Aretha Franklin - Jewels In The Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen
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Free Music Notes for Jewels In The Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen
Free Music Review: Duets, Old & New
Hit: 3 Stars
When it comes to the music industry, and especially in R&B, we've often forgotten about older artists like Patti LaBelle, and Whitney Houston and how much of a influence they've brought to the music industry. Instead, we are often interested in acts like Beyonce' and Jennifer Lopez as the divas of this time. Nevertheless, it is sad we don't hear the unique melodies of greats. that also is why so much of us do overlook Aretha Franklin as a huge influence as well. For her 5 decades of influence as one of the great divas of all, her voice has still been proven past and present that it still shines on like a definite diamond. Although her previous albums haven't scored well, she still can maintain a huge ovation, even with others on this duets collection.
Aretha Franklin's 2007 duets album Jewels In The Crown: Duets With the Queen Of Soul, is a collection of some of Aretha's duets old and new. Some of the tracks are well worth listening too like the classics, and simply because some of them have been out of print for a longtime, as very rare gems which are real treats for die hard Aretha Franklin fans, while other duets could've fit the bill a bit better, especially the new tracks. Nevertheless, the collection does include some great gems like I Knew You Were Waiting For Me with George Michael, Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves with the Eurythmics, and a live recording of Chain Of Fools with Mariah Carey from VH1's 1998 Divas Live benefit concert. Surprisingly though, it is the rare gems that've finally came back to life that actually steal the show on the album like her overlooked collaborations with Elton John on 1989's Through the Storm and with Whitney Houston on It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Ever Gonna Be. Although the classics and the rare cuts work good, the new duets like the one with Fantasia Burrino from American Idol on Put You Up On Game, and John Legend on What Y'All Came To Do don't seem to measure the hype of a great set of new duets, and doesn't add-on well for anyone who is new to Aretha's sound. Instead, the new duets feel like they just are lackluster, and miss out to Aretha's classic sound and soulful, unique voice.
While Jewels In the Crown doesn't do enough to get those who are new to Aretha Franklin's distinctive voice, especially those who'd rather listen to Beyonce' and the disgraced Britney Spears, it is a great buy for die hard fans young and old. It is a good addition to your R&B music library, but doesn't clean itself up as a must buy for anyone who has definitely missed out on Aretha at her best, and seem more into who has to be hot now, and not the merit of the artist within.
Album Cover: B
Songs: C+
Price: B-
Remastering: B 1/2-
Overall: C+
Free Music Review: 2 Words... Regurgitated Content ... Right down to the cover photo
Hit: 3 Stars
Don't get me wrong, I love Aretha! However, when an Artist of this stature allows an album to be billed as "new" when it has over 90% regurgitated content on it and it's not considered a "Greatest Hits" album, smells fishy to me and seems to be a little deceptive. Even the cover photo is regurgitated from the Rose Is Still A Rose album.
If you're going to do a duets album and call it "new," then I would think the Queen should have gone into the studio and sung some new duets/covers of her old hits over and above the 2 new ones included on this effort.
This seems to be a trend that the executives of the record companies have thought up to make more money. They got a taste of how well a "duets" themed album could do with the 2 albums Frank Sinatra put out back in the 90's... and they saw dollar signs!
The big difference between this album when compared to Sinatra's Duet album is that Sinatra re-recorded his hits with other artists (kinda ironic that both Aretha sang on the first Sinatra duet album.....). Even though Sinatra did not get together with the artists in the same studio for the actual recording, it was still an event in the making and was a great album!
Perhaps record companies think that consumers are so gullible and ravenous for anything new from an Artist like Aretha that they can get away with this... It's just one more example, in my opinion, of how seriously out of touch record companies are with today's music consumers who only want to pay for the songs they like, or either don't have in their collection yet.
I would have loved nothing better than to see Aretha go into the studio and do exactly what Sinatra did for this release. Nothing would have made me happier than to see her get together with Mariah Carey to perform a proper duet. To call her singing with Mariah of "Chain of Fools" from the VH1 Divas Concert a "duet" is a pretty big stretch if you ask me. If this had been done in the studio it probably would have been amazing.
Still, I love the duets on the collection and I guess if you don't own this material through another previous release, then I can see the merit in wanting to purchase it. So for that and that alone, I give it 3 stars.
Free Music Review: decent
Hit: 3 Stars
first and foremost Aretha Franklin is One of the Greatest Musical forces ever. lets acknowledge and show her the due and Love she truly deserves. the songs are alright.Aretha Franklin commands the performances overall. this songs are more modern and don't capture her at her full gritty best era run from the mid 60's through near late 70's. a nice collection,but none of the songs here are what I'd say are touching her Prime/Peak material but still there are some decent moments.the versatility of Aretha Franklin is always showcased no matter what.Free Music Review: 1 STAR
Hit: 1 Stars
I gave this rehash of Aretha's duets 1 star because this one is going straight to the mark down bin. The new duets are TIRED! Why does she sound like a squilling pig? Age? Cigarettes? The amazon dress size?
NEXT!