Aretha Franklin

Getting It Right   

Aretha Frankin has been recording since the 1960’s. but lets not dwell on the years that might be championed by musos and bandwagon jumpers, here at Pop Trash Addicts we pride ourselves on only picking the cream of one our divas artistic crop. The year was 1985 and Aretha was in dire need of a hit after her second LP for Arista, Get It Right stiffed. After ditching singer/producer Luther Vandross for the trendier Narada Michael Walden, Aretha struck pop dynamite!

 The album Who’s Zoomin’ Who is an amazing mixture of soul, pop and R&B with some distinctly danceable results! The first single Freeway Of Love, a brilliant synth/pop/rock tune with a great vocal flopped in the UK , but became a big hit in the US . The album was cleverly timed with the classic duet with the Eurythmics, Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves and third single Who’s Zoomin’ Who coming out in the same month. It worked and the album at last gave Aretha her first proper worldwide hit album in years.

 “You will remember my name, I’m the one who beat you at your game” says Aretha in the hit title track and fantastic third single before wailing like a true diva. The 12” mix of this, if you can track it down is simply heavenly.  Further singles Another Night (remixed by Steve Thompson) and a Ain’t Nobody Loved You (Remix) fared less well, despite being just as good as any of the previous singles.

Aretha faltered...

 A follow up album, Aretha, was released shortly after. It was just too rushed and was underwhelming to say the least. The first single Jumpin’ Jack Flash, produced by Keith Richards was a poor choice for lead single. But the other singles were great though, I Knew You Were Waiting For Me, a duet with George Michael was a massive #1 hit and Rock A Lott is brilliant! It wasn’t until 1990 that the track became a hit though, when it was sampled by the 49ers on their hit Touch Me. Another single, Jimmy Lee, was also released but flopped.

Through The Storm

Aretha’s career declined over the next few years and her albums bombed. Her only minor hit was a duet with Whitney Houston called It Isn’t, It Wasn’t Ain’t Never Gonna Be. The track taken from her 1989 album Through The Storm was ludicrously hip and was even remixed by New Jack Swing pioneer Teddy Riley. Other singles included the title track which was a duet with Elton John, and Gimme Your Love a bizarre and frantic duet with James Brown. The 12” includes a hilarious dance remix by Prince which lasts over 10 mins if you can imagine it! I’ve never heads so many grunts, ahhhs and curious adlibs. Its dire! But strangely gripping. The b side is a hip hop remake of her 60’s hit Think! Its also on the album…

Another release of note was the lead single to her 1991 album What You See Is What You Sweat. The song, Everyday People, is quite anthemic in a modest way, being about accepting peoples differences. Shep Pettibone remixed the single.

"People let me tell you, I work hard everyday! I get out of bed, I put on my shoes, coz I got bills to pay!"

After two flops in a row Aretha surprised everyone when she had a massive hit with A Deeper Love, taken from the Sister Act 2 soundtrack, produced by C&C Music Factory. To say it’s a classic is an understatement. Aretha reminded everyone why she was the Queen of Soul and became the Queen of House, of only for the one single. A Greatest Hits was released to cash in and it paid off nicely.

While she’s hardly been consistent since, Aretha has still given disco queens something to groove to. 1998’s A Rose Is Still A Rose, produced by Lauren Hill had remixes from Love To Infinity and Hex Hector and the follow up Here We Go Again was remixed by David Morales. The album did quite well too. In 2003 she released another album, So Damn Happy. The album wasn’t a big hit, it didn’t even get a UK release, but the remixes of The Only Thing Missin’ by Giorgio Morroder and Blaze, amongst others, are great! She left Arista Records after 20 years on their artist roster shortly afterwards. She is releasing a brand new album this year on her own label. Lets hope she makes a massive comeback and burns up the dancefloor once again.

- Jamie

Everyday People (1991)

A Rose Is Still A Rose (1998)