Читать книгу The Mojo Collection - Various Mojo Magazine - Страница 79

Record label: Atlantic

Produced: Jerry Wexler

Recorded: Muscle Shoals Studios, Alabama; January 24, 1967; Atlantic Studios, New York; February 8 and 14–16, 1967

Released: March 10, 1967

Chart peaks: 36 (UK) 2 (US)

Personnel: Aretha Franklin (v, p); Dewey ‘Spooner’ Oldham (k); Jimmy Johnson (g); Chips Moman (g); Tommy Cogbill (b); Roger Hawkins (d); Gene Chrisman (d); Melvin Lastie (cornet, t); Ken Laxton (t); Ernie Royal (t); David Hood (tb); Charlie Chalmers (ts); King Curtis (ts); Joe Arnold (ts); Willie Bridges (bs); Carolyn Franklin, Erma Franklin; Cissy Houston (bv); Tom Dowd (e); Arif Mardin (e)

Track listing: Respect (S); Drown In My Own Tears; I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You) (S); Soul Serenade; Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream; Baby Baby Baby (S); Dr Feelgood (Love Is A Serious Business); Good Times; Do Right Woman, Do Right Man; Save Me; A Change Is Gonna Come

Running time: 41.26

Current CD: Rhino 8122719342 adds: Respect (Stereo Version); I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) (Stereo Version); Do Right Woman-Do Right Man (Stereo Version)

Further listening: Lady Soul (1968)

Further reading: Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom (Peter Guralnick, 1986); Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin And Curtis Mayfield and the Rise And Fall Of American Soul (Craig Hansen Werner, 2004); www.aretha-franklin.com; www.legacyrecordings.com/arethafranklin

Download: HMV Digital; iTunes

At 24 years old, Aretha Franklin could have been forgiven for thinking she had seen it all already. Daughter of a famous gospel preacher, already a mother and wife, a professional singer for some years and a much experienced performer, she had already rubbed shoulders with the greats from Sam Cooke and Ray Charles to boxer Joe Louis and more. After her deal with Columbia Records expired, Jerry Wexler wasted no time signing her to Atlantic in November 1966.

The soul music scene was rapidly growing with Wilson Pickett, Sam And Dave, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas and the more urbane Motown acts already achieving great chart success. But Wexler knew he had something special. Aretha’s first six weeks with Atlantic were spent choosing the proper material. On January 24, 1967 Wexler, Franklin and her then husband Ted White flew to a tiny country airstrip outside of Florence, Alabama and drove over to Muscle Shoals. There Chips Moman had assembled what is now rightly considered a legendary band, but it was a legendary band with no black faces; Wexler had specifically asked for an integrated band. With Aretha on piano they cut I Never Loved A Man – producer/writer Dan Penn: ‘Less than two hours and it was in the can and it was a killer, no doubt about it. That morning we knew a star had been born.’

However, a drinking contest had begun between White and one of the horn section, degenerating into an ugly, name-calling argument, and work on the second song, Do Right Woman-Do Right Man, ground to an abrupt halt. Wexler pulled the plug and with White (who doubled as Aretha’s manager) refusing to step foot in Alabama again, the sessions were rescheduled for New York City, where they were eventually completed in February.

‘Of the hundreds of sessions I have participated in,’ Spooner Oldham recalls today, ‘I can honestly say those first few times with Aretha Franklin were simply and magically unforgettable.’