New Career-Spanning Aretha Franklin Box Collects Hits and Rarities
A new career-spanning box by the late Aretha Franklin will be released on July 30. The set, which gathers the bulk of its content from her celebrated decade with Atlantic Records, was originally scheduled for release last year.
Aretha, which includes 81 newly remastered tracks and ranges from Franklin's earliest songs to her most recent recordings, will feature alternate versions of some of the Queen of Soul's biggest hits, demos, live performances and more.
In addition to classic songs like "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man," "Respect" and "Chain of Fools," the collection highlights a number of memorable collaborations, including “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” with Eurythmics and “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” with George Michael.
A previously unreleased 1978 studio version of Franklin's cover of Debby Boone's “You Light Up My Life” is among the previously unreleased material gathered on Aretha.
You can hear the song below.
The four-CD collection, which will also be available as a single disc featuring 20 songs, will arrive just before of the premiere of Respect, a biopic of Franklin's life starring Jennifer Hudson.
You can see the track listing for Aretha below.
Aretha Franklin, 'Aretha' Track Listing
Disc One
1. “Never Grow Old”
2. “You Grow Closer”
3. “Today I Sing The Blues”
4. “Won’t Be Long”
5. “Are You Sure”
6. “Operation Heartbreak”
7. “Skylark”
8. “Runnin’ Out Of Fools”
9. “One Step Ahead”
10. “(No, No) I’m Losing You”
11. “Cry Like A Baby”
12. “A Little Bit Of Soul”
13. “My Kind Of Town (Detroit Is)” – Demo *
14. “Try A Little Tenderness” – Demo *
15. “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”
16. “Do Right Woman – Do Right Man”
17. “Respect”
18. “A Change Is Gonna Come”
19. “Chain Of Fools” – Alternate Version
20. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – UK Single Version
21. “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone”
22. “Ain’t No Way”
23. “My Song”
24. “You Send Me”
25. “The House That Jack Built”
26. “Tracks Of My Tears”
Disc Two
1. “Baby I Love You” – Live
2. “Son Of A Preacher Man”
3. “Call Me” – Alternate Version *
4. “Let It Be”
5. “Young, Gifted And Black” – Alternate Longer Take *
6. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Long Version
7. “It’s Not Unusual/See Saw” – with Tom Jones *
(Originally Broadcast On This Is Tom Jones, October, 9, 1970)
8. “You're All I Need To Get By” – Work Tape *
9. “Brand New Me” – Work Tape *
10. “Spanish Harlem” – Alternate Mix *
11. “Rock Steady” – Alternate Mix/Take
12. “Day Dreaming”
13. “Share Your Love With Me” – Live
14. “Don’t Play That Song” – Live
15. “Dr. Feelgood” – Live
16. “Spirit In The Dark” (Reprise with Ray Charles) – Live
17. “How I Got Over” (Single Edit) – Live
18. “Master Of Eyes (The Deepness Of Your Eyes)”
Disc Three
1. “Somewhere” – Alternate Version *
2. “Angel” – Work Tape *
3. “The Boy From Bombay” *
4. “Til It's Over” – Demo *
5. “Oh Baby” (a.k.a. “There’s Something Magic About You”) – Demo *
6. “Until You Come Back To Me” – Work Tape *
7. “I’m In Love” – Alternate Vocal
8. “Without Love”
9. “Mr. D.J. (5 For The D.J.)”
10. “You”
11. “Something He Can Feel”
12. “Look Into Your Heart”
13. “Break It To Me Gently”
14. “When I Think About You”
15. “Almighty Fire (Woman Of The Future)”
16. “Ladies Only” – Short Version
17. “You Light Up My Life” *
18. “Ooo Baby Baby” – with Smokey Robinson *
(Originally Broadcast On Soul Train, December 1, 1979)
19. “Amazing Grace”
(Originally Broadcast On Royal Variety Performance, November 23, 1980)
Disc Four
1. “Think”
2. “I Say A Little Prayer” – with Dionne Warwick *
3. “United Together”
4. “Jump To It”
5. “The Wind”
6. “Freeway Of Love”
7. “Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves” – Eurythmics & Aretha Franklin
8. “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) – Aretha Franklin and George Michael
9. “Oh Happy Day” – with Mavis Staples (Live at New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit, MI - July 1987)
10. “A Rose Is Still A Rose”
11. “Someday We'll All Be Free”
12. “The Makings Of You”
13. “Nessun Dorma” – Live
14. “At Last” – with Lou Rawls *
(Originally Broadcast On American Soundtrack: Rhythm, Love And Soul, March 2003)
15. “You’ve Got A Friend” – Ronald Isley featuring Aretha Franklin
16. “Rolling In The Deep” – The Aretha Version
17. “My Country ’Tis Of Thee”
18. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” – Live *
(Originally Broadcast On The 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, December 19. 2015)