We had Aretha’s I Never Loved a Man ranked No. 16 on our Essentials list, so I don’t think we can say we ignored her. But she has been a treasure my whole life, so that’s a No. 1 without a doubt.
Earlier this year I had an infatuation with Spirit in the Dark, though for some reason I didn’t write about it then. It’s filled with terrific songs and singing and arrangements, and a beautiful and bounteous heart. Like this:
I feel exonerated although no Aretha ALBUMS made my own list. So few soul artists focused on albums back in the day. I’m working on a theory of the great black/white split that started in about 1970 and the single vs. the album was a big part of it.
We have, I am ashamed to say, neglected Aretha. Why do we take our treasures for granted? We are an ungrateful and wretched species. RIP
We had Aretha’s I Never Loved a Man ranked No. 16 on our Essentials list, so I don’t think we can say we ignored her. But she has been a treasure my whole life, so that’s a No. 1 without a doubt.
Earlier this year I had an infatuation with Spirit in the Dark, though for some reason I didn’t write about it then. It’s filled with terrific songs and singing and arrangements, and a beautiful and bounteous heart. Like this:
https://youtu.be/tRTMh3Vj3To
I feel exonerated although no Aretha ALBUMS made my own list. So few soul artists focused on albums back in the day. I’m working on a theory of the great black/white split that started in about 1970 and the single vs. the album was a big part of it.