I really like it, though it doesn't trump the original.
― please don't shampoo your eyes (stevie), Monday, 12 October 2015 14:56 (eight years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/aretha-franklin-spirit-in-the-dark/amp/
― Making Plans For Sturgill (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 20 May 2018 18:43 (six years ago) link
Good piece! So glad he concentrated on her piano.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 20 May 2018 19:15 (six years ago) link
Spirit and Young, Gifted, and Black are two of my favorites of hers, and don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 20 May 2018 19:24 (six years ago) link
Let Me In Your Life was really striking, w variety unified by dynamics, detail, atmosphere: title track by Bill Withers, incl. the suddenly quiet, dead-on bridge before the resurge---will she scare him away? "Every Natural Thing" by Eddie Hinton, couple originals, with "If You Don't Think" especially appealing, rhythmically suave and flirtatious (confident!) xpost "Til You Come Back To Me" by Stevie (and others), country soul "With Pen In Hand," rocking 60s Aretha "Eight Days On The Road," rippling, hovering "A Song For You"(prob. overrecorded, but her version is the keeper)---smoking the 70s with Cornell Dupree, Pretty Purdie, Deodato, Donnie Hathaway, Joe Farrell, many others,
― dow, Sunday, 20 May 2018 19:53 (six years ago) link
xgau's take, from Rock Records of the 70s or whatever:
Aretha Franklin: Let Me in Your Life [Atlantic, 1974]Welcome Tom and Jerry (Dowd and Wexler) back--this isn't great Aretha, but it rocks steady even on the ballads. If she doesn't get away with "The Masquerade Is Over," she does renew "A Song for You" with a fresh electric piano part and a good helping of indiscreet interpretation. Guided indiscretion, that's the key--her great gift is her voice, but her genius is her bad taste. B+ Fuck the grade, but he's not entirely wrong, like does justify "What A Fool Believes" and a number of other kitschy choices over the years.
― dow, Sunday, 20 May 2018 19:58 (six years ago) link
Young, Gifted & Black is an astonishing album. Daydreaming! All The Kings Horses!
― Lou Grant, the Iranian cinema of late '70s TV (stevie), Sunday, 20 May 2018 19:59 (six years ago) link
oooh I haven't heard "If You Don't Think" in ages
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 20 May 2018 20:14 (six years ago) link
Young, Gifted & Black, Spirit In The Dark and Sparkle are the only 70s albums I have of hers. They're all fantastic. I need to check out some of the others.
― kitchen person, Sunday, 20 May 2018 20:21 (six years ago) link
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 20 May 2018 20:32 (six years ago) link
Spirit in the Dark is one of my 50 favorite albums.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 20 May 2018 20:38 (six years ago) link
I've gotten really into "the albums nobody cares about" recently, particularly You and Almighty Fire.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 20 May 2018 20:44 (six years ago) link
idk how i've lived my life so long without memorizing every second of sparkle. it's almost too good--i have to shield my eyes.
― ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 17:34 (five years ago) link
i recently discovered a friend shot the cover photo of Spirit In The Dark!
He has since photographed me... quite a plummet.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 18:51 (five years ago) link
Until You Come Back To Me is perfect.
― Arthur Funzonerelli (stevie), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 19:19 (five years ago) link
Only vaguely knew the song It Ain't Fair until recently and never knew that was Duane Allman on guitar. That track smokes.
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Friday, 14 September 2018 15:10 (five years ago) link
― St Etienne Is Real (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 15 September 2018 11:37 (five years ago) link
This is finally happening, for real this time:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/business/media/aretha-franklin-amazing-grace-film.html
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 5 November 2018 20:36 (five years ago) link
more here
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6027-aretha-franklin-documentary-amazing-grace-set-to-premiere
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 8 November 2018 15:30 (five years ago) link
sick burn
Congratulations to Sydney Pollack finally directing a great movie.— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) November 27, 2018
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 29 November 2018 01:04 (five years ago) link
Ha. It’s showing in NYC now?
― curmudgeon, Friday, 30 November 2018 20:48 (five years ago) link
in a week
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 November 2018 21:05 (five years ago) link
And only for a week:
https://filmforum.org/film/amazing-grace
Aaron Cohen, author of the essential 33 1/3rd book on Amazing Grace, will give an introduction at the December 8 8:00pm showing (which is sold out).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 30 November 2018 21:39 (five years ago) link
I saw Cohen talk about Curtis Mayfield once. He’s worth listening to.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 1 December 2018 15:57 (five years ago) link
Has anyone else seen Amazing Grace?. It is exhilarating. I can also confirm that the aforementioned Aaron Cohen is a standup person and also a skilled musical historian/educator.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 3 December 2018 23:00 (five years ago) link
One of the Vinyl Me Please swap titles for June (what you can get instead of the normal subscription titles for the month) was their pressing of Spirit In The Dark. I received it yesterday and am spinning now.
I somehow missed that this edition was the MONO MIX--I didn't even know there was a mono mix! I guess it was done for AM radio or something? They say it's the "First Official Mono Vinyl Release". It's probably just a Stereo fold-down, but it still sounds lovely, really brings out the piano and especially the bass.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 17 June 2022 19:11 (one year ago) link
Have been on the lookout for an affordable vinyl copy of this for ages. VMP annoy me a lot but they do repress some fantastic stuff.
― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Saturday, 18 June 2022 10:38 (one year ago) link
It's on sale for $25 (or $23 if you're a member) for the next day or so:
https://www.vinylmeplease.com/products/aretha-franklin-spirit-in-the-dark?variant=39326877483098
Looking again at the item description, they kind of bury the info that it's in Mono.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 21 June 2022 22:49 (one year ago) link
I'm fine with the mono but I fear the postage to the UK would kill me
― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Wednesday, 22 June 2022 18:58 (one year ago) link