Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, continued the tradition, typical for jazz music, although not exclusively, of updating their repertoire with contemporary pop songs. In 2014 she released an album called “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics,” which contains 10 famous songs, previously sung by female artists. The album's track list spans numerous eras and styles of soul – from Etta James' bluesy 1960 staple "At Last" to Sinéad O’Connor's minimal 1990 pop ballad "Nothing Compares 2 U" to Alicia Keys' anthemic 2007 R&B smash "No One." In addition to singing throughout, Franklin also plays piano on a version of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On."
One would expect a fabulous re-interpretation or re-invented arrangements to fit Aretha’s style, but there are none of those things on the record. In the light of commercial success, this wasn’t such a bad move by RCA Records, especially with the decision to launch the cover of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” as the leading single. But in terms of quality standards, they haven’t achieved much on the record. For an artist that has won a total of 19 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling female artists of all time, and earned the number 1 spot on Rolling Stone magazine's prestigious "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" list, and number 9 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list, release such as this is far from satisfying. First of all, her voice is not what she used to be, which is expected since she is 72, but the arrangements, come on… They suck! Nothing special, dull and uninspiring - that’s what I would say about the arrangements. Yes, it was the legendary American record producer Clive Davis, who has won five Grammy’s by his own, but I guess his time has gone too. Nothing new, nothing catchy comes out from this release. Well, maybe the reimagined “Nothing Compares 2 U” whose arrangements goes back in time, before both O’Connor’s version from the 90’s and Prince’s original from the 80’s, and sounds like an Etta James or Betty Carter version from the fifties. It is not wow-ish or anything, but it remains the most interesting part from this album.
What’s so unappealing about the record. I guess it is the fact that soul music is all about interpretation and “feeling.” With a voice paled by the years, she should have done a more sophisticated and introvert album, and not be trying to do what she did brilliantly decades ago. ALthough Aretha did pay her respect to Adele, for example, in interviews, she did not do it on the actual record. “She's a really good writer with very heavy, deep lyrics. She's got something to say and she says it a little differently than the norm. But Miss Adele is not one to be messed with, listening to those lyrics!" Franklin told Rolling Stone. In reality, the result was described by a critic with the following words: “Aretha Franklin's take is, of course, admirable that she would commend such a young bold talent by putting a new take on the song. But time is showing that Franklin's voice is not top notch for a song that powerful. Using falsetto runs, her voice sounds tired and worn out and when she aims for the high notes she just misses the real sentiment of the song. As the song plays on, she intertwines "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" as a sort of mashup and it just doesn't work for her. Franklin appeared on "The Today Show" this morning to give a performance that didn't stack up well against what we all know as one of the best songs of this current decade.”
And this could be said about the entire record. It is not a bad record, it is not something you put out only after few minutes, but for a vocal legend such as Aretha Franklin, this is not what one would expect towards the end of her career.
