0552. Aretha Franklin
Aretha: Lady Soul

Aretha's back with a powerhouse of soul! Half the songs are classics and (most of) the other half are just plain good. It's a strong start with Chain Of Fools in the lead and tracks like People Get Ready (penned by Curtis Mayfield with a message of hope) and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman making a fantastic trio of songs.

The only track even partly written by Aretha is Good To Me As I Am To You, and it's actually a good song, better than the album's last song Ain't No Way, where background singer Cissy Houston's high-notes (it sounds too much like the infamous Elvis track with the operatic chorus girl).

And, well, the sixties were the sixties, so of course there's gonna be a track called Groovin', but I'm not gonna complain. I'll just state that Aretha's got a bunch of talented musicians and songwriters for this one, and thusly it delivers.