Aretha Franklin – Queen of Soul – The Atlantic Recordings (4CD Box Set)

“There are singers,” said Ray Charles, “then there is Aretha. She towers above the rest. Others are good, but Aretha is great. She’s my only sure-enough sister.”

 

Since the moment Aretha stepped to the pulpit at her father’s famed New Bethel Baptist Church as a young girl singing in the great gospel tradition, the world has recognized her as a musical miracle.

 

Queen of Soul trumps all other collections of Aretha’s recordings for Atlantic by adding dozens of album tracks to a selection of epochal singles ranging from "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Respect" to "Spanish Harlem" and "Rock Steady." Over three CDs and change–the fourth runs out of steam, as did her creative energy during the mid-to-late-’70s period it chronicles–we hear many emotional shifts: impassioned, triumphant, wistful, and always truthful about her condition and our own.

 

Track Listing:

Disc 1:
01 I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
02 Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
03 Save Me
04 Respect
05 Baby, Baby, Baby
06 Dr. Feelgood (Love Is a Serious Business)
07 (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
08 Soul Serenade
09 Drown in My Own Tears
10 Chain of Fools
11 Baby, I Love You
12 Ain’t Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)
13 Since You’ve Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)
14 You Are My Sunshine
15 Going Down Slow
16 Never Let Me Go
17 I Wonder
18 Prove It
19 Good Times
20 Come Back Baby
21 A Change
22 You’re a Sweet Sweet Man
23 Good to Me as I Am to You
24 People Get Ready
25 Ain’t No Way

 

Disc 2:
01 Think
02 See Saw
03 The House That Jack Built
04 Night Time Is the Right Time
05 I Say a Little Prayer
06 You Send Me
07 My Song
08 I Take What I Want
09 I Can’t See Myself Leaving You
10 Night Life [Live]
11 Today I Sing the Blues
12 Pitiful
13 Tracks of My Tears
14 River’s Invitation
15 Share Your Love With Me
16 It Ain’t Fair
17 Sit Down and Cry
18 Honest I Do
19 The Weight
20 When the Battle Is Over
21 Eleanor Rigby
22 One Way Ticket
23 Call Me
24 Pullin’ 

Disc 3:
01 Son of a Preacher Man
02 Try Matty’s
03 The Thrill Is Gone [From Yesterday's Kiss]
04 The Dark End of the Street
05 You and Me
06 Let It Be
07 Spirit in the Dark
08 Why I Sing the Blues
09 Don’t Play That Song
10 Young, Gifted and Black
11 Border Song (Holy Moses)
12 A Brand New Me
13 You’re All I Need to Get By
14 Spanish Harlem
15 Rock Steady
16 Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool for You Baby)
17 Day Dreaming
18 All the King’s Horses
19 Bridge over Troubled Water
20 Angel 

Disc 4:
01 Spirit in the Dark (Reprise) [Live]
02 How I Got Over [Live]
03 So Swell When You’re Well
04 Master of Eyes (The Deepness of Your Eyes)
05 Somewhere
06 I’m in Love
07 Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing
08 Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)
09 Every Natural Thing
10 Without Love
11 With Everything I Feel in Me
12 Mr. D.J. (5 for the D.J.)
13 Look into Your Heart
14 Sparkle
15 Rock With Me
16 Break It to Me Gently
17 Something He Can Feel