Aretha Franklin - You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman

Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music and indeed of American pop as a whole More than any other performer she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records -- Respect I Never Loved a Man Chain of Fools Baby I Love You I Say a Little Prayer Think The House That Jack Built and several others -- earned her the title Lady Soul which she has worn uncontested ever since Yet as much of an international institution as she's become much of her work -- outside of her recordings for Atlantic in the late '60s and early '70s -- is erratic and only fitfully inspired making discretion a necessity when collecting her records Franklin's roots in gospel ran extremely deep With her sisters Carolyn and Erma both of whom would also have recording careers she sang at the Detroit church of her father Reverend C L Franklin while growing up in the 1950s In fact she made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14 It has also been reported that Motown was interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny start-up Ultimately however Franklin ended up with Columbia to which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond Franklin would record for Columbia constantly throughout the first half of the '60s notching occasional R B hits and one Top 40 single Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody but never truly breaking out as a star The Columbia period continues to generate considerable controversy among critics many of whom feel that Aretha's true aspirations were being blunted by pop-oriented material and production In fact there's a reasonable amount of fine items to be found on the Columbia sides including the occasional song Lee Cross Soulville where she belts out soul with real gusto It's undeniably true though that her work at Columbia was considerably tamer than what was to follow and suffered in general from a lack of direction and an apparent emphasis on trying to develop her as an all-around entertainer rather than as an R B soul singer When Franklin left Columbia for Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler was determined to bring out her most soulful fiery traits As part of that plan he had her record her first single I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You at Muscle Shoals in Alabama with esteemed Southern R B musicians In fact that was to be her only session actually at Muscle Shoals but much of the remainder of her '60s work would be recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section although the sessions would actually take place in New York City The combination was one of those magic instances of musical alchemy in pop the backup musicians provided a much grittier soulful and R B-based accompaniment for Aretha's voice which soared with a passion and intensity suggesting a spirit that had been allowed to fly loose for the first time In the late '60s Franklin became one of the biggest international recording stars in all of pop Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of black America itself reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other triumphs for the black community The chart statistics are impressive in and of themselves ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span between early 1967 and late 1968 for instance and a steady stream of solid mid- to large-size hits for the next five years after that Her Atlantic albums were also huge sellers and far more consistent artistically than those of most soul stars of the era Franklin was able to maintain creative momentum in part because of her eclectic choice of material which encompassed first-class originals and gospel blues pop and rock covers from the Beatles and Simon Garfunkel to Sam Cooke and the Drifters She was also a fine forceful and somewhat underrated keyboardist Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early '70s during which she landed more huge hits with Spanish Harlem Bridge Over Troubled Water and Day Dreaming She also produced two of her most respected and earthiest album releases with Live at Fillmore West and Amazing Grace The latter a 1972 double LP was a reinvestigation of her gospel roots recorded with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir Remarkably it made the Top Ten counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of all time Richie Unterberger All Music Guide PLEASE NOTE I divided my uploads among multiple channels Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics LINK a http 3A 2F 2Fjohn1948 wikifoundry com 2Fpage 2FJohn1948 2527s 2BYoutube 2BIndex a

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