ARETHA

• Track Listing

Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz about this: a new 4-CD anthology that takes us all across the career of the Queen of Soul—starting with recordings that came out when she was 14 years old. Aretha’s 1967–79 Atlantic prime dominates the set, though, and also the single-CD/double-140-gram-vinyl "highlights" editions you see here. All of the above take a mostly chronological route through her career via hits, demos, live tracks, alternate versions and other rarities. All three editions start with "Never Grow Old" (1956) and end with "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (live at the Kennedy Center Honors 12/19/15). In between: "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)," "A Change Is Gonna Come," "Respect," "Think," "Chain of Fools" (alternate version), "Rock Steady" (alternate mix/take), "How I Got Over" (live; single edit), "Something He Can Feel," "Freeway of Love," "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)" (with George Michael), the previously unreleased recordings "You Light Up My Life," "Until You Come Back to Me" (work tape), "Call Me" (alternate version) and more. The highlights editions include 20 tracks; the 4-CD set boasts 81 remastered tracks, 19 of ’em debuting on CD. These releases are exquisite celebrations of one of the most otherworldly voices ever heard on planet Earth. Atlantic.