More Aretha Franklin
More Soul, Blues, and R&B
This Atlantic pressing is a MONSTER, easily one of the best we’ve ever played, and unusually quiet to boot. You will have a very tough time finding a copy with even one side this good, let alone two. The music, of course, is top notch — and it’s even better when you don’t have bad sound or crappy vinyl getting in the way. I imagine the Queen Of Soul herself would be very impressed with the way she sounds on this White Hot Stamper pressing.
This WONDERFUL album of Aretha’s is very possibly her most consistent from the period, but it’s sure a tough nut to crack sonically. So many copies are smeary, recessed and lifeless you’d think you were playing a heavy vinyl reissue, not a real Atlantic original. And no matter how hard you try, there just do not seem to be any copies with quiet surfaces and clean inner grooves.
But when you get a lovely copy such as this, the music comes to life in front of you and the shortcomings quietly recede into the background. This is the way of all good pressings. We’ve played thousands of them. (We might call them Hot Stampers but let’s face it, “good pressings” is just as accurate, if not quite as catchy.)
Side One
Side one was DYNAMIC as hell — it’s a bit of a shock to hear a pop record with such lively vocals. What happened to the limiters and compressors, did somebody forget to patch them in? On this copy the loud parts work; sometimes Aretha just gets screechy, but not here. Lovely tape hiss and three-dimensional soundstaging help a lot. The one shortcoming: a slight lack of richness in the mids. It’s the rare copy that will give you almost everything. We might not find one for years. A++ is our grade.
Side Two
As Good As It Gets, baby! Big and spacious with incredibly transparency and amazing immediacy to the vocals. The sound is just right from top to bottom, giving you all of the magic of side one and then some!
Inner Groove Distortion
It’s on every copy we played. The last 1/8″ to 1/4″ will have some.
TRACK LISTING
Side One
Oh Me Oh My (I’m A Fool For You Baby)
Day Dreaming
Rock Steady
Young, Gifted And Black
All The King’s Horses
A Brand New Me
Side Two
April Fools
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
First Snow In Kokomo
The Long And Winding Road
Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)
Border Song (Holy Moses)
AMG Review
It’s nearly impossible to single out any of Aretha Franklin’s early ’70s albums for Atlantic as being her best, particularly given the breadth of her output during this era. In terms of albums rather than singles, it’s probably her strongest era, and if you count live albums like Amazing Grace, choosing a standout or a favorite record isn’t any easier. Yet of this stunning era, Young, Gifted & Black certainly ranks highly among her studio efforts, with many arguing that it may be her greatest. And with songs like “Rock Steady,” that may be a valid argument. But there’s much more here than just a few highlights. If you really want to go song by song, you’d be hard-pressed to find any throwaways here — this is quite honestly an album that merits play from beginning to end.