Salı 24 Mar 2009, 15:43

Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You

The thing about soul music is (if it is performed by one of the greatest soul monuments of course) that you just can't dislike it. I honestly believe there's nobody who can listen to this album and say: 'Wow, that's just awful'. Maybe it's not someone's cup of tea, but you just can't listen to music like this without being touched at least once.

And here we have the monument of the female monuments: Aretha Franklin. And she does justice to her reputation. This album is wonderful, beautiful, pure soul. She knows how to personalize a song (her version of Respect is something completely different than Otis Redding's original… but you would have to live on a mountain top in the Himalaya not to know the song, haha) and she knows how to make you feel everything she sings about. What's more: she can play a decent piano. And her voice is so… Aretha Franklin really. She must be the best female singer ever: maybe not the most original voice, but definitely the strongest one.

This is an album of which you know in advance it can't go wrong. Music simply can't have more soul than this.

(O zo ontzettend mooi: Respect, Dr. Feelgood (Love Is A Serious Business), Do Right Woman, Do Right Man, A Change Is Gonna Come, I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You))