Aretha Franklin

Mostly culled from LPs from the '80s and '90s, this duets comp is a mixed affair. The classic singles that broke, like "I Knew You Were Waiting" with George Michael, still have plenty of punch, but later efforts find Aretha's raspy soul holler bringing to mind an injured animal. Of the two newly recorded duets, the track with John Legend is outshined by the one with American Idol Fantasia ("Put You Up On Game"), on which Aretha wisely advises the young singer to "listen to the voice of experience." When Fantasia sets off the vocal fireworks at the end, it's clear she has.

The third Aretha catalog exploitation of the fall is the first from Sony/BMG, which has long
since deleted the Eighties and Nineties Aretha albums where half of its sixteen tracks first
appeared, and it's also the best. But this isn't to accuse it of coherence or anything. Some
of it has been previously recycled &#8212 the Annie Lennox so endlessly we need not name
it here, the Keith Richards "Jumpin' Jack Flash" as a bonus cut for a greatest-hits... More >

The third Aretha catalogue exploitation of the fall is the first from Sony/BMG, which has long since deleted the '80s and '90s Aretha albums where half of its sixteen tracks first appeared, and also the best, which isn't to accuse it of coherence or anything. Some of it has been previously recycled--the Annie Lennox so endlessly we need not name it here, the Keith Richards "Jumpin Jack Flash" as a bonus cut for a reissued greatest hits collection initially baited with the merely adequate Bonnie Raitt-Gloria Estefan "Natural Woman." And so it goes. Some of it is lively if expedient (George Michael, Elton John). Some of it is bland (George Benson) or dismal (Frank Sinatra, though only his part). And there are three recently recordeds, the prize featuring not Mary J. Blige or John Legend but Fantasia, whom the Queen indulges as the naive young thing she is--and who will never make one of these in her life. (Grade - *** 1/2)