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This year marks the 50th anniversary of Aretha Franklin's arrival at Atlantic Records in 1967 after departing Columbia Records. Her twelve year-tenure there would produce some of the most iconic soul and R&B recordings of all time. To celebrate this anniversary, Rhino Records is taking a cue from the Elvis Presley playbook and combining her classic vocals with new orchestral backing tracks. A Brand New Me: Aretha Franklin with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will hit stores on November 10 in three formats: CD, LP and digital download.
The CD version features fourteen tracks. During her time at Atlantic, Aretha had a remarkable 17 R&B chart-toppers, and of those, six songs are featured here including "Think," "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)," "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)," "Angel" and "A Brand New Me." Also among these is the immortal "Respect," which climbed to the top of the Billboard Pop and Cashbox charts in April, 1967, Aretha's third single on the label.
Among the songs here, you will also hear Franklin's classic takes on Carole King's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," Bacharach and David's "I Say a Little Prayer," and Lennon and McCartney's "Let It Be." Also included are her takes on other standards like "People Get Ready," which The Impressions took up the charts in 1964, and "Son of a Preacher Man" made famous by Aretha's labelmate, Dusty Springfield (who also covered "A Brand New Me," introduced by Jerry Butler). Franklin had actually been offered the song first, but turned it down. Only after hearing Springfield's version did Aretha finally record the tune.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has been recorded at Abbey Road Studios for this project. New backing vocals have been added, led by Grammy-winning singer Patti Austin. The project is produced by Nick Patrick and Don Reedman, who were behind If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Reedman comments on this new venture: "I was 15 years old when a song came on the radio called 'Rock A Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody.' It blew me away; the power, the soul. The feeling that went through me got me hooked on Aretha and I have been ever since. To be able to make this album and be able to select songs from hits like 'Respect' to 'Think' then blend them with classic songs like 'Let It Be' and 'Border Song' and create an album which is versatile and fresh is truly an honor." Patrick adds: "There is a reason that Aretha Franklin is called the 'Queen of Soul.' There is nothing more exciting than that incredible voice taking you on an emotional roller coaster ride through her amazing repertoire of songs. To have the opportunity to work with that voice on this project has been the greatest honor and to hear a symphony orchestra wrapped around those performances is breathtaking."
The CD, LP and digital download versions will all be available the same day, November 10. Please note that the LP version is only 12 tracks in length, dropping "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" and "Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby)." If you'd like to give these new takes on Aretha Franklin's classics a try, we've got the tracklistings and preorder links below.
Aretha Frankin, A Brand New Me: Aretha Franklin with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Rhino/Atlantic, 2017)
CD/Digital Download (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Think
- Don't Play That Song (You Lied)
- I Say A Little Prayer
- Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)
- A Brand New Me
- A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like)
- Angel
- Border Song (Holy Moses)
- Let It Be
- People Get Ready
- Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby)
- You're All I Need To Get By
- Son Of A Preacher Man
- Respect
Vinyl LP (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Side A
- Think
- Don't Play That Song (You Lied)
- I Say A Little Prayer
- A Brand New Me
- A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like)
- Angel
Side B
- Border Song (Holy Moses)
- Let It Be
- People Get Ready
- You're All I Need To Get By
- Son Of A Preacher Man
- Respect
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Why?
Really? Aretha is still with us. Why not have her redo the songs, this time with an orchestral background? This just seems like a money grab. Will Aretha see any money out of this project? I doubt it.
This might be fun but where are the missing Atlantic albums? I want them!
I was gonna post the same thing. There are some slightly questionable Euro imports of those 4 albums that don't sound awful but I know they could do better.
The rights to those records reverted back to Aretha
Pay attention for these CDs with terrible compressed sound. They are bootlegs and not official. I'm also wondering what happened to that 2012 project of releasing her last atlantic albums on CD reported on this site...
I love this idea. Glad that Aretha is still with us. I bet she loves the idea and I am sure she will be paid. The original recordings are still available, nothing is harmed in these kinds of projects. It just gives them a fresh sound, something different than what we have been used to hearing all these years. I will buy it.
My dream is for Aretha to have LESS of a backing. Somebody put Aretha in a studio with old or new songs and just let her play the piano and sing. That voice is so gorgeous, so immense, so musical, she doesn't need an orchestra. Another dream project for me would be Aretha with just a small, tightl rhythm section....
Something perhaps Rick Rubin could produce?
Sure, Rick Rubin could do the job rather nicely
Now THAT I'd buy in a heartbeat. But instead, let's add even more superfluous stuff on top of already perfect tracks.
Exactly. Damn, those '60s sides from Jerry Wexler and company are as perfectly produced as you can get. Why swamp them in strings? And as someone else pointed out, unlike Elvis, Aretha is alive. If she wanted to do go off and record with a full orchestra, she could do it.
I can think of nothing more superfluous than this. Cutout, here we come.
I suppose they have to think of ever-more creative ways to sell the original product (all the while lowering the standard). I shudder to think what an 'orchestrated' version of "Think" will sound like...