Soul '69

Soul '69
Studio album by
Aretha Franklin
ReleasedJanuary 17, 1969
RecordedApril 17–18 & September 24, 1968
StudioAtlantic Studios, (New York City, New York)
GenreSoul, jazz
Length40:49
LabelAtlantic (#8212), Rhino
ProducerTom Dowd, Jerry Wexler
Aretha Franklin chronology
Aretha in Paris
(1968) 		Soul '69
(1969) 		Soft and Beautiful
(1969)
Singles from Soul '69
  1. "The Tracks of My Tears"
    Released: 1969
  2. "Gentle on My Mind"
    Released: April 1969

Soul '69 is the fourteenth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. Released in 1969 by Atlantic Records, the album features cover material. It was her sixth album to reach number 1 on Billboard's R&B albums chart but ended her Top Five streak on the Pop side, stalling at number 15 on the national Billboard's Top Albums listing.

Two singles were issued but largely unsuccessful: "Tracks of My Tears", which reached number 21 on "Black Singles" and number 71 on "Pop Singles", and "Gentle on My Mind", which charted at number 50 and number 76 respectively. The album was re-released on compact disc through Rhino Records in the 1990s after many years out of print.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Rolling Stone(positive)[2]

The album was critically well received. Music journalist Stanley Booth wrote in Rolling Stone that Soul '69 was "quite possibly the best record to appear in the last five years", describing it as "excellent in ways in which pop music hasn't been since the Beatles spear-headed the renaissance of rock".[2] In spite of critical praise and popular success, however, the album has sunk into obscurity, becoming one of what journalist Richie Unterberger terms as "[Aretha Franklin's] most overlooked '60s albums".[4]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Ramblin'"Big Maybelle3:10
2."Today I Sing the Blues"Curtis Reginald Lewis4:25
3."River's Invitation"Percy Mayfield2:40
4."Pitiful"Rose Marie McCoy, Charlie Singleton3:04
5."Crazy He Calls Me"Bob Russell, Carl Sigman3:28
6."Bring It On Home to Me"Sam Cooke3:45
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Tracks of My Tears"Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, Marv Tarplin2:56
8."If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody"Rudy Clark3:08
9."Gentle on My Mind"John Hartford2:28
10."So Long"Russ Morgan, Remus Harris, Irving Melsher4:36
11."I'll Never Be Free"Bennie Benjamin, George David Weiss4:15
12."Elusive Butterfly"Bob Lind2:45

Personnel

See also

  • List of Billboard number-one R&B albums of the 1960s

References

  1. ^ Unterberger, Richie, "Soul '69 review", AllMusic.
  2. ^ a b Booth, Stanley (March 1, 1969). "Soul '69". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  4. ^ Soul '69 at AllMusic.
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