Aretha Franklin started her career singing in her father's gospel choir; many know the legend of how the great A&R man John Hammond picked her voice out of the many in the chorus off of a tape someone sent him, and searched her out to offer her a contract at Columbia Records. (The less glamorous verrsion is that she sent him a regular old demo tape and he was likewise floored by what he heard..) Common wisdom has it that Franklin's Columbia years are subpar and that it wasn't until Atlantic's Jerry Wexler got ahold of her that things really started to cook. There's a lot to be said for that theory; her voice definitely dwarves most of the arrangements heard on this 1960-65 set, mainly simple approximations of the formulae that had made Dinah Washington and Mahalia Jackson into pop-crossover divas. But it's still pretty cool to hear Aretha working through the lush pop stylings of a pre-Motown world, and astonishing to realze what a tremendous voice she had, even at such an early age. It ain't Aretha that's holding things back, she's just working within the conventions of the time. Her fans will not be disappointed, though -- this 2-CD set definitely delivers the goods on her formative years, and even though ultimately this wasn't the right material for her to sing, she holds her own in comparison to Dinah and the others. Not bad for a kid.

How can anyone not be moved when the Queen sings? Aretha's early pop Columbia recordings are just as magnificent as the Atlantic R&B titles that made her a superstar, but in a very different context. This is a great package with excellent notes & rare photos. The only problem I have is that a lot of the material on this has been reissued to death -- with the exception of several rare tracks,

including a stunning performance of Billy Strayhorn's "My Little Brown Book". (Where is her dynamite version of "Ol' Man River"?) If Aretha had never gone on to R&B greatness, she would have still been a treasure, as this set attests.

For those fans who aren't familiar with Aretha's Columbia work, this collection will be a revelation. I agree with another reviewer that Aretha sometimes sounds uncomfortable and that the arrangements are often conventional and forgettable. Still, within these constraints, Aretha is a force of nature! She frequently transcends the material, especially when she stops trying to sound like Dinah Washington and allows her gospel training to take over. I defy anyone to not get chills when she connects with the spirit. This collection loses points for pedestrian material and arrangements, but it's still valuable as a testament to Aretha's overwhelming talent. Well worth owning.

I wonder where the detractors of Aretha's early talent were in the early '60's.The strings and the background treatment were nothing new to how some arrangements in that day were structured.The younger Aretha,remember,was still wrestling with not completely unraveling the gospel/church following. She still had one foot in the church with her father,the Rev.C.L.Franklin.The less subtle and more risque styles came later.The beauty of it all is that Aretha shines through both periods. This is classic stuff.

This collection represents Aretha before she

found / created her Hall of Fame niche in the

music world. While with Columbia Records,

she charted nine song titles on Billboard's

R&B charts and twelve on the pop charts.

Four of those song titles were cross overs

to both charts. Of those 17 song titles,

only ten are included in this set, leaving

seven of those songs missing / omitted.

You'd think that with 40 tracks on these

two CD's, they could have included those

seven titles instead of some of the less

significant recordings that they chose to

include instead (mostly cover versions of

other recordings). The Atlantic Records

4 CD set is a much better collection.

(Ahmet Ertegun & company at Atlantic

Records knew what they were doing, of

course, so they catapulted Aretha to

superstardom --- obviously a wise move

when Aretha moved to Atlantic.) But if you

want a sampling of her music before she

became a star, go ahead and get this one.

Just don't set your expectations too high

because you'll probably be disappointed.

OK, the music is good --- just not great.

If you are a hard core collector and must

have this set to fill in the early period,

again, go ahead and get this one. At least

the price makes it a good deal.

Had those seven omitted songs been included

instead of some of the lesser ones that were

used as filler, I would have rated it with

4 stars instead of just 3.