Album review: Aretha Franklin's 'A Woman Falling Out of Love'
It’s a relief just to hear Aretha Franklin’s divine voice again, considering that several months ago, rumors swirled as she lay in a Detroit hospital, recovering from surgery (its nature still unconfirmed). On her 38th studio album, available only at WalMart, the queen of soul sounds voluminous with life and optimism -- soaring, scatting, growling and belting through a gospel number, a blues song about adolescent desire and a movie theme about summer places.
Aretha (really, no last name needed) executive-produced “A Woman Falling Out of Love” and produced most of the tracks herself. Never one for restraint, she piles on the strings and keyboards, matching her multi-octave melismas with lavish instrumentation. “A Woman Falling Out of Love” is like a gourmet Sunday brunch buffet, overflowing with opulent deliciousness -- indulgent, fattening, sugary, and just in time for Mother’s Day.
Franklin pours it all on the opening track “How Long I’ve Waited”: strings over synths over operatic overstatement. But she gets gritty by the next track’s ode to B.B. King, her Big Mama Thornton howl echoed by swinging horns. She scats like Ella on “U Can’t See Me” and praises the Lord with all the magnificence of Mahalia on “Faithful” (a duet with Karen Clark-Sheard). Aretha is truly, as Rolling Stone recently named her, the greatest singer of all time.
Her taste, well, as we all know from that inauguration hat, that’s another matter. (“A Woman Falling” includes her presidential rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”) Aretha has long added a second title to her name: the queen of smooth. Tracks like the über-schmaltzy cover of “The Way We Were,” with Ron Isley, will play well on soft jazz stations. Her chatty, inspirational, girl-talk liner notes -- signed “Ree Ree” -- cater to Oprah’s crowd. Forgive her her bourgeois affectations; I’ll welcome a “New Day” with Aretha any time.
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-- Evelyn McDonnell
Aretha Franklin
"Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love"
Aretha’s Records
Two and a half stars
up until about 30 years ago, she was a great singer...I played in her backup orchestra in the 70's at the Sports Arena for two concerts, she was phenomenal...however, now she's a joke!!!....she can't sing more than two words without breathing like a beached whale!!!...
Posted by: glenn grab | May 06, 2011 at 04:38 PM
It seems Glenn is disgruntled !!! to say the least, and we've NEVER heard of him , yet Aretha has been gracing our ears since the age of 14...Yes 55 years !!!! Go Lady Ree, the Undisputed Queen of Soul
Posted by: Rodney | May 07, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Aretha is the greatest singer of all time? Is this a joke? Opinions are subjective and Rolling Stone's is no exception.
Franklin is great, but to say she's the greatest is rediculous!
Posted by: joe | May 08, 2011 at 07:16 AM
Rodney, I'm not disgruntled, but I'm also a musician and fortunately, not deaf!...if you read what I wrote you would see that I praised her singing from years past... I wore out three of her" Lady Soul" record albums in the 70's, she WAS a great artist....what I said was that she no longer is...you can keep dreaming as much as you want to but you can't turn the clock backwards...if you don't believe me listen to a few cuts from "Lady Soul", maybe "Natural Woman" or "Baby, Baby, Sweet Baby" or "Respect" and compare them to her now....her voice is about an octave lower now and she can barely breathe, much less sing...sad. but true....
Posted by: glenn grab | May 08, 2011 at 11:01 AM
I'm not one for "greatest" and all that. Once I had a "what the heck" moment and walked into a club and heard Joe Williams. GeeeeeLaWheeze, that man was a song stylist!! I challenge any of you to listen to Aretha being interviewed, say on Fresh Air when she breaks out a capello. My lawd! Go on line for a minute and listen to ARETHA doing the now famous song from La Miz "I dreamed a dream." O-K-A-Y. Now you know that the heck what I'm talking about.
Posted by: blackone | May 09, 2011 at 11:09 AM
Anyone who doubt she's one of the greatest ever - listen to the boxed set, "The Queen of Soul" and her live cd, "Amazing Grace."
In addition to her being selected the greatest singer in the rock n' roll era by Rolling Stone, she has been selected the "Greatest" in a list by the British Mojo Magazine, & by VH-1 as the greatest female singer ever. I cite these polls because she was were selected mostly by people in the music industry. No one is ever a unanimous selection. She garners the most respect. (excuse the pun)
As for Glen, if you know so much about music, you know that singers get old like everyone else and I would challenge your intentions from the way you described her. You're a fan? Really?
Posted by: dwill | May 09, 2011 at 02:07 PM
I really love this CD!! "When 2 Become one","New Day", "Put It Back Together" and "You Can't See Me" are stand out tracks for me. People need to realize we all get old and our best will change so its not fair to compare 25 year old Aretha to 69 year old Aretha. Aretha is far from a joke and I question anyone who says she is! Also I have seen her twice in recent years, she still moves her audience and leaves the stage with people wanting more just like she did back in the 70's...
Posted by: Mike | May 10, 2011 at 09:35 AM
Aretha is one of the greatest singers in the world and a walking legend!
The youth of today, couldn't light a match to what and how this woman has and will do.
True she is getting old, but we all do and we can't do what we did in our youth, but you still should has some... R E S P E C T, (find out what it means to me!)
Posted by: Talyn | May 19, 2011 at 11:06 PM