Reginald Lewis

Some marvelous deep soul and above-average uptempo numbers from the sorely overlooked Controllers. Their MCA albums languished due to poor promotion, but they deserved a much better fate. This had some excellent love tunes, notably "My Secret Fantasy" and "Sleeping Alone." But as they did with Little Milton and Bobby "Blue" Bland, MCA simply couldn't or wouldn't put enough muscle behind the group's songs.

Peter Beets' first two Criss Cross CDs, New York Trio and New York Trio, Page 2, gave the world notice of a new bop, ballads and blues virtuoso. The celebration continues with yet a third riveting effort from this Dutch sensation and his famous American colleagues, bassist Reginald Veal, and drummer Herlin Riley.

"Aretha" is the 26th studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was released on September 30, 1980, by Arista Records. This was the 2nd album with this title to be released by the artist, and her first for Arista Records after a 12-year tenure with Atlantic Records. Franklin's first Arista single release, "United Together", reached #3 on the Soul chart and crossed over to #56 on Billboard's Hot 100. The album itself peaked at #47 and spent 30 weeks on the Billboard album chart. The album's opening track, "Come to Me", appeared again on Franklin's 1989 album, "Through the Storm."