For much of the '90s, Aretha Franklin acted as if she couldn't even care about appealing to a younger audience.

She rarely recorded, and when she did, it was usually slick adult contemporary material.

That's what makes the fresh A Rose Is Still a Rose such a surprise.

Although it certainly has its share of predictably glossy ballads fit for adult radio (usually produced by Narada Michael Walden or Michael Powell), the most notable element of the album is that Franklin collaborates with fresh talent, all of whom are either prominent rap figures or at least fluent in hip-hop.

That's not to say that A Rose Is Still a Rose is a rap album -- it simply illustrates that the album sounds contemporary, which is the last thing most observers would have expected from Franklin in 1997.

That in itself is heartening, but that doesn't necessarily mean everything works.

Lauryn Hill's "A Rose Is Still a Rose" is a perfect match, lyrically and musically, but it only shows how shallow Puff Daddy's writing really is on "Never Leave You Again." Still, Dallas Austin's "I'll Dip," Jermaine Dupri's "Here We Go Again" and "Every Lil' Bit Hurts," and Daryl Simmons' "In the Morning" and "In Case You Forgot" all work, and Franklin's original "The Woman" is arguably her most soulful performance in years.

These make the awkward moments forgivable because they find Franklin sounding vital, which is something that has not happened throughout the '90s.