The second straight soul-adjacent record on the list, but honestly this couldn’t really be more different to ‘Aretha Now’. Where Aretha was making a statement of her own womanhood and taking already existing songs and giving them such personal power, Sly pens all of these songs and is far more interested in the state of… Read more

Aretha Franklin was on an absolute roll going into this album. ‘I’ve Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You’ (1967) is often considered her most essential work, and the album before this ‘Lady Soul’ (earlier in 1968) was a great work in its own right. But to me, ‘Aretha Now’ is her triumphant… Read more