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Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Aretha Franklin (25 Mar 1942 - 16 Aug 2018) - A Tribute


Today is the fifth anniversary of the passing of the undisputed 'Queen of Soul', the one and only, never to be replaced, Aretha Franklin.
We would have loved to post a playlist but with Spotify now restricting music outside their web player to 30 second samples it somewhat hinders it. Rather than embedding the playlist (which is a bit pointless) we've provided a link to listen in full on Spotify

Playlist with tracks in (more or less) chronological order

NoTitle
1Soulville
2One Step Ahead
3I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face
4Tighten Up Your Tie, Button Up Your Jacket (Make It For The Door)    
5Cry Like A Baby
6Only the One You Love
7A Little Bit of Soul
8Walk On By
9My Guy
10Don't Let Me Lose This Dream
11Save Me
12A Change Is Gonna Come
13Satisfaction
1496 Tears
15Prove It
16So Soon (Aretha Arrives Outtake)
17Ain't No Way
18Niki Hoeky
19Come Back Baby
20Groovin'
21Chain of Fools (Alternate Version)
22(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone
23The House That Jack Built
24I Can't See Myself Leaving You
25I Say a Little Prayer
26If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody
27Gentle on My Mind
28Elusive Butterfly
29This Girl's in Love With You
30Call Me (Alternate Version)
31Don't Play That Song
32Oh No Not My Baby
33Why I Sing the Blues
34Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)
35Day Dreaming
36Young, Gifted and Black (Alternate Longer Take)
37Brand New Me (Alternate Take 6)
38April Fools
39Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)
40You'll Never Walk Alone
41Angel - Work Tape
42Until You Come Back to Me (Demo)
43Sister From Texas
44Mister Spain
45That's the Way I Feel About Cha
46Master of Eyes (The Deepness of Your Eyes)
47I'm in Love (Alternate Vocal - Let Me in Your Life Outtake)
48Til It's Over - Demo
49Oh Baby (aka There's Something Magic About You Demo)
50A Song for You
51You
52I Get High 
53Sparkle
54Hooked on Your Love
55Look into Your Heart
56Rock with Me
57Break It to Me Gently
58The Wind

We've tried to avoid the blindingly obvious tracks (but have included alternate versions of some) and dug a little deeper to highlight lesser known B sides and album tracks and alternate takes. 

Aretha's big breakthrough came in 1967 with a cover version of Otis Redding's "Respect", now probably her signature song, which topped both Billboard's R&B chart and Hot 100 and made it to #10 on UK pop chart. That wasn't her first #1 though, as she had already topped the R&B chart with "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" which also reached #9 Hot 100.

She had spent several years languishing at Columbia, releasing around nine albums between 1961-67 without a great deal of commercial success before being signed to Atlantic Records announcing her arrival with "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" followed by "Aretha Arrives" in 1967. 

It's a bit of a sad indictment that in the UK her biggest selling single (and only #1 hit) was a duet with George Michael and another, of only five UK Top 10 hits, was with Annie Lennox! ("Respect", "I Say A Little Prayer" and "A Deeper Love" being the other three).

With just so much great music that she has left us with it's difficult knowing where to start, or more importantly where to stop, so we've limited this selection to tracks between 1964-76. 

The exception is her beautiful rendition of The Diablos feat, Nolan Strong "The Wind" (1954) which was unreleased until appearing on the 81 track compilation "Aretha" in 2021 (it may have previously featured on a compilation?). It was recorded in 1983 for the Luther Vandross produced "Get It Right" album but left off. The song was also recorded by Laura Nyro for her 1971 album "Gonna Take A Miracle" which had LaBelle on backing vocals (the album was actually credited as Laura Nyro & LaBelle).


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