From The Heart – Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin’s a living legend. We all know that. But at this point, she has almost as many compilations as she does hit singles. And truth be told, From the Heart would never made it into my collection had I not received a promotional copy. That said, I’m glad to have it-it fills a couple of holes in my Aretha collection and introduced me to a couple of previously hidden gems. I don’t consider it to be essential to anyone that’s not a big fan of the Queen of Soul-as many of the songs here were either album tracks or minor hit singles.

This set is part of a broader series of From the Heart releases, compiled by Sony Music and released earlier this year to coincide with Valentine’s Day. This series features an attractive, eco-friendly design and among the artists featured in the series are The Isley Brothers, Babyface, Air Supply and Frank Sinatra, among others.

One thing you should know right off the bat is that this set doesn’t contain any material from Aretha’s biggest hit period-the late Sixties and early Seventies. So you won’t find slow jam favorites like You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) or Something He Can Feel on this compilation. While there are a couple of early Sixties tracks here that date from before her breakout success, most of the tracks on this set date from the period after she joined Arista Records in 1980, running until her last studio album, So Damn Happy, in 2003.

The material jumps around quite a bit. Aretha started out singing pop standards, and she delivers sterling versions of Misty and Unforgettable, although those who are only aware of Nat “King” Cole’s popular version might be thrown for a bit of a loop by Aretha’s very different phrasing and her take on the song’s melody. It’s almost unrecognizable, but it’s still solid.

The majority of the music on From the Heart comes from the years 1982 and 1983, when Aretha was produced by Luther Vandross. The songs from this period (all of which are otherwise out of print on CD)have that bass-heavy vibe that much of Luther’s work had at the outset of his career. While a few too many of the Luther-produced songs sound alike, there are highlights such as the finger-snapping midtempo jam Love Me Right (featuring heavy backgrounds from Luther himself) and the pretty ballad Giving In.

Surprisingly for an album called From the Heart, a lot of songs here don’t exactly qualify as ballads. It’s probably fair to say that James Brown gave up slow jams when he became a funk master in the mid-Sixties, and his duet with Aretha on Gimme Your Love is way too fast-paced to be on an album that’s supposed to be filled with love songs. While it’s nice to hear the King and Queen of Soul on the same track, the song itself is a bit of a throwaway. I also scratch my head at the inclusion of Freeway of Love. Despite being Aretha’s biggest hit of the period, this dance-floor chugger is still an ill-fit on an album like this. Inclusions like these songs and the hip-hop self-help story A Rose is Still a Rose make me wonder how careful the thought process was when it came to putting this set together.

Still, there are gems to be found here, like the gently bumping Never Leave You Again (improbably produced by a very restrained Puff Daddy) and the proto-80s synth ballad Until You Say You Love Me, which could have fit easily on Tina Turner’s Private Dancer album. Actually, there was enough good material to be found on this set that I think it would be a good time to reinvestigate some of the Queen’s 80s work, which I’m not as familiar with as the stuff from her heyday.

So, while From the Heart doesn’t exactly work as a Valentine’s Day collection, it does contain a nice selection of material from Aretha that’s been unavailable for quite some time, and it’s worth having if you’re an “Arethacologist” (to use a term longtime fan Luther was find of using), or a fan of 80s soul.