What is your opinion on who did the best version of "Until You Come Back To Me"?





[Edited 2/11/17 13:14pm]

I love Aretha's version. In fact, it is the ONLY song sung back her, that I love....

shorttrini said:

Me 2!

Aretha takes this song and makes it her OWN It's actually my favorite song by Aretha.

SoulAlive said:

It's the one song that she sings, where you feel her pain.

shorttrini said:

don't forget als Luther gave it a nice reworking (along with "Superstar")






still I join in with the crowd, Aretha easily wins this

I hate that song so I don't like anybody's version of it. The first time I ever heard the song was whoever's version that released it in either 1989 or 1990 when I was working in a convenience store. I used to be bored as hell and counting the hours until I got off work. I had the radio on and they kept playing that depressing ass song and EnVogue's "Hold On To Your Love" all damn night. To this day, whenever I hear either one of those songs, I have to turn the station immediately because it makes me just as bored and depressed as I was working in that hell hole.

vainandy said:

I feel the same way toward "Hotel California" and "Tell Laura I Love Her" for the same reasons you mentioned. And it wasn't because of no radio, it was because my boss was an ol' hag who loved to torture her employees with routine,,,in EVERYTHING we did.

Eeeeeeverytime I hear those two songs, I just wanna,,,,,UGH
[Edited 5/5/10 14:34pm]

Aretha then Stevie. But Stevie was so young he probably knock it out of the water if he did it in the mids 70s with heavy synths

Tough one, but I go with Stevie just ahead of Aretha. It's one of my favorite vocal performances by both. Such a fantastic song!

Andy, you're probably thinking of Miki Howard (if not Basia).

Stevie's to be honest with you.

NMuzakNSoul said:

true

Aretha. Lewis Taylor did a good carbon copy cover though when Island were trying to get him to do an album of covers.

I guess you can't top Aretha's version but my sentimental favorite is Mikki Howard.

Aretha Franklin does the definitive version of this song

[color=blue]Aretha and Stevie did it together in 2005 at the Lady Of Soul Awards in LA.[/color
http://www.youtube.com/wa...TnCHP-9Wdo" target="_blank">
http://www.youtube.com/wa...TnCHP-9Wdo

Timmy84 said:

AlexdeParis said:

I remembered the story that Stevie was gonna get that song to Gladys initially. I don't know if it was during her Motown tenure or what but Stevie had held that promise for a while, and then around '73, someone from Atlantic contacted Stevie because, I guess since he was busy writing for others, he should give that song to Aretha. Aretha & Gladys of course were rivals at the time. When Gladys heard Aretha's version on the radio, the next time she saw Stevie, she about cursed his ass out for reneging back on his promise to give her the song. She said she keeps reminding him of that every time she sees him.

JabarR74 said:

The definitive one for me.


Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

Mong said:

I have it and it's one of the few tunes he's done that I don't like at all.


Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

Timmy84 said:

Aretha and Gladys were never rivals. Gladys if she wanted to be Aretha's rival, then she would have need to be a solo singer like Aretha. Ditto for Patti LaBelle in her earlier career. Both Gladys and Patti were members of groups, Aretha has always been a solo act. So they were always in group categories in the 60s,70s and some of the 80s, and Aretha was in female solo category.
The story on "Until You Come Back To Me" is alittle different from the one that Stevie and Aretha tell, They say he called Aretha one day and told her while she was at studio that he had one for her and to send somebody down and get it.

If this is about vocals, Aretha's version gets my vote. Musically, Stevie's original version is better because it used the vintage Motown sound. But we all know that he wrote the song with Aretha in mind either way.

EDIT: Basia's version is the one I would use if I was DJ-ing. At least she has the better video.


[Edited 5/8/10 2:57am]

vainandy said:

That was the Miki Howard's version. I think you disliked her for the same reasons you dislike Anita Baker. You have absolutely no love for the mid-tempo sistas at all!

EDIT double post
[Edited 5/8/10 2:54am]

Lewis' version - https://www.yousendit.com...MnMwTVE9PQ

TonyVanDam said:

Wait did we really know he wrote it for Aretha only? He wrote it and recorded it in 1966? Aretha Franklin wasn't yet the star she would be in a year after the song was originally recorded.

I may be incorrect but, didn't "Hill Street Soul" do a version of this as well..?

can't find on youtube but, I do vaquely recall .....

Timmy84 said:

It's no different from the story of Carole King's original version of Natural Woman. Besides Aretha, who else could make a version that can be a bigger hit?

TonyVanDam said:

But that's different. Carole clearly wrote the song in the same time Aretha became a star and she (meaning Ms. Carole King) didn't record it first, big difference from Stevie and Aretha. "Natural Woman" was clearly meant for Aretha because they wrote it in her key and style that she was used to (which was a mixture of Detroit and Memphis soul). I mean it wasn't like when record labels wanted him to write potential hits for Chaka Khan and Patti LaBelle around the same time (and the Supremes). Seem like Aretha was the last one of the bunch to record a Stevie song that year (1973).

Other songs were clearly written for the ladies, there's no existing demos of Stevie's versions of these songs:





We're talking about a song that was originally composed in 1967, hell he could've had Tammi Terrell in mind for the song (Tammi DID record "All I Do" around the same time frame, and Stevie doesn't have a demo of that either). In fact, I'll go on the record and say STEVIE intended to release it himself but the powers-that-were-Motown wouldn't allow it on an album so it remained shelved. I have to find the Gladys Knight story just so you folks won't think he just planned it simply for Aretha.

And to give credit to Ms. Franklin, she made it so convincing it didn't SOUND like a Stevie song. In fact, first time I heard Aretha's version, I thought it was a song SHE wrote. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Stevie wrote it. I was like 13 when I realized it.
[Edited 5/8/10 17:21pm]
[Edited 5/8/10 17:25pm]

GLADYS/STEVIE/ARETHA:

Soul legend Gladys Knight recently revealed, she is still bitter pal Stevie Wonder didn't ask her to record "Until You Come Back To Me" after she spent hours perfecting the classic song for him. Knight sang the song for Wonder as he was writing it on the road and then he gave it to Aretha Franklin.

Knight recalls, "Stevie and I were on tour together and he use to make me come and sing every day after the show. "I would say, 'Stevie, we just got done with a show and we've got four more to do this week but he would be like, 'Oh, come on, Gladys. Just sing this part."

Months later, Knight was horrified when she heard the tune on the radio: "I hear Aretha Franklin singing, I'm gonna rap on your door..'I said, 'You've got to be out of your mind. What happened to my song?" "Everytime I would see Stevie, I would tell him...Nobody talks about that song."