Friday, March 29, 2024

New Music: Aretha Franklin, Garland Jeffreys Each Score

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Tomorrow comes Aretha Franklin‘s long promised “A Woman Falling out of Love,” on her very own Aretha’s Records. It’s available for now at Wal Mart and on WalMart.com. After a month it goes to the downloading services like ITunes and amazon.com. It’s Aretha’s first new album in a long time, and her 38th all together. Unlike her glossy releases on Arista over the last 25 years, “A Woman Falling out Love” takes Ms. Franklin  very back to the roots Aretha–lots gospel, her own songs, Aretha playing brilliant piano, and in house production by her own team. If there’s a hit single, I’d say it’s a tie between her own composition, “This You Should Know,” and Norman West‘s “Put It Back Together Again.” There’s also a potential hit in “U Can’t See Me,” written and produced by Curtis Boone. This is unvarnished Aretha, and a relief to know that the Queen of Soul still reigns supreme! Don’t miss gospel highlights: “Faithful,” with Karen Clark, and “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” featuring Franklin’s son, Eddie.

Garland Jeffreys‘ show at the Highline Ballroom on Saturday was like a revival meeting–and it was definitely another step in the revival of Jeffreys’ long up and down career. His first album in eons, “The King of Inbetween,” will be available beginning June 7th. Right now the single “Coney Island Winter” is on ITunes. The video is in our player below. At Saturday night’s show, Garland kicked ass with some of his great hits like “Wild in the Streets” and “96 Tears,” fan favorites like “New York Skyline” and “I May Not Be Your Kind.” But it’s the new songs I’m interested in: Jeffreys has always been the king of in-between–not just black and white, but rock and soul. For 35 years he’s been a radio enigma. (You know radio hates the gray areas.) But outside of Paul Simon’s current album, there is nothing this smart, fun, or catchy for people who really love rock and roll music. www.garlandjeffreys.com

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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