Aretha Franklin Aretha's Gold

Aretha Franklin grew up in a household headed by famed Detroit Baptist preacher C.L. Franklin, and everything from old field hollers and gospel spirituals were sung in the family living room. She grew up around the corner (literally) from Diana Ross, Bettye LaVette, Jackie Wilson, and Smokey Robinson, while Sam Cooke and Dinah Washington were frequent houseguests. Lord knows little Aretha could sing the paint off walls at a tender age. By the time she’d switched to full-on R&B and soul with Atlantic Records in 1967, she’d already spent her late teens and early 20s as a jazz-R&B diva at Columbia Records. This 1969 set is the gold culled from Franklin’s best Atlantic years, which means it’s all barrel-chested vocal (and spiritual) glory, from Otis Redding’s proto-feminist rebel-rouser “Respect” to Moman-Penn’s ode to monogamy “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” to Don Covay’s great “See Saw” to the killer pop crossover “Baby, I Love You.” The songs were all beautifully captured in that Jerry Wexler, soul-of-the-South kind of way, and you’ll hear exactly how and why Franklin ruled the world then.