Aretha Franklin

The hype on the new Aretha Franklin album would have us believe that this is her best
work since the Sixties, when a string of now-classic albums with Jerry Wexler and Arif
Mardin established her as the definitive female soul singer. Even the press bio that
accompanied Who's Zoomin' Who? claims the record has been "hailed by critics as one of
the true landmark albums of [Franklin's] career." A critic not consulted in this pr... More >

It seems so simple now that it's happened, but let's face it--she's been trying to sell out this big for at least ten years. And take my word for it--she hasn't done anything near this good in over a dozen. It couldn't have happened without the top-forty revival, and it couldn't have happened without Narada Michael Walden, who unhesitatingly plugged his first legend into one pop format after another and came up with classics almost every time. From lead rocker to hooked ballad to Caribe Richie carnivalesque, these songs go no deeper than Franklin can make them by breathing, but their instant inevitability could keep this album alive for years. And when somebody like Aretha Franklin goes multiplatinum, the world rejoices. (Grade: A)