Article
Getting It Right: Aretha Franklin Since 1980

By: Thomas Inskeep
2007-05-21



Posted 05/21/2007 - 10:08:48 AM by boilingboy:
 Congrats, Thomas. You out did yourself in the "Who Cares?" department. I couldn't think of a more irrelevant musical topic than this one. Wait...how about the Captain and Tenille's blue period?
 
Posted 05/21/2007 - 10:33:20 AM by AlfredSoto:
 Next week we'll return to white indie boys with guitars for your listening pleasure.
 
Posted 05/21/2007 - 12:40:24 PM by cwperry:
 Where did that cover art for Who's Zoomin' Who come from!?! Is that the truck stop version? The original version had a much different cover . . .
 
Posted 05/21/2007 - 02:41:40 PM by boilingboy:
 I see...it's either white boys with guitars, or insipid 80s overproduced would-be comback albums. Don't even try to imply that I don't like soul or r&b; because I object to Inskeep's limited musical palette. It's like trying to tell me that Clapton's Phill Collins-produced 80s albums were artistically valid, because he was in Creem in the 1960s.
 
Posted 05/21/2007 - 08:41:37 PM by barbarian:
 Hell, without Aretha Franklin, who else would obese American Idol contestants channel in their freakish, thunderous croaks for super stardom?
 
Posted 05/22/2007 - 02:40:24 AM by boilingboy:
 Yes, by the way, Aretha really sucked at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame ceremony....even she knew it. The gospel album with Mavis Staples IS great, though.
 
Posted 05/22/2007 - 08:57:23 AM by raskolnikov:
 I think Mr. Soto is reminding us that the thing to remember here is that bad commercial R & B artists are intrinsically more important than any "white indie boys with guitars". Especially when their music revolves around loud, braying voices singing insipid songs written by hack music industry songwriters or itinerant traveling gospel musicians.
 
Posted 05/22/2007 - 12:36:05 PM by cwperry:
 I agree with Graham Parker's sentiments in his 1996 song "Obsessed With Aretha," but even so she is not completely devoid of merit or a stupid choice for analysis on this site. I know that many of us read Stylus because it typically focuses on the window of pop culture in which we most frequently operate, but I learned as much as I know about music by reading about artists I wasn't into and didn't like. I agree, this isn't my favorite subject for a weekly article, but there's nothing wrong with it being here. There is much more grace in silence than in sarcasm.
 
Posted 05/22/2007 - 12:37:15 PM by cwperry:
 And, Mr. Inskeep, I am still interested in knowing about that cover art for Who's Zoomin' Who (see my 5/21/07 12:40 PM comment).
 
Posted 05/23/2007 - 11:16:50 AM by ThomasInskeep:
 cwperry, we inadvertently used the 45 sleeve instead of the LP sleeve; it's fixed now.
 
Posted 05/23/2007 - 12:22:28 PM by cwperry:
 Ah, I see. I thought maybe the other one was a weirdo import variation.
 
Posted 05/28/2007 - 04:49:40 AM by edwardo:
 Inskeep's limited musical palette? Dear god, Thomas knows lots about EVERYTHING, has massively wide tastes and is one of the site's best writers because of it.
 
Posted 05/28/2007 - 03:18:35 PM by boilingboy:
 You must be kidding...or you're stuck in the same crap music, 80s time warp that he is. Knowing a lot about disposable garbage doesn't make you a critic. It does make you a bullshit artist.