Aretha Franklin: Lady Soul (crystal clear vinyl) [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This limited Rhino reissue puts the 1968 stereo album on crystal clear vinyl with etched runouts. Lady Soul spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on the R&B album chart, reached No. 2 on the pop chart and sold over a million copies in the US.

This edition

• Crystal clear vinyl
• Limited edition
• Stereo mix
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

By early 1968 Aretha Franklin had been at Atlantic for barely a year and had already changed soul music. Lady Soul, her third R&B chart-topper, is the one where everything lands at once: the voice, the church-trained piano, the band, and a run of songs that still stop people in their tracks.

Jerry Wexler produced with Tom Dowd engineering. "Chain of Fools" rides Joe South's swampy guitar, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" was written for her by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and "Ain't No Way," written by her sister Carolyn, features Cissy Houston's soaring high harmony. The Sweet Inspirations and Erma Franklin sing backup, Bobby Womack plays guitar, King Curtis blows tenor, and Eric Clapton turns up on "Good to Me as I Am to You."

Rolling Stone placed it at No. 75 in its 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums, and Pitchfork rates it among the best of the 1960s. On clear vinyl you can see straight through it, which is the one way of looking at this record we'd never before considered.

Also at Kops: more Aretha Franklin on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On Atlantic / Rhino (cat# RCV1 8176), a reissue of the 1968 album.