “Never Grow Old” and “You Grow Closer,” which were released as her first single in 1956 by J.V.B Records. Notably, she recorded these gospel songs at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was the longtime pastor. The next 10 songs focus on the period between 1960 and 1966 when Franklin was signed to Columbia Records. The music includes her first single with the label (“Today I Sing The Blues”), her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (“Won’t Be Long”), plus the Top 40 R&B hits “Runnin’ Out Of Fools,” “One Step Ahead” and “Cry Like A Baby.” The majority of ARETHA is dedicated to her record-shattering tenure with Atlantic Records between 1967 and 1979, which included five consecutive #1 R&B albums. In fact, the first two unreleased songs on the collection – “My Kind Of Town (Detroit Is)” and “Try A Little Tenderness” – are home demos that she recorded in 1966 to give Atlantic executive and producer Jerry Wexler an idea of possible material for her debut LP for label. “My Kind Of Town (Detroit Is)” finds Franklin replacing the classic “Chicago” lyric from the Sinatra version of the song with a callout to her hometown of Detroit. Franklin’s biggest hits are here too, like “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You),” “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” and her signature smash, “Respect.” But instead of using familiar takes for other hits, the collection selects different versions, like alternate takes of “Chain Of Fools,” “Rock Steady,” and “Spanish Harlem”; live recordings of “Baby I Love You” and “Don’t Play That Song”; and “Think” recorded for The Blues Brothers soundtrack. Her early 70s collaboration with producer Quincy Jones is revisited with a trio of unreleased recordings including the Franklin original “The Boy From Bombay” and a stunning alternate version of her take on the Sondheim and Bernstein classic “Somewhere.” ARETHA also shines a spotlight on her best work with Arista Records between 1980 and 2007. Standouts from this era include hits like “Jump To It” and “Freeway Of Love.” This period also featured a number of memorable collaborations including “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” with Eurythmics and the #1 hit “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” with George Michael. Even for longtime fans, ARETHA delivers plenty of surprises. Prime examples are the numerous unreleased work tapes and demos for hits like “Angel,” “Until You Come Back To Me” and “Brand New Me.” The set also features the debuts of several television appearances, including duets with Tom Jones (“It’s Not Unusual/See Saw”), Smokey Robinson (“Ooo Baby Baby”) and Dionne Warwick (“I Say A Little Prayer.”) Finally, the collection rounds up rarities like her cover of Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” from the Malcom X soundtrack and her jaw-dropping live performance of “Nessun Dorma.” Disc One 1. “Never Grow Old” 2. “You Grow Closer” 3. “Today I Sing The Blues” 4. “Won’t Be Long” 5. “Are You Sure” 6. “Operation Heartbreak” 7. “Skylark” 8. “Runnin’ Out Of Fools” 9. “One Step Ahead” 10. “(No, No) I’m Losing You” 11. “Cry Like A Baby” 12. “A Little Bit Of Soul” 13. “My Kind Of Town (Detroit Is)” – Demo * 14. “Try A Little Tenderness” – Demo * 15. “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” 16. “Do Right Woman – Do Right Man” 17. “Respect” 18. “A Change Is Gonna Come” 19. “Chain Of Fools” – Alternate Version 20. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – UK Single Version 21. “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone” 22. “Ain’t No Way” 23. “My Song” 24. “You Send Me” 25. “The House That Jack Built” 26. “Tracks Of My Tears” Disc Two 1. “Baby I Love You” – Live 2. “Son Of A Preacher Man” 3. “Call Me” – Alternate Version * 4. “Let It Be” 5. “Young, Gifted And Black” – Alternate Longer Take * 6. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Long Version 7. “It’s Not Unusual/See Saw” – with Tom Jones * (Originally Broadcast On This Is Tom Jones, October, 9, 1970) 8. “You're All I Need To Get By” – Work Tape * 9. “Brand New Me” – Work Tape * 10. “Spanish Harlem” – Alternate Mix * 11. “Rock Steady” – Alternate Mix/Take 12. “Day Dreaming” 13. “Share Your Love With Me” – Live 14. “Don’t Play That Song” – Live 15. “Dr. Feelgood” – Live 16. “Spirit In The Dark” (Reprise with Ray Charles) – Live 17. “How I Got Over” (Single Edit) – Live 18. “Master Of Eyes (The Deepness Of Your Eyes)” Disc Three 1. “Somewhere” – Alternate Version * 2. “Angel” – Work Tape * 3. “The Boy From Bombay” * 4. “Til It's Over” – Demo * 5. “Oh Baby” (a.k.a. “There’s Something Magic About You”) – Demo * 6. “Until You Come Back To Me” – Work Tape * 7. “I’m In Love” – Alternate Vocal 8. “Without Love” 9. “Mr. D.J. (5 For The D.J.)” 10. “You” 11. “Something He Can Feel” 12. “Look Into Your Heart” 13. “Break It To Me Gently” 14. “When I Think About You” 15. “Almighty Fire (Woman Of The Future)” 16. “Ladies Only” – Short Version 17. “You Light Up My Life” * 18. “Ooo Baby Baby” – with Smokey Robinson * (Originally Broadcast On Soul Train, December 1, 1979) 19. “Amazing Grace” (Originally Broadcast On Royal Variety Performance, November 23, 1980) Disc Four 1. “Think” 2. “I Say A Little Prayer” – with Dionne Warwick * 3. “United Together” 4. “Jump To It” 5. “The Wind” 6. “Freeway Of Love” 7. “Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves” – Eurythmics & Aretha Franklin 8. “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) – Aretha Franklin and George Michael 9. “Oh Happy Day” – with Mavis Staples (Live at New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit, MI - July 1987) 10. “A Rose Is Still A Rose” 11. “Someday We'll All Be Free” 12. “The Makings Of You” 13. “Nessun Dorma” – Live 14. “At Last” – with Lou Rawls * (Originally Broadcast On American Soundtrack: Rhythm, Love And Soul, March 2003) 15. “You’ve Got A Friend” – Ronald Isley featuring Aretha Franklin 16. “Rolling In The Deep” – The Aretha Version 17. “My Country ’Tis Of Thee” 18. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” – Live * (Originally Broadcast On The 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, December 19. 2015)
Very happy with my original Rhino Atlantic Years boxset Queen of Soul , not a fan of stuff outside that .
On the one hand, Aretha is perhaps my favorite female vocalist, and a label-spanning set is long overdue since she did have success on multiple labels. On the other hand, I don't know that I'm interested in all of these rarities and I'm not sure I'm inclined to rebuy the hits to get the rarities I would like to hear. I suppose if it's affordable enough, I'll pick it up.
How can it be what it's supposed to be without the studio version of You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman ?
Looks very interesting. I'd rather have a set of her 4 last Atlantic albums that were not part of "The Atlantic Albums Collection."
It seems like it one of those boxsets that can't decide if it's trying to be a general overview, a hits collection or a rarities collection.
I recall when it was released and every review said it was, up to that point in time, one of the greatest box sets of all-time. I wonder if any of those reviewers would have possessed the foresight to realize that opinion would stand the test of time and still be true today; possibly a couple.
I remember when I first bought it. I had some Aretha singles and a greatest hits album but never owned any of her albums prior to buying that box. I was blown away by the quality. It was the first collection I bought where I thought every song was worthy of listening to repeatedly.
Info from The Second Disc, including the track listing for the vinyl and CD highlights version: Jump to It! Rhino Collects Aretha Franklin's Hits, Rarities, Never-Before-Released Tracks on New Box Set - The Second Disc
What a knock-out version of Somewhere... Aretha didn't record demos, she recorded songs. Her singing and piano playing were not from this earth...
Definitely. If Bear Family Records had done this project, the box set would've probably included her complete recordings. I'll probably buy this set for the rarities, unless they issue a standalone rarities CD collection.
Interesting box set. I was more interested in a 1971-1974 Atlantic singles collection 2CD set but i'll take a look at this one.
Just read David Ritz's bio, and there's a few rarities I wish they'd put on the box set: As mentioned in the other Aretha thread, the Grammy performance of "Nessun Dorma" - it may still be on there, but I'm guessing they're using the same MusiCares performance that's been used elsewhere. "The Makings of You" is probably from the Curtis Mayfield tribute, and to be fair, it's not a bad selection, but Ritz believed this casual performance with just Aretha at the piano was "definitive": It's not a full, complete performance, but I see what he means. I wish she did a whole album of herself in a casual setting, at the piano, singing her favorites. I think this interview was done about the same time as Johnny Cash's American Recordings which basically used that concept - one amazing voice accompanied by just one instrument. Also "It Hurts Like Hell" from Waiting to Exhale, which at the time was better than virtually every pop record she recorded going back to Who's Zoomin' Who. It's the one song she did for the soundtrack and given who else was on the album, I imagine she really brought her A game. The same thing happened when she did that VH1 duets broadcast - she doesn't want anyone doubting who is the queen.
Forgot one more: I was skeptical about this track. The main mix was originally issued on Greatest Hits 1980-1994 and a different mix was used on the Sister Act 2 soundtrack that came out the same year. (I think it's used for the movie's ending and credits.) Ritz's book says Aretha was reluctant to do it, and Ritz doesn't sound like he was a fan. It's a different recording than C+C Music Factory's original hit, but without comparing the two, I would have guessed that C+C Music Factory (which did indeed produce Aretha's version) took the same basic tracks and replaced the vocal tracks with a new one from Aretha. It didn't really cross over to the pop charts but it did hit #1 on the dance charts, which is no surprise - the original hit #1 just a few years earlier and to most it probably sounded like a simple remix of the original. But Aretha's version definitely has its fans: Robert Christgau called it "an electro masterpiece as emotional as 'Ain't No Way' and as propulsive as 'Chain of Fools'" and both Rolling Stone (probably Rob Sheffield) and the Guardian's Alexis Petridis named it one of her 50 greatest tracks (placing it somewhere in the middle) after she died. Petridis singled out the "Deeper Mix" which is what I posted. I took a listen to it and finally heard what they heard - it basically strips out all the instrumental tracks and what's left doesn't sound like Aretha grafted on to someone else's hit, it's just her and the singing is a tour de force - that voice alone can move a dance floor. The track's probably too long for a box set, but after 4 1/2 minutes (the length of the other shorter versions), Aretha's done singing and it's just beats, so if I were to put it on a box set, I'd just make an edit and end it about there.
It seems this collection has been pushed back to July next year. What a disappointment. I’ll keep my preorder but I was really hoping to have this for Christmas.
Actually, I just found out that the version used in Sister Act 2 has been unavailable for awhile, and that might be a better choice (even if the film it came from isn't so good). A unique mix that runs 4:05 with a cold ending, it has an a cappella opening (similar to the "Deeper Mix").
i ADORE A Deeper Love (I think the C+C Single Mix is actually the best version of the song) that being said, very disappointed there's not more Arista on here.
I just pre-ordered this boxset, but does someone knows if the song "Think" is the 1980 version from 1980 "The Blue Brothers" movie or just the original version from the 60's, i always wanted to have the movie version from "The Blues Brothers", and it's also a shame that the song "Oh Me Oh My" doesn't appear on this boxet.
"Franklin’s biggest hits are here too, like “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You),” “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” and her signature smash, “Respect.” But instead of using familiar takes for other hits, the collection selects different versions, like alternate takes of “Chain Of Fools,” “Rock Steady,” and “Spanish Harlem”; live recordings of “Baby I Love You” and “Don’t Play That Song”; and “Think” recorded for The Blues Brothers soundtrack." From arethafranklin.net Aretha Franklin's 'ARETHA' Career-Spanning Boxed Set Covers Nearly 60 Years | The Official Site Of Aretha Franklin