Very few people were expecting anything like this album. Sure, if you attended service at the Reverend C. L. Franklin’s church in Detroit during the fifties, you were in the know. However, if you knew Aretha Franklin as most people, if they knew of her at all, encountered her, through her Columbia records, you may have had a hint that something was holding her back, that she was indeed capable of much better. Still, I seriously doubt you, even as intelligent and perceptive as you are, would have heard in, say, The Tender, The Moving, The Swinging Aretha Franklin the rumblings under the surface. You simply could not have suspected the volcano of soul that was about to blow. The moment your needle hits the start of "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You", however, Aretha erupts, and the world of soul suddenly has its queen.

That first track, "Respect", laid it all out. Aretha could sing with a force that frankly no female soul or pop singer in history has ever matched, and she could make it sound so incredibly easy. That would be enough to justify her coronation, but she had talent to go with those pipes. Go back and listen to the original "Respect", found on Otis Redding’s masterpiece, Otis Blue. See, she not only sang that song to high heaven, she reinterpreted it. Her version and Redding’s sound like entirely different creatures, and indeed, they are. Franklin not only sings lyrics, she communicates the essence of a song, even as she sometimes tweaks it. Divas come and divas fade, but few can extend beyond a great voice to truly plug in to a tune. It is a skill and an ability that separates the flash in the pan chart toppers with the greats, and it is a gift that allows Franklin to tower above them all.

Jerry Wexler was the producer at Atlantic who finally unleashed Franklin. While Columbia tried to force Aretha into a bland pop artist mold, Wexler teamed the vocalist with the rhythm section from Muscle Shoals and set her loose. Now playing piano and leading the band instead of simply belting in front of it, Franklin took control and used it to create some of the finest soul music ever cut. Her incredible talent, her newfound freedom, and cracking material, including some self-penned songs, combined into a dangerous, volatile solution, and the resulting explosion is "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You", a label debut soaked in glory and with nary a weak song between the hits.

4 Men With Beards’ reissue of this classic is a revelation. While this material exists in decent form in several formats, I doubt it has ever sounded as good as it does on this 180-gram release. Not only does Franklin’s voice retain its kinetic power, it now also has a three dimensional, nearly palpable presence. The band, rather than blurring into a wall of sound, burst forth with incredible resolution. Each instrument stands out and yet still fits into the backing band. Really, this release nearly throws you on to a sweaty chair behind the console at these sessions. It is not just a good representation of a classic album. It is an essential record, one every fan of soul, rhythm and blues, pop, heck, everyone with a record player should own. It is worth buying a turntable to hear. It is that great.

Yes, the singles everybody has heard by now, "Respect" and "I Never Loved a Man", sound terrific, but "Drown in My Own Tears", with stellar lead and background vocals, is clear enough finally to announce itself as the neglected blues-inflected classic it is. "Soul Serenade" is lush with softly insistent horns, and "Dr. Feelgood" aches with a sweet longing from the gut.

Even the remakes transcend filler status. By covering and reinventing tunes by Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, Aretha announces her ascension as an equal into the soul pantheon. Remaking "A Change Is Gonna Come" might border on sacrilege, but Franklin’s introduction transforms her rendition from a mere respectful duplicate into a moving tribute for the deceased Cooke. It is touching and moving, and it works as both an indirect encomium and a strong declaration of perseverance and hope.

In fact, there is no place here where Aretha Franklin does not earn her name on the cover of this masterpiece. This reissue is currently selling at an incredibly reasonable price for a 180-gram, high quality vinyl release, especially one so lovingly remastered from the original analogue master tapes and containing such awe-inspiring music. You really have no excuse, and, as I said before, knowing you are the intelligent and perceptive person you are, I fully expect you to seize a copy of the classic. If you already love this album, you will hear it like never before, and if you have never heard it yet, you are in for one of the nicest treats ever heard in your musical lifetime.

Search Tour Database by: Artist City Venue