CD-Charts Position 1
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Respect - The Very Best of Aretha Franklin

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date June 03, 2002
The GREATEST SINGER EVER !!!! There are many great singers in this world but Aretha's in a class no one can top. My Elite List (which includes Aaron Neville and other legends) has Aretha at the TOP !!!

That voice is from a place none of us will ever get to. Angels blessed Aretha's vocal chords and went back and blessed them again. This album has so many unbelievable classic songs. Aretha is one of my heroes. If I could sing like her for the day it would be a dream.

An outstanding album. Listen with amazement. Enjoy every second. You will love every song. Aretha...THANK YOU SO MUCH. Your voice lifts my spirit and to be in your presence would be a dream.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Aretha Franklin: Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date March 03, 2008
Soul nectar, from the Queen.

This is jaw-dropping astonishing stuff. There is so much heart and soul in 'I'm Trying to Overcome' that I wonder why other singers actually bother...

Even if you don't know much of her work, this double CD set is essential. Her cover versions, again, give old songs new meaning.

Listen. Listen again. Enjoy.

CD-Charts Position 3
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I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date June 14, 1999
In my opinon this is Aretha at her very best. Sincerity, soul & her unique & brilliant vocal delivery just ooze from this album.Each track arouses a different emotion - Save Me gives me goose bumps!If you are considering buying this album JUST DO IT, you won't be disappointed.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Amazing Grace: the Complete Gospel Recordings

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date December 23, 1999
This is a brilliant live album of Aretha singing some of the best gospel tunes I've ever heard. Her voice is out of this world, so rich and soulful it gives you goose bumps. The first disc is slightly better than the second, but you get over two hours of great music that will move you like only great soul/gospel can. Well worth a go.

CD-Charts Position 5
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Queen Of Soul The Best of Aretha Franklin

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date April 09, 2007
Another greatest hits compilation, possibly released to coicide with the 'Sweet Soul Music' tribute tour to the Stax/Atlantic acts, which I saw and enjoyed last week.

All her great Atlantic hits are here. 'Respect', 'I Say A Little Prayer' and 'Think', as well as huge American hits less known in the UK. My faves are 'Call Me' 'I Never Loved A Man' 'Until You Come Back to Me' and....well all of them really. This is the best of the best soul singer on the planet.

If you can afford it, go for the 87 track four disc box set also called 'Queen Of Soul'. It is available through Amazon at a fraction of the price I bought it for twelve years ago. I'm not complaining though, because I have got a lot of wear out of it! It's a more comprehensive ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Aretha Now

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date August 02, 1993
This was Aretha's fourth album for Atlantic and was top five in both UK and US, despite a playing time of under half-an-hour. When the grooves are as funky as these, who cares? Two great tracks had already been hit singles when the album came out - Think, which had been recorded on 15 April 1968, the day Martin Luther King was assassinated; and her fantastic re-interpretation of Burt Bacharach's I Say A Little Prayer, which she and the Sweet Inspirations had apparently worked up while on tour, just for fun. In America I Say A Little Prayer was buried as a flipside before discerning deejays turned it over, but it had been the bona-fide A-side the month before in the UK where it reached number 4.
Her revival of Don Covay's See Saw was the first single lifted from the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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Aretha Franklin: Greatest Hits (1980-1994)

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date February 24, 1996
Let's start with a clarification: I LOVE Aretha Franklin, her voice is simply magnificent and she amply deserves her soubriquet as the Queen of Soul.

However, I do have issues with this collection - one of which is that she is very poorly served by the material. Compared to her earlier songs, this disco-fied ensemble is very weak, just a few numbers fit to lick the boots of Respect, I Say a Little Prayer etc. So many usual suspects here: either the identikit skittering guitar and drum beat, or else syrupy ballads that leave me feeling nauseous. Arrangements are generally lush and detract from the overall effect. Nothing to electrify the soul, send a shiver down the back - little, in short, to remind you why Aretha is the greatest performer of her generation. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Queen of Soul - The Very Best of Aretha Franklin

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date October 17, 1994
Aretha Franklin's recording career with Atlantic Records spanned from 1967 until 1979. In that time, she recorded many tracks which are now set in stone as classic soul standards such as 'Respect', 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man', '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman', 'Chain Of Fools', 'Think', 'Angel' and 'I Say A Little Prayer'. Needless to say, all of those songs are on this collection in their original form and they are accompanied by the cream of her Atlantic days.

When you listen to this album, it is clear that Aretha hasn't been unjustifiably immortalised as "The Queen Of Soul" - this compilation is absolutely brilliant from beginning to end. Even the recordings I hadn't heard before buying this album and had approached with caution such as her sensational ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Spirit in the Dark

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date January 31, 1994
This is a good, solid, Aretha Franklin album that doesn't quite reach the heights of her best work, but which nevertheless still contains some great tracks. Foremost among them is You And Me, written by Aretha herself in the classic mould of such titles as All The King's Horses and Day Dreaming. A beautiful song.Then, of course, you also have Don't Play That Song, and Spirit In The Dark, both of which were hit singles, a great little song called Pullin', and generally very good covers of material as diverse as The Thrill Is Gone and Oh No Not My Baby.

Why only four stars then? Well, for me, only You And Me really stands out as great. Everything else is very good, but not essential. Even so I'd recommend this album, and not just to fans. Just about everything on here is worth ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Young, Gifted and Black

by: Aretha Franklin

Release Date January 31, 1994
By the time Aretha released "Young Gifted and Black" in 1972, she had proved that she could bounce back from something of a commercial slump, with her triumphant live concerts in San Francisco (Feb 1971), which resulted in a hugely succesful live album. Some of the songs here had been recorded well before those live dates, with Aretha going back into the studio shortly afterwards to complete the album. Looking back over her career, this period can be seen as possibly Aretha's most creative - she is clearly at her peak, both interpreting other's material and writing her own songs.

Aretha had produced an anthem for Black pride with "Respect", and she revisited that theme with the title track, a gospel infused rendition of Nina Simone's composition, and there is a similar feel on ... Read More: