Week 16: 50 Albums That Changed Music [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Swish
10-30-2006, 08:01 AM
This week's entry is no surprise at all, it's influence undeniable, but not exactly among my favorites. I suppose mostly because I've heard the monster hit from this album about 70 gazillion times in my life, and so has everyone else on this earth. Talk about overplayed. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967)

'R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me!' Is there a more potent female lyric in pop? Franklin's Atlantic Records debut unleashed her soulful ferociousness upon an unsuspecting public, and both the singer and her album quickly became iconic symbols of black American pride. Without this there would be no Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, girl power would not exist, and rudeboys would not spit 'res'pec' through kissed teeth.

Well, I think it's a great choice, but no "girl power"? No Mariah Carey? Oy vey!

Swish

kexodusc
10-30-2006, 08:21 AM
At some point, someone has to stand up and challenge the "if it wasn't for X, there'd be no Y" philosophy.
Today, I will be that man. (that's right, I'm all bad-ass)
Rock, R&B, Soul, Pop, all charged by Gospel roots was alive and well in that era, extremely common, and this pattern would endure for decades. Men were doing, it, naturally, women would do it too. It was just a matter of time until a woman broke through.

I won't deny Aretha her rightful place in history, she was great at what she did, and this album may have influenced many, marked a the beginning of a new trend in music, but outright changed it? I dunno. Contributed to it would be more appropriate. Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, etc, those were all gonna happen sooner or later, one way or another, with or without Ms. Franklin.

DariusNYC
10-30-2006, 08:25 AM
The title track is one of my favorite songs ever. I remember reading that they nailed that on the first take. Franklin arrived down at Muscle Shoals to record with musicians down there. The piano player didn't show up or was running late and so Aretha sat in on piano. After they did the take, the musicians we're so excited with what had transpired that they were jumping around and hugging each other. Greatest 60's soul track?

It's funny that "Respect" is now considered an empowerment song. It was written for a man to sing -- "give me some respect when I get home"; "your kisses are sweeter than honey / but guess what, so is my money" -- and Aretha just turned around the lyrics. But if you listen to them closely they don't quite make sense the way she sang them. That's OK, it's the definitive recording of the song and a classic. I don't mind how many times "Respect" has been played. It hasn't worn for me.

My other favorite song on the album is "Dr. Feelgood". It really conveys well a feeling of sexual obsession as part of a relationship. Unhealthy? Maybe:

Now I don't mind company
Because company's alright with me every once and a while
Yes it is.
I tell you I don't mind company
Because company's alright with me every once in a while, yeah.
But oh, when me and that man get to loving
I tell you girls I dig you, but I just don't have time
To sit and chit and sit and chit chat and smile.

(Of course, it's Aretha singing these lines that make them so great, not me putting them on a page.)

And, there's a great version of "A Change is Gonna Come" that's not quite as good as Sam Cooke's but can still bring a tear to the eye.

As far as the observations of the writer him- or herself on this album, as usual it's kind of trite. No comment on the influence, except it's a huge fave of mine and I see it as towering over most of the stuff from this period other than a hallowed few.

MindGoneHaywire
10-30-2006, 10:04 AM
Much like some other genres, a problem with pointing to any one album is that this represents a genre that was largely defined by singles, not albums. Did this rec change that? Hard to argue against it, but only to a point: Tina Turner had already been recording with Ike for years by the time this rec was recorded, and River Deep Mountain High was released the year before. Worthy choice, severe overreach on the notes.

nobody
10-30-2006, 11:38 AM
I like Aretha and all....but there was already a Tina Turner by 1967. Hell, River Deep, Mountain Wide came out in 1966...and that was a few years after Ike and Tina were tearing up the R&B charts.

Now...if he meant no Tina solo like Private Dancer...I say I could live with that.

And, yeah...how about just calling Respect a great lyric rather than a great female lyric.

Actually though the song lives on in Aretha's versions, I'd be interested in how the lyric would be viewed today if it was never taken by a woman. Would it have been mysigonistic? An anachronism? Is it ok for a woman to demand respect, but brutish and coarse for a man to do so? Or...would it just be a lesser known Otis redding track that barely gets a mention?

And, actually, for an empowerment song, I prefer Think off Aretha Today.

nobody
10-30-2006, 11:40 AM
Oops...i guess I shouldda paid attention to J's post, which I pretty much just restated when starting mine.

MindGoneHaywire
10-30-2006, 01:20 PM
I ignore my posts also. But only in certain threads.

C-Z
10-30-2006, 04:23 PM
The title track is one of my favorite songs ever. I remember reading that they nailed that on the first take. Franklin arrived down at Muscle Shoals to record with musicians down there. The piano player didn't show up or was running late and so Aretha sat in on piano. After they did the take, the musicians we're so excited with what had transpired that they were jumping around and hugging each other. Greatest 60's soul track?

It's funny that "Respect" is now considered an empowerment song. It was written for a man to sing -- "give me some respect when I get home"; "your kisses are sweeter than honey / but guess what, so is my money" -- and Aretha just turned around the lyrics. But if you listen to them closely they don't quite make sense the way she sang them. That's OK, it's the definitive recording of the song and a classic. I don't mind how many times "Respect" has been played. It hasn't worn for me.

My other favorite song on the album is "Dr. Feelgood". It really conveys well a feeling of sexual obsession as part of a relationship. Unhealthy? Maybe:

Now I don't mind company
Because company's alright with me every once and a while
Yes it is.
I tell you I don't mind company
Because company's alright with me every once in a while, yeah.
But oh, when me and that man get to loving
I tell you girls I dig you, but I just don't have time
To sit and chit and sit and chit chat and smile.

(Of course, it's Aretha singing these lines that make them so great, not me putting them on a page.)

And, there's a great version of "A Change is Gonna Come" that's not quite as good as Sam Cooke's but can still bring a tear to the eye.

As far as the observations of the writer him- or herself on this album, as usual it's kind of trite. No comment on the influence, except it's a huge fave of mine and I see it as towering over most of the stuff from this period other than a hallowed few.

Interesting stuff Darius, I love background/inside info of that sort. Makes me want to buy the album.

BTW, I still have a very cool and interesting Rap comp you made for me years ago when I confessed ignorance about (and questioned the value of) the entire genre. An EXTREMELY belated Thanks!

BradH
10-30-2006, 07:02 PM
Yeah, there was already a Tina Turner but Aretha took Otis's song about a relationship and turned it into a statement of black female pride and independence just by the way she sang it. It's brilliant, it floors me everytime I hear it.

That's a killer Otis album the original is from too, Otis Blue. It's got his cover of the Stones' "Satisfaction" that was written with his style in mind. This was, of course, also at Muscle Shoals. I think it's the same musicians w/ Steve Cropper and those guys.

Darius: "Greatest 60's soul track?"

Could be. It's either that or something from Otis.