Customer Reviews

Aretha Franklin - Greatest Hits (1980-1994)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Aretha's star seemed to fade during the disco era of the middle to late 1970s, but then she made a comeback. This collection covers her time on Arista from 1980 to 1994 and distils the best work from five albums. It includes the huge hits Freeway Of Love and the duet I Knew You Were Waiting For Me (with George Michael). Other impressive songs include Jump To It, Doctor's Orders (with Luther Vandross) and Get It Right. I also like Willing To Forgive, Ever Changing Times, A Deeper Love and this version of Natural Woman featuring Bonnie Raitt and Gloria Estefan. Her version of Jumpin' Jack Flash is quite a tour de force with Keith Richards doing his thing on electric guitar. Although I prefer her classic work from the 1960s and 1970s like Spanish Harlem, Respect and her exquisite rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water, this collection demonstrates that she found lots of new spark in the 1980s and contributed a memorable body of work in that and the following decade.

Even those of us who regard Aretha as peerless can be forgiven for letting some of her goings-on between 1980 and '94 pass us by. After all, other than a half-dozen of her Atlantic releases, the queen's albums have been erratic affairs; and at Arista (the label covered on this compilation), where she was produced by the likes of Narada Michael Walden and Luther Vandross (and even lesser lights), was there much reason to expect anything more? As it turns out, yes. In both material and arrangements during this period, Aretha may have moved away from the soul-fired R&B of her greatest records, but instead she unfurled yet another side of her phenomenal gift: the ability to church-ify pop without obliterating it. So we get 15 impassioned gems, only a few of which made pop radio (and one of which, the astonishing "A Deeper Love," was a soundtrack-only item). The quality here is so consistent, it may just send you back to the cutout bins to which Arista has consigned most of the original albums -- not to mention this one. You'll be glad you took the trouble to seek it out.

Aretha Franklin's Arista recordings are filled with as many hits as misses. Whereas her Luther Vandross-produced sets ("Get It Right" and "Jump To It") were both excellent most of her other releases were simply too trendy and overproduced. While I won't deny that Aretha experienced a deserved career revival during the mid-'80s I'll also say that there were many embarassing moments on virtually all of her post-1984 Arista albums. This IS a good collection of her post-Atlantic work but most of her Arista LPs simply don't hold a candle to her 1967-74 Atlantic works.

Most people know Aretha Franklin for classic hits like Respect, Think, Natural Woman, The House that Jack Built and others. Some think that she's still on Atlantic Records since she had many hits there. But they should know that she moved forward in her music career. Which brings to this Greatest Hits album for her Arista era. This has her finest efforts such as Freeway of Love, Who's Zoomin Who, Love All The Hurt Away, Jump To It and many others from the 80s/90s period. But I love Honey, the new song that Babyface did for this album. I play that more than Willing to Forgive, the song that was a hit. Pride (A Deeper Love) proves that Aretha could tear it up on a high energy dance song with the Clivilles and Cole team! Aretha's efforts with Narada Michael Walden, Peter Wolf and others here were just superb efforts that I still listen to today. That she continues to amaze and excite listeners today is quite something. She is a true Queen of Soul!

This collection focuses on her years at Arista records (She was with them for almost 25 years) this covered the years 1980 to 1994! Having 4 (Four) Billboard #1 Hit Singles: "Freeway Of Love", "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me" with George Michael, "Jump To It", and "Get It Right", All included here!, And 10 (Ten) Top Ten Hits! 5 (Five) are included on this collection...Not bad for an artist who has been having MAJOR HITS since the 60's!!! This collection picks up after she left Atlantic Records. At Arista she took a slightly different direction in sound (Aretha has no problem with keeping up with today's sound, but not forgetting her natural soul sound throughout). Many of us are waiting for her new release which should hit any day hopefully BEFORE 2009 ends (It's already been recorded, plus another Gospel album that's waiting in the vaults). This is a nice juicy collection that's sure to delight!

If you liked Aretha's foray into 80's pop music, then you'll like this set. Who's Zoomin' Who, Another Night, Jimmy Lee, and I Knew You Were Waiting For Me are all fun songs that don't get played on the radio any more. There were a few songs here I could have done without (Willing to Forgive, United Together, Honey), but they fit the mode of the rest of the album well. This collection really shows you how Aretha can adapt to the times.

this isn't on par with The Atlantic Recordings but this disc has some moments.Jump to it,United together,willing to forgive&Get it right are the cuts.she sounds good but the material doesn't always match her talent.

First off: rated 4 and not 5 stars because she did not include any song from the THROUGH THE STORM cd.
Second off: it is spectacular look back at this 14 years of hits and go WOAH!
Aretha recorded two new tracks for this package, both written and produced by Babyface: HONEY is very very very black and Aretha pours her all into it.
WILLING TO FORGIVE is a winner, big R'n'B ballad. I like everything about it.
A DEEPER LOVE comes from the SISTER ACT II soundtrack, it is produced by Clivilles/Cole and catapultes Ms. Ree in the dance arena of the '90's...
Plus you get almost all of the hits she scored throughout this spawn of time, including the # 1 duet with George Michael I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING FOR ME, the Rolling Stones written and produced JUMPIN' JACK FLASH, the torch ballad for excellence JIMMY LEE...
You will be impressed by the diverse material included!

This collection nicely combines her best songs from her somewhat "uneven era" (1980-1994). Sure, her Arista years are no match of her more interesting earlier Atlantic years. However, this disc looks good with her box set or the 2 Rhino "Best Of...".

I agree and wonder: "Where in the world is 'Through The Storm'?"
The other notable song "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" is missing, but it was an "RCA single" so Arista did not have the rights to the song. However, I'm not certain that there will be a better package than this so it's the pick by default. Recommend for Aretha fans only. For casual fans, get "Aretha's Best" which highlights her Atlantic and Arista years on one CD.

I bought this cd just for Aretha's version of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' which is listed as track 16 in the Amazon listing. The cd I received only has 15 tracks and does not include 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'. Amazon's listing is deceptive at best and should be corrected. Apparantly you have to buy the import version of this cd to get track 16, which would have been nice to know before I wasted time and money buying this one. Guess I'll have to start all over.