"a beautiful, soulful voice"

aretha franklin is the queen of soul, and her big, bouncy voice just soothes me every time. I can not think of one person who's voice is as large as hers - amazing. the two discs are just full of classics. i love them all, but the highlights for me are (in order of places on discs): "i knew u were waiting" (UK no. 1/US no. 1)" "think" (UK no. 1/Us no. 2)"(u make me feel like) a natural woman" (UK no. 1/US no. 1) "i never loved a man (the way I love u)" (UK no. 1/US no. 1)"chain of fools" (UK no. 1/US no. 2)"until u come back to me (that's what i'm gonna do) (UK no. 1/US no. 1)"let it be" (UK no. 3/US no. 2)and my favourite song on the two discs, "son of a preacherman" (UK no. 1/US no. 2), "sisters are doin' it for themselves" (UK no. 1/US no. 1) "ain't no way" (UK no. 2/US no. 2) "baby i love u" (UK no. 3/US no. 7) and "the long & winding road" (UK no. 1/US no. 4). thera re many brilliant songs on this classic album. BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent Collection

The previous reviewer is being way too harsh on this double CD collection. Both CD's are ery good although the first one is a little better. The second one has a more mdoern feel.

The first one is just laoded with classics. Chain Of Fools, Spanish Harlem, Respect, and one of my two faves-Say A Little Prayer. The other fave is the bouncy gospel flavored SonOf A Preacher Man. The cover of Let It Be is super and The House That Jack Built is super spunky.

The second side is less comemrcial but explores some jazzy elements(Aint No Way), blues(Today I Sing The Blues), and R & B(Freeway Of Love, A Deeper Lover, Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves). Very engaging cover versions of Jumping Jack Flash, Border Song, and The Long And Winding Road.

Very minimal or any flawed numbers on this compilation. Aretha has such a repetoire that a two CD compilation is the way to go.

Great 1st disc (all available elsewhere), mediocre 2nd disc

I fell for the allure of a "foreign" release and half-way wasted $... for this compilation. 1st disc is full of great classics, but 2nd is all rock-funk marginal-at-best material. My suggestion is to find the classics on a $... single CD. I'm going to throw away the 2nd disc in this collection. Aretha, like Streisand, has recorded the best and worst ends of the music spectrum.