I Knew You Were Waiting: Funky Town Grooves Expands More From Aretha Franklin

Funky Town Grooves is showing some love for the Queen of Soul.

Following the label’s 2012 two-disc expansion of Aretha Franklin’s 1985 “comeback” Who’s Zoomin’ Who, December will see similar releases for two more titles plucked from her Arista catalogue: 1986’s Aretha (her second album of that name for Arista) and 1989’s Through the Storm.

Aretha welcomed back producer Narada Michael Walden and yielded a number of chart hits including a rowdy take on The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” featuring moonlighting Stones Keith Richards (who also produced the track) and Ron Wood, “Jimmy Lee,” “If You Need My Love Tonight” and a duet with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me.”   The latter earned the Queen her first No. 1 Pop single since “Respect” in 1967, and helped propel Aretha to Gold status.  FTG adds a whopping 19 bonus tracks to the original 9-song album which also featured a sublime rendition of the Burton Lane/E.Y. Harburg standard “Look to the Rainbow,” from the musical Finian’s Rainbow.  The bonus material includes five different mixes each of “Rock-a-Lott,” “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” plus the single edit of “An Angel Cries,” two mixes of “Jimmy Lee,” and the non-album “Aretha Megamix.”

Franklin followed her pop smash with a return to her gospel roots via One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, but was back in the secular realm with 1989’s Through the Storm, the second of FTG’s new 2-CD reissues.  Disappointingly, the short, eight-song album again overseen by Narada Michael Walden stalled outside of the top 50 on the Billboard 200 despite the Top 20 single hit with the title track featuring Elton John.  That duet is one of the four on the LP.  It also features Whitney Houston on “It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be,” which like “Through the Storm” was written by the team of Albert Hammond (“It Never Rains in Southern California”) and the ubiquitous Diane Warren.  The Four Tops and Kenny G join Franklin on “If Ever a Love There Was,” and Soul Brother No. 1 James Brown drops in for “Gimme Your Love.”  FTG is adding 18 bonus cuts: six versions of the Brown duet plus an interview with Brown and Franklin on the first disc, and eleven, count ‘em, eleven mixes of “It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be” on Disc Two.

After the jump, we have more on these titles including pre-order links and the complete track listings!

Both of these titles are set to arrive on December 16 at Amazon , and you can pre-order below!  Also watch out for FTG’s reissues from Dionne Warwick (full details can be found here), Motown legend Martha Reeves, and the silky-smooth vocal group The Manhattans!

Aretha Franklin, Aretha: Expanded Edition (Arista ARCD-8442, 1986 – reissued Funky Town Grooves FTG-398, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. Jimmy Lee
2. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
3. Do You Still Remember
4. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
5. Rock-A-Lott
6. An Angel Cries
7. He’ll Come Along
8. If You Need My Love Tonight
9. Look To The Rainbow
10. Rock-A-Lott (Street Mix)
11. Rock-A-Lott (Single Mix)
12. Rock-A-Lott (Radio Edit)
13. Rock-A-Lott (Dub)
14. Rock-A-Lott (Acapella)
15. An Angel Cries (7″ Mix)

CD 2

1. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (7″ Mix)
2. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Instrumental)
3. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Edited Remix)
4. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Percapella)
5. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Extended Remix)
6. Jimmy Lee (Extended Version)
7. Jimmy Lee (Dub Version)
8. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Street Mix)
9. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Edited Street Mix)
10. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Master Dub Mix)
11. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Beat Dub Mix)
12. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (7″ Mix)
13. Aretha Megamix

Aretha Franklin, Through the Storm: Expanded Edition (Arista ARCD-8572, 1989 – reissued Funky Town Grooves FTG-399, 2014) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

CD 1

1. Gimme Your Love
2. Mercy
3. He’s The Boy
4. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be
5. Through The Storm
6. Think (1989) (Remake)
7. Come To Me
8. If I Ever A Love There Was
9. Gimme Your Love (Single Vesion)
10. Gimme Your Love (Alternate Mix)
11. Gimme Your Love (Extended Remix – Purple Mix)
12. Gimme Your Love (The Purple Mix Edit)
13. Gimme Your Love (The Purple Mix – Part One)
14. Gimme Your Love (The Purple Mix – Part Two)
15. Aretha Franklin & James Brown Interview

CD 2

1. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (Album Edit)
2. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (Single Version)
3. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (Single Remix)
4. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (Extended Radio Mix)
5. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (House Radio Mix)
6. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (Hip Hop Radio Mix)
7. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (New Jack Swing Dub Edit)
8. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (After Hours Club Mix)
9. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (1989 Vogue Dub Mix)
10. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (Nic Mercy’s 1999 Mix)
11. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (Instrumental)