Aretha can take me on a trip to Nostalgia any day. Not being able to get Adele out of my head, I'm not a fan of Aretha's rendition of "Rolling in the Deep," but otherwise, I enjoyed the album. My favorite selections, including "At Last," "Midnight Train to Georgia," and the medley "I'm Every Woman/Respect", number seven of the ten tracks on the disk. Not bad.
Streisand delivers as expected, even when taking into consideration the slight loss of power in her "maturing" voice. Interesting pairings and re-arrangements in some cases of standards. Surprisingly, my favorite selections did not include my favorite performers on the album. "It had to be You" with Buble, "New York State of Mind" with Joel, and "Somewhere" with Groban stand out after my first few playings but perhaps at other times, in other moods, I'll have other favorites. There is much to like here.
Bought as a fgift for an opera/classical fan, Avakening proved disappointing as recipient was unfamiliar with many selections and belileves Evancho's voice is not developing the richness that had been expected.