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Various Artists – Songs Of Aretha Dubwise Showcase

Ariwa Sounds – ARILP 290

Vinyl, LP, Compilation, UK, Apr 12, 2019

info

I had no idea this record existed until I spotted a used copy on a recent trip. A tribute to Aretha Franklin featuring reggae covers of songs associated with the Queen of Soul, produced by Mad Professor and accompanied by dub versions? Yes, I was an easy mark for that sale.

Some of these are vintage Mad Professor rhythms put to new use, others are more recent recordings. I guess there's a CD version out there too with a handful of additional songs and dubs... Keeping my eyes peeled. I appreciated the choice of songs here- You get obvious hits like Natural Woman and Burt Bacharach and Hal David's wonderful Say A Little Prayer, but a few surprises as well. 

In the liner notes, Mad Professor admits to having missed out on Aretha's brilliant One Step Ahead for forty-plus years, only hearing it as part of a tribute show he listened to the week after her death. The track was cut for a rare 1965 single on Columbia, a few years before Franklin's real rise to fame at Atlantic. It never found it's way onto an album, leaving a beautiful song undeservedly obscure. If you're roughly from my generation, you might recognize the hook from the same place I remember first hearing it, as a sample flipped in a great Mos Def single from the late '90s. (Also worth your time: Lauryn Hill covering One Step live in 2011. Looks like Doug Wimbish on bass?)

Love The One You're With, a song I first remember hearing on a Phyllis Dillon rocksteady LP, is actually written by folk rocker Stephen Stills. Aretha Franklin had a great version of the song, but I enjoyed hearing a reggae take on it once again and thought the vocals from UK singer Aisha were especially nice. It isn't all completely successful though. Susan Cadogan's 1970s recordings are classics and she started putting out new music again in the 90s, teaming up with Mad Professor on his Ariwa label a few times over the years. Her 1992 take of Say A Little Prayer over a quirky rhythm is included here and didn't immediately win me over, but the dub mix in particular helped it grow on me.

Look, you won't be using this to replace your Aretha Franklin collection, but it has some charming new takes of tunes that we all love. Today was a beautiful, cool, sunny Sunday and this album was a nice one to have running through my headphones while I did some writing and work outside. I had hoped to get this up for Mother's Day, but it got away from me with some health issues that came up in the house (all is well now!), a union election (ahem- all is well now!) and other distractions. Better late than never... I hope you enjoy!

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Tracklist
A1 Sandra Cross & The Wild Bunch – One Step Ahead
A2 Aisha – Love The One You're With
A3 Jocelyn Brown & The Robotiks – Day Dreaming
B1 Just Dale & The Robotiks – Until You Come Back To Me
B2 Carroll Thompson – Natural Woman
B3 Susan Cadogan – Say A Little Prayer

*A footnote for the OCD wondering why the tracklist doesn't quite match once you click the links below: Dubs are included for three tracks on the vinyl version. For the two songs that had a clear break between the vocal and dub versions, I took the liberty of separating them into two tracks. The third, Until You Come Back To Me, I left in its extended "disco mix" with the vocal flowing right into the dub. Yeah, OK, I know I'm the only one who worries about these things... sorry.

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Just one step ahead is a step too far away from FLAC (download zip file).

I'm only one step ahead of heartbreak, One step ahead of MP3 (stream or download).