ARETHA FRANKLIN
is in her element at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in 1990. Her influence, five of her must-have albums and more on
As prolific as she was influential, Aretha Franklin released dozens of albums in a career that lasted longer than half a century. Here are five of her most important:
“Laughing on the Outside,” 1963
With a seemingly arbitrary mix of pop, jazz and R&B tunes, Franklin’s early’60s output on Columbia Records left audiences unsure about what kind of singer they were hearing. But nobody could doubt that a singer was what she was. Seek out this gem to behold the purity of her tone in “Skylark” and to marvel at the way she dismantles, then cleverly reassembles, the melody of “Make Someone Happy.”
“I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You,” 1967
Franklin’s artistic breakthrough — and a landmark in American music. Recorded in part at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., this was the album that introduced the Queen of Soul in all her glorious complexity: a voice of passion and reason, heart and mind, impatience and understanding.
“Amazing Grace,” 1972
Even when she was singing about earthly love, Franklin maintained a strong connection to the church music with which she grew up. Still, few were prepared for the righteous fire of this live album recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in L.A. Listen to “How I Got Over” to hear a pop star still invested in looking beyond herself.
“Who’s Zoomin’ Who?,” 1985
The ’80s were rough going for many singers from Franklin’s generation. But Franklin sounds reenergized amid the glossy synths and mechanized drums of this big commercial hit. “How’d you get your pants so tight?” she asks some dreamboat in the ebullient “Freeway of Love,” reason enough to ride with her.