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I don't care for all of Aretha's songs, but like Gold, Silver, Brass and Bronze the unedited version of Chain of Fools never goes out of style, and never gets old.
The song is a blues-torch song with Aretha whooping and hollering like only she can and really proves that the title of the album was more than just a name. It's remarkably cohesive even though some songs were left over from other recording sessions. There's not a single track on ARETHA: LADY SOUL that I didn't like. There are four bonus tracks including the long version of "Chain Of Fools" with spoken intro. Sure this dynamic album/CD contains the monster hits "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and "Chain Of Fools" but the real stand out for me is "Good To Me As I am To You." "Good To Me." is a song that I've never heard of before. I don't remember it being available on all the numerous greatest hits and compilations albums for Aretha, but this song should have been right up there with the rest of her standards. And there's updated liner notes from David Nathan and the original liner notes from Jon Landau of Rolling Stone magazine. If you don't already own it, buy LADY SOUL now and you'll understand why Rolling Stone Magazine named her the greatest singer of all time.
The unedited version of "Chain of Fools" with the haunting blues opening makes this CD worth buying by itself. But wait, there's more. The hits fit well together with the lesser known songs; this CD may end up in my top ten of all time (I may have to drop a Beatles album because of it).
It was also written solely by Franklin, proving she could be quite a good songwriter herself: she also co-wrote "Since You've Been Gone" with Teddy White and "Ain't No Way" with her sister Carolyn. Speaking of James Brown, she also does a very good cover of his popular "Money Won't Change You".
I don't know about that myself; there is a lot of filler on this album, mostly mediocre to bad covers ("Groovin'", which never was that good a song in the first place - to generalize once again, covers of bad songs will probably turn out just as bad, if not worse; "Niki Hoeky" is, um. A lot of people rank this as Aretha's best album, or at least in her top three.
You get a classic unbridled soul shouter known as "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" - the single song I use to point out why Aretha is the greatest soul singer ever; "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman" and "Ain't No Way" are tender, moving ballads; "Chain of Fools" is my favorite Aretha Franklin song, a cup of proto-funk that would make James Brown proud. hokey; "People Get Ready" is turned from moving to schlocky - try to find the Impressions' original instead; no amount of Aretha's belting can redeem "Come Back Baby").
The rest is far better, thank Gitchie Mondou. The most underrated of the batch is the slow, gritty blues "Good to Me as I Am to You", with a solid guitar riff from Eric Clapton.
If you're addicted to Aretha, this will satisfy.
Aretha continued composing with "Good to Me As I Am to You" a slow ballad with stripped down bluesy arrangements. The same year as the success, she came out with another album called Aretha Arrives but it wasn't considered a classic and perhaps she should have waited before releasing another album so soon after. Next up is the cover of Ray Charles's "Come Back Baby" which is another worhhwile addition to a great album. One year after in 1968 however came the worthy successor to "I Never Loved a Man", and it couldn't been better titled then "Lady Soul". It's most funky and emotional with backround choirs and horns setting the tone. By that you can really understand that Aretha's albums with Atlantic were a project they always put alot of work in, apart from her previous Colombia recordings.On "Lady Soul" there is once again a variation of newly composed songs and famous covers, in todays standards you could say that she covered too much but back in the day most albums were compiled like this. Another brassy song in "Niki Hoeky" where a gifted backround band and gospel choir is helping her out.
But what differs Aretha from other singers is that she always made the songs she sings her own and that is typical for a musicial prodigy like I would call her. Joe South, Bobby Womack, King Floyd and Eric Clapon contributed on diffrent instruments and Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy sang backround vocals. 3 singles were relased from this album and all made the top 10, while the #2 single "Chain of Fools" became a synonym for Aretha and another female anthem of a woman who's taking alot of pain from her man who's being unfaithful, but in the last verse she confess "One of these mornings the chain is gonna break/ But up until then, yeah, I'm gonna take all I can take", the most famous part of this classic is probably the "chain chain chain" chant that is incredibly catchy. This album is a needed brickstone in a devoted music fan's collection.
After releasing the mamouth I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You/Including Respect with the big hit "Respect" Aretha was crowned "The Queen Of Soul" and for good reason cause she was an extra-ordinary performer with a magnificient voice. "(You Make Me Feel like) a Natural Woman" is perhaps the best song of this album together with "Chain of Fools", a typical Aretha classic with strong message of love and self esteem where she find strenght after being loved and respected from a great gentleman. Carole King wrote it with her partner Gerry Goffin, she later released it herself on her album Tapestry a few years later."Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)" reached the #5 on the pop charts and it was actually written by her and her husband Ted White. Bit short though. "People Get Ready" was a Curtis Mayfield composed classic from the time with the Impressions about the civil right movement but Artetha still manage to make a good version of it (just like she did on Sam Cooke's (A Change Is Gonna Come), even if it's slightly diffrent then the original in a slower pace. This is a slow love ballad, simular message like "Chain of Fools".Overall, Another album another classic by one of our greatest female singers to date. This album is simular in many ways and mostly mentioned in the same lines, as a classic 60's soul album with songs about love, faith and hope. "Groovin" is a cover of the Young Rascals immense hit from 1967, I actually prefer their original version cause it had better arrangements.
"Money Won't Change You" was a James Brown song and it's much more funky then the usual song here, but rather short. This song is wonderful and the lyrics in the first verse goes like "There's a train a-coming/ You don't need no baggage/ You just get on board/ All you need is faith/ To hear the diesels humming/ Don't need no ticket/ You just thank the Lord". "Ain't No Way" was written by Aretha's sister Carolyn and it is the closer. For furhter listening, also check her next album Aretha Now which is almost equally strong.
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