Aretha Franklin | The Diva Series | Updated - a podcast by Keith a.k.a. K j A M

It's been a very long time coming but I finally sat down and put together a fitting tribute to the Queen of Soul, Mother of all mothers, a timeless singer that crosses multi-generations, the one, and only Miss Aretha Franklin.



Without a doubt, this tribute set was the hardest I've ever put together for any of our divas. Typically, their careers can span from the 70's or 80's to current day but Miss Aretha's career goes back to the 60's where the bulk of her amazing talent was really put on display.



Originally signed to Columbia Records, her career didn't really take off until she jumped ship for Atlantic Records and began working with Jerry Wexler. Hits like I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You), Respect (her signature song and later a feminist anthem), A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like), Chain of Fools, Think, I Say a Little Prayer, Spanish Harlem, Rock Steady, Day Dreaming, Angel, Until You Come Back To Me (That's What's I'm Gonna Do) and countless others formed a long-lasting career that defined an entire generation.



She had a resurgence during the 80's thanks in large part to Clive Davis from Arista records who did the same for Dionne Warwick and brought us future divas like Whitney, Taylor, Deborah & Lisa among others.



Certainly, Miss Aretha had some 90's house hits and recently released an album of covers which included a remix album of those songs but nothing quite extensive. It was my job to hunt down the best of the best of her 60's output (which was no easy feat) and then clean them up because many are older than sin itself and then try to work them into a cohesive set. On a week that I was supposed to be taking a break from things, this consumed a great deal of time trying to make this all work but it's freaking Aretha, so I was dead-set on making this work.



I'd say the end result was well worth the effort and any massive fan of Aretha such as myself, will appreciate this presentation as a compliment to her stealthy catalog of hits and folks it's HUGE! The contributions this woman has made to music are unfathomable. She formed the core basis for a generation of DIVAS and many more well into the future.



It is with great love, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, duty, and admiration that Party Favorz finally inducts and honors the one-true queen into the Diva Hall of Fame. We bow to her majesty.







I'm pretty anal about sound quality, especially when dealing with bootlegs and older recordings. After stuck in traffic most of yesterday previewing this set in my car, it dawned on me that I hadn't uploaded the final mixdown version of this set. The most notable changes are in "Freeway of Love," where the original was over-compressed so much, I had to rebuild it from top to bottom and  "I Say a Little Prayer" where the ending feels more like an addition than an extension of the edit because it changes pitch and the bass becomes uncomfortably obnoxious. 



For those as incessant about their quality of sound as I am, I have re-uploaded the set with the final mixdown version that corrects those issues. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Album : Aretha Franklin | The Diva Series

Genre : House

Year : 2016

Total Time : 1:34:57



* Here We Go Again (Morales Classic Mix)

* Rolling In The Deep (Cutmore Club Mix)

* Who's Zoomin' Who (Bernd Hess HooverDeluxeEdit 2014)

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