Friday 12 June 2015

What we're listening to. Aretha. 'Soul Queen'.


"Queen of soul, queen of soul" as Van sings about her and she is. In fact "you send me" is here which Van often covers and then, he doesn't really ever do covers as such - so much he's a fan of Aretha.

All the tracks are here - "Do right woman", "Save me", "Respect", "Chain of fools", "Say a little prayer", "The weight" (made famous by The Band and written by Robbie Robertson), "Call me", "Spanish Harlem" and 60 tracks which makes it a well-worthwhile compilation. Magic in fact.

18 Grammys, makes her pretty unbeatable and at 73 is still releasing Albums. 

From Memphis she started as a Gospel singer (her Dad was a Pastor) and you hear those Gospel tones on all her music. Often referred to as Whitney Houston's "aunt" in fact she wasn't - just an "honorary aunt".

There's something beautiful about Aretha and a smooth mezzo-soprano honey voice that just gets into you. Into your soul.

So this is a great introduction to a moment in time and a whole world of soul. It's one to start with to explore that whole genre. The genre of magnificent. This will give you a sense of it below -  Enjoy.



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