Despite the presence of the sweetened (and great) single "A Natural Woman," Aretha Franklin's third Atlantic album is even more elegantly gritty than its two predecessors. She finds liberation in James Brown's "Money Won't Change You" and a revved-up take on Ray Charles's "Come Back Baby" much as she had in "Respect" and "Think" earlier, while Eric Clapton's guitar on "Good to Me As I Am to You" stings as much as her rueful, resigned delivery. --Rickey Wright Read more on Last.fm.
Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942 - August 16, 2018) was a Memphis, Tennessee born and Detroit, Michigan reared American iconic gospel, soul, and R&B singer, songwriter and pianist. Many have called her "The Queen Of Soul" and "Lady Soul".
She is renowned for her soul and R&B recordings (on many, of which, she accompanied herself on keyboards and piano, a skill she learned at an early age, learning to play by ear, according to lifetime friend Smokey Robinson) but was also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, and gospel. Read more on Last.fm
Aretha’s albums were often cursed with inconsistency, flashes of brilliance next to uninspired moments of absolute fluff, and even her work in the late 1960s didn’t always overcome this. “Lady Soul” isn’t entirely free of the kind of unremarkable filler to which Aretha often fell victim, but the good songs are just so damn good that it hardly matters. When you hear Aretha testifying on “People Get Ready,” you’ll be asking, Impressions who? Aretha offers both a nod to the burgeoning feminist movement and her gospel roots on “Ain’t No Way,” and kills it dead with Eric Clapton on “Good As I Am to You.” And, of course, you’ve heard the three monster hits that came from this album. All in all, this is one Aretha album you’ll want to add to your collection.