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

No	Title
1	Soulville
2	One Step Ahead
3	I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face
4	Tighten Up Your Tie, Button Up Your Jacket (Make It For The Door)
5	Cry Like A Baby
6	Only the One You Love
7	A Little Bit of Soul
8	Walk On By
9	My Guy
10	Don't Let Me Lose This Dream
11	Save Me
12	A Change Is Gonna Come
13	Satisfaction
14	96 Tears
15	Prove It
16	So Soon (Aretha Arrives Outtake)
17	Ain't No Way
18	Niki Hoeky
19	Come Back Baby
20	Groovin'
21	Chain of Fools (Alternate Version)
22	(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone
23	The House That Jack Built
24	I Can't See Myself Leaving You
25	I Say a Little Prayer
26	If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody
27	Gentle on My Mind
28	Elusive Butterfly
29	This Girl's in Love With You
30	Call Me (Alternate Version)
31	Don't Play That Song
32	Oh No Not My Baby
33	Why I Sing the Blues
34	Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)
35	Day Dreaming
36	Young, Gifted and Black (Alternate Longer Take)
37	Brand New Me (Alternate Take 6)
38	April Fools
39	Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)
40	You'll Never Walk Alone
41	Angel - Work Tape
42	Until You Come Back to Me (Demo)
43	Sister From Texas
44	Mister Spain
45	That's the Way I Feel About Cha
46	Master of Eyes (The Deepness of Your Eyes)
47	I'm in Love (Alternate Vocal - Let Me in Your Life Outtake)
48	Til It's Over - Demo
49	Oh Baby (aka There's Something Magic About You Demo)
50	A Song for You
51	You
52	I Get High
53	Sparkle
54	Hooked on Your Love
55	Look into Your Heart
56	Rock with Me
57	Break It to Me Gently
58	The 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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