Outtakes have a way of making fans feel at home. Mics get adjusted, technicalities are smoothed out ("Are we recording this, Jerry?") -- and just when you're starting to get comfortable, the genius begins. On the spare "Are You Leaving Me," just thirty seconds before the song ends, Franklin's yearning warms to a white-hot ache. This album might bring you into the studio, but it doesn't let you forget you're in the presence of royalty. - Catherine Epstein

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
2. Dr. Feelgood (Love Is a Serious Challenge)
3. Sweet Bitter Love
4. It Was You
5. The Letter
6. So Soon
7. Mr. Big
8. Talk To Me, Talk To Me
9. The Fool On the Hill
10. Pledging My Love/The Clock
11. You're Taking Up Another Man's Place
12. You Keep Me Hangin' On
13. I'm Trying To Overcome
14. My Way
15. My Cup Runneth Over
16. You're All I Need To Get By
17. You're All I Need To Get By
18. Lean On me

Disc 2:

1. Rock Steady
2. I Need a Strong Man (The To-To Song)
3. Heavenly Father
4. Sweetest Smile And the Funkiest Style
5. This Is
6. Tree Of Life
7. Do You Know
8. Can You Love Again
9. I Want To Be With You
10. Suzanne
11. That's the Way I Feel About Cha
12. Ain't But the One
13. The Happy Blues
14. At Last
15. Love Letters
16. I'm In Love
17. Are You Leaving Me

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3100 in Music
• Released on: 2007-10-16
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com
Nearly every music legend leaves behind a slew of unreleased songs, alternate takes of released tunes, and live and demo material. To collectors, such detritus from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and others is manna from heaven. Aretha Franklin's first six years with Atlantic Records generated its own sheaf of unreleased songs and rarities, lovingly compiled into a chronological two-CD collection. Raw 1966 demos of her first Atlantic hit "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Dr. Feelgood" from her debut album open the gates to an embarrassment of riches from 1967 to 1973, most eventually recorded for other albums. The explosive, gospel-flavored "The Letter" and "It Was You," recorded during the Aretha Arrives sessions, are masterpieces, as is her extraordinary spin on the Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill," given to Franklin by Paul McCartney and released on Magical Mystery Tour only after her version never appeared. Her soulful take on "My Cup Runneth Over" renders Ed Ames's syrupy '60s-pop version irrelevant and it's difficult to see why the down-and-dirty blues "Do You Know" from her Other Side of the Sky sessions never appeared. A live duet with Ray Charles on Duke Ellington's "Ain't But the One" from a 1973 Ellington salute on CBS is followed by an eloquent takes on Etta James's hit "At Last" and Nat King Cole's "Love Letters." With knowing, poignant reminiscences from Atlantic's legendary Jerry Wexler, Franklin's producer during these years, it's an overdue, eminently fulfilling journey beyond her classics. --Rich Kienzle