Re: Farewell and thank you, o Queen of Soul

Can't believe it took four days for any of us to post a requiem acknowledgement. Were we all too busy? Just preoccupied? Surely Aretha Franklin's music means something to the denizens of this board.

Yes, good call. She certainly is highly regarded and her early singles really DO rock. I never tired of hearing Respect or Chain of fools (and those are just the obvious choices).

All artists gave her props. From the rawest hip-hopper to the trendiest indie nerd to the discriminating jazzbo to the darkest death-metaller... none would dream of bad-mouthing Aretha.

I like it when an artist gets a little comeback like she did in the eighties with the 'who's zoomin who' lp (similar to Tina turner and 'private dancer').

It's too bad that many obits' takes on her music seem to stop with "Respect" and her gospel album AMAZING GRACE. Late '60s/early '70s albums like SOUL '69, SPIRIT IN THE DARK and YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK are full of deep cuts that venture into jazz, blues and rock. It's sad but predictable that this week, she now has her highest-charting album on Billboard since 1972; thanks to her passing, people stopped merely paying lip service to her importance and started actually buying her music.

Years ago, when I came in second place in a music trivia contest at SXSW, Rhino Records sent me a big box of goodies from their catalog as the prize. In it was an Aretha Franklin box set Queen of Soul. After listening to it, I seriously considered selling off the entire rest of my collection, thinking that this music was all I would ever need. Outside of the overt musical excellence, it just seemed to encompass the entire human experience on those disks. I think she's been underestimated for decades, due to not having any (mainstream) hits since the 80s and being something of a recluse. But man...there was no one like her before, and I don't think there will be anyone like her in the future. That music will likely still be around when the rest of the 20th century's sounds have faded away.

I think Stereogum ran a list of deep cuts.

Quote

Can't believe it took four days for any of us to post a requiem acknowledgement.

She had already been beatified and attained immortality during her lifetime as far as I'm concerned.

Dying was merely an obligatory final bow for her.