This Christmas...

This holiday season DNI records releases “This Christmas Aretha,” the first ever seasonal recording from The Queen of Soul. In royal fashion, its grand billboard placement in the middle of Time Square instantly stamps the album a collector’s item.

Franklin’s spellbinding interpretation of the evergreen “Ave Maria” will bring tears to your eyes with every crescendo of the harp and orchestra accompaniment and passionate vibrato of each milky phrase she sings. The unprecedented album is worth buying for this performance alone. That’s if you can get past pressing repeat on track #1 “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

Franklin’s voice is pure liquid soul as it guides a majestic choir and orchestra to hevenly heights. In the intro to track #2 she answers a phone call that she has to rush off to save her Christmas dinner (can’t let that pot of Greens burn!) She then breaks into a jammin’ jazz-forward duet with her vocally talented son Eddie on Donnie Hathaway’s “This Christmas.”

On the opposite end of seasonal standards, the daughter of the late Rev. C.L. Franklin takes us to church with her melodically gutteral confession of God's faithfulness on the "The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow" an encouraging traditonal gospel tune.

But, even on a Christmas CD the famously heart-broken, hard-lovin’ legend couldn't resist mentioning man problems, as evidenced on the final cut, a grown up, satirical spoken word adaptation of "‘Twas the Night Before Christmas." Otherwise, Aretha delivers a high-spirited, passionate and happy reflection on the most wonderful time of the year.

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This Christmas...