Day 350: Aretha Franklin – Lady Soul

I had such a difficult time choosing an album today. I just hate the algorithms on streaming platforms, “What’s that? You want to listen to albums you’ve listened to before?” Just recommend me something I haven’t heard, letting me know about albums I already listen to is pointless, I know how to find them. I think Apple Music is especially bad, the whole front page is just recommending albums I’ve already listened to on Apple Music. Remember when these platforms helped you discover stuff based on your tastes? Good times. Anyway, let’s listen to Aretha.

Album cover courtesy of Atlantic

For background information, please see day 64, as I listened to I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You fairly early on in the project, and I loved it.

Lady Soul was released in 1968 as Aretha Franklin’s twelfth studio album, and it became a huge hit: it reached the top of the Billboard R&B album chart and stayed there for 16 weeks, and all three singles from it reached the top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100. It was the second album she released with her new record deal, and it cemented the most successful period of her career that came after she signed with Atlantic Records.

Some of the background vocals on the album were provided by The Sweet Inspirations, so one of the singers was Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston’s mother. And Eric Clapton stopped by at the studio and was invited to play, but he was so intimidated by Aretha’s talent that he had to come back to the studio to record it when she wasn’t there – understandable, who wouldn’t.

Even if I went through this album with a fine-tooth comb and tried very hard to find things to critique, there wouldn’t be a single thing I could talk about. Her beautiful, emotional but incredibly controlled vocals are just bar none, and it’s a joy to listen to every second of it. The album has her versions of songs by industry powerhouses like James Brown and Curtis Mayfield, as well as original songs, one of which was written by her sister Carolyn. Almost unfair to the original artist for someone of her calibre to do covers. I also love that there’s less sadness to this one than the prior one I listened to – I was devastated when I read about her relationships and how she was treated in her lifetime, but there seems to be a lot more joy to this album than the first one I heard.

This album is probably the best thing you can do in 30 minutes or less, and that includes the obvious. However, I’m reluctantly giving it a 9.5/10, I’m saving the 10 for albums that move me so much I have a physical reaction, and this time it didn’t. But in the right headspace, I’m sure it could probably squeeze out a tear or two, or at the very least have some goosebumps.