Aretha Franklin

100 Best Albums

Essential Albums

  • Young, Gifted and Black
    Young, Gifted and Black
    Young, Gifted and Black

    In 1972, Aretha Franklin was coming off a wave of successful albums—all part of a remarkable run that began in 1967, when she transitioned to Atlantic Records. After years of working as a singer, songwriter and performer, Franklin finally had exposure, respect and the financial rewards commensurate with an artist who by now had sold millions of records. Franklin was at a perennial career peak, and on 1972’s Young, Gifted and Black, her confidence in her abilities—and in her instrument—are abundantly manifested. It’s a record that finds her writing from the perspective of a mature adult woman who knows herself, and who’s enjoying her life and her relationships. And, as with all of Franklin’s albums from this era, Young, Gifted and Black teams Franklin with some of the best musicians of the day, including Billy Preston, Donny Hathaway and Bernard Purdie (backing vocals, meanwhile, are provided by Franklin’s sisters—Carolyn and Erma—as well as The Sweet Inspirations). They all come together on an album that’s split between daring cover songs and a handful of stunning originals—including the ballad “Day Dreaming”, which topped the R&B charts in America. “First Snow in Kokomo”, meanwhile, is the only song Franklin wrote with no rhythm or groove; instead, it’s a quiet, pastoral account of spending the holidays in the country. Then there’s “Rock Steady”, with a flat-out hip-shaking groove—Donny Hathaway plays that opening riff—that leaves no doubt as to the song’s subject matter (and, thanks to that undeniable rhythm, “Rock Steady” remains Franklin’s most sampled song). Elsewhere on Young, Gifted and Black, Franklin takes on tunes from such acts as The Delfonics, Otis Redding and, most importantly, Nina Simone, who co-wrote and originally performed the title track. The song immediately resonated within the rising Black Power movement of the late 1960s, and dovetailed with Franklin’s increasing involvement in the movement. Franklin would also receive acclaim for her renditions of Elton John’s “Border Song (Holy Moses)”, as well as for her soulful interpretation of The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road”—one of the finest Fab Four covers of all time. On Franklin’s version, Billy Preston plays Hammond organ, and Carolyn and Erma Franklin bring a church choir into what was already a hymn in its own way.

  • Spirit In the Dark
    Spirit In the Dark
    Spirit In the Dark

    Aretha Franklin was so busy and prolific in the late 1960s and early 1970s that some of her albums tended to be overlooked—especially within the popular media, where some writers didn’t consider pop singers to be serious artists. Remarkably, 1970’s Spirit in the Dark is one of those lesser-heralded albums, despite the fact that it features multiple hit singles, including “Don’t Play That Song”—a deceptively upbeat tale of infidelity and betrayal that became a chart success. “Don’t Play That Song” had originally been recorded by Ben E. King, but Franklin had a way of making other singers’ tunes her own—and here, she just walks in and takes over with her version. That sense of confidence would help steer much of Spirit in the Dark. Franklin walked into the recording sessions for the album just five weeks after giving birth to her third child, bringing along two B.B. King songs she wanted to perform. While her interpretation of King’s “The Thrill is Gone” is sultry and smoky, it’s her piano-playing that shines here—and that’s saying a lot, because her vocal is absolutely impeccable. She shows it off again later on, with a committed version of King’s “Why I Sing the Blues”. Elsewhere on Spirit in the Dark, Franklin bridges the sacred and the profane on the title track, yet another number that leaves listeners torn over what’s more overwhelming: Franklin’s vocals or her piano-playing. Meanwhile, “When the Battle Is Over” is a slice of New Orleans funk that could easily be sung at church, one that features Duane Allman on guitar. He’s just one of several talented players on Spirit in the Dark, which also features turns from the Dixie Flyers and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section—the kind of session players who understand what Franklin’s trying to do, appreciate her talent and support her without showboating. They knew that anyone would look stupid trying to look superior next to Aretha Franklin.

  • Aretha Now
    Aretha Now
    Aretha Now

    1968

  • Lady Soul
    Lady Soul
    Lady Soul

    Lady Soul was Aretha Franklin’s first bona fide smash album, thanks in no small part to a trio of hit singles: “Chain of Fools”, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and “Sweet Sweet Baby (Since You’ve Been Gone)”, all of which would land in the Top 10. But it was also the album that solidified Franklin’s creative relationship with Atlantic Records, the label where she would enjoy a remarkable creative and commercial run. Looking back at Franklin’s output in the 1960s and 1970s, it almost feels implausible that one woman was this incredibly talented. But the records don’t lie. And while Franklin had the best musicians behind her, her success was largely due to her spectacular voice—one she used with perfect control and tone—and with her own unwavering creative vision. Indeed, Franklin had arrived at the Lady Soul sessions with a vision of how she wanted the songs to sound. Arif Marden, who was listed as the arranger of “Chain of Fools”, insisted that she showed up to sing with the song’s chart already in her head; he also claimed that the gorgeous introduction to “Natural Woman”, played by Spooner Oldham, was also Franklin’s idea. The singer’s presence in the studio was so formidable that, when Cream’s Eric Clapton dropped by, he was invited to add a guitar part to “Good to Me as I Am to You”—but was too intimidated to do it in front of Franklin (he had to come back the next day, when she wasn’t around, in order to finish his part). But this anecdote is honestly irrelevant to the quality of this record, which rests on Queen Aretha’s tremendous performance.

  • I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Mono)
    I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Mono)
    I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Mono)

    When Aretha Franklin made the decision to pursue a career in secular music after getting her start singing gospel, she knew she wanted to be a crossover artist—one who could follow in the footsteps of entertainers like Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. She even took the step of signing with Columbia Records’ John Hammond, the talent guru who’d discovered Bob Dylan—and who would later sign Bruce Springsteen. Franklin would release nine albums with Columbia—an entire career’s worth—before moving to Atlantic Records and working with producer Jerry Wexler, the legendary record man who, alongside his partner Ahmet Ertegun, signed and recorded the greatest R&B artists of the 1950s and 1960s. I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, released in 1967, is the first effort in this partnership. The album opens with Franklin’s take on Otis Redding’s “Respect”—a version so definitive and dynamic, Redding had no choice but to acknowledge its superiority. “This girl has taken that song from me,” he told Wexler. “Ain’t no longer my song. From now on, it belongs to her.” That’s high praise indeed, considering both the source, and the fact that Otis’ version itself is running on premium octane. But Franklin had come to Wexler with her arrangement of “Respect” already prepared. And she’d come up with arrangements or scratch vocals for many of the record’s other key numbers, many of which she had co-written, including such highlights as “Dr. Feelgood”, “Baby, Baby, Baby” and “Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream”. Wexler, for his part, introduced Franklin to the Swampers, the house band at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The connection between Franklin and the Swampers was electric—“They understand me,” she would tell Wexler—and led to “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man”, yet another I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You track that would go on to become a classic. After finishing up her sessions in Alabama, Franklin completed work on the album in New York City, where she was joined by her sisters, Carolyn and Erma, on backup vocals. Wexler’s production would turn out to be the right sound for the right artist at the right time, with the single release of “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You” climbing both the R&B and pop charts. After years in the music industry, Franklin finally had her first smash hit.

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About Aretha Franklin

With her inimitable fusion of grace and grit, Aretha Franklin was the definition of soul music. The daughter of renowned Detroit preacher C.L. Franklin, Aretha could testify with all the liberating joy of her gospel roots. She could ache with the sadness of a singer who truly felt the blues, and swing with a playfulness to match her jazz heroes. After nearly a decade honing what would become her singular voice, Franklin—who was born in Memphis in 1942, and died in Detroit in 2018—brought a blast of Black-and-proud empowerment to the pop charts at the peak of the civil rights era, using the hard-driving grooves of Alabama studio-session legends the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section to counter Motown’s slick crossover sound. Though rarely straying long from gospel in the decades that followed, Franklin made the brassy 1967 anthem “Respect” her calling card and evolved alongside soul itself, gliding from assertive funk jams to hushed quiet-storm ballads to synth-coated pop hits on 1985's Who’s Zoomin’ Who?. Whether her powerful interpretation of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” or her surprise, show-stopping performance of Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” at the 1998 Grammy Awards, nothing captured Franklin’s range like her trove of covers, which were often so deeply felt that she all but reclaimed them as her own.

HOMETOWN
Memphis, TN, United States
BORN
25 March 1942
GENRE
R&B/Soul

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