If you want a sampling of Aretha’s music before she became a star, you’ll find the best selection on ‘The Queen Is Waiting’. Aretha's early recordings, remastered and sounding better than ever. Aretha plays piano on a few cuts and her singing is pure. There are so many treasures here, including her own song “Without The One You Love” and a stunning performance of Billy Strayhorn's "My Little Brown Book". 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, on several songs surrounded by a jazz quartet. "Running Out Of Fools", one of her best, was even covered by Elvis Costello.

- 1 -
1. Nobody Like You
2. Once In a While
3. Maybe I'm a Fool
4. Muddy Water
5. Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home (Alternate Version)
6. Hard Times
7. Today I Sing the Blues
8. Won't Be Long
9. Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning
10. Evil Gal Blues
11. Lee Cross
12. Walk On By
13. I Wonder (Where Are You Tonight)
14. God Bless the Child
15. Blue Holiday
16. Looking Through a Tear
17. Tiny Sparrow
18. Here Today and Gone Tomorrow
19. Little Brown Book
20. Without the One You Love
- 2 -
1. This Bitter Earth
2. Just For a Thrill
3. Skylark
4. Skylark (Alternate Version)
5. Trouble In Mind
6. Runnin' Out of Fools
7. Drinking Again
8. Laughing On the Outside (Crying On the Inside)
9. What a Diff'rence a Day Makes
10. Soulville
11. You'll Lose a Good Thing
12. Take a Look
13. Cry Like a Baby
14. I Wish I Didn't Love You So
15. Only the Lonely
16. People
17. Mockingbird
18. Until You Were Gone
19. My Coloring Book
20. Try a Little Tenderness