If this short appreciation of five of Aretha’s greatest performances inspires you to rush to Spotify or turntable to listen once again, then its work is done.

ONE “Chain of Fools”, from Lady Soul (1967)
The Don Covay classic is one of Aretha’s most successful marriages of blues and soul. Here she spends whole verses leaning hard into the melody but keeping it all in check until those moments where she suddenly soars above the song. There’s never been a singer in this area of music with better timing or phrasing. Aretha’s church years give her a reservoir of techniques for building and releasing tension. The sudden leaps in register have nothing to do with the grandstanding of, say, Mariah Carey: they’re expressions of passion, of anger, of longing. Over quintessential swamp funk, there’s no doubting who’s leading the band. She’s not just singing over a backing track, she’s defining how the music moves. How many singers can you say that about?

TWO “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman”, from Lady Soul (1967)
The mere mention of the title phrase to Gerry Goffin and Carole King resulted in the delivery of a masterpiece the very next day. What a song. Listen to the resignation and depression that’s palpable in her singing of the verses, and how it pervades the physical sound of the rhythm section. And then the clouds lift as the horns and the strings and her sisters cluster around as she soars into the title in one of the greatest choruses known to man.

THREE “Baby I Love You”, from Aretha Arrives (1967)
Using the hoariest sentiment known to popular song, this is worth its place in the pantheon just for the way that, after the line “ain’t no doubt about it” comes around for the second time, Lady Soul sings “I Love You”. Listen closely to the way she caresses you and feel your knees buckle.

FOUR “You Send Me”, from Aretha Now (1968)
Aretha stabs at a few gospel chords on the piano whilst Roger Hawkins counts time on his sticks, the sound echoing around the room. Suddenly Ree gets serious, bangs out the ascending intro and there’s a headlong rush into one of Sam Cooke’s most gorgeous songs. An extraordinary blend of uptown swing and country soul shaped by Aretha’s piano and vocal, this is just over two minutes of transcendental bliss. In Roger Hawkins’ words: “Aretha’s emotion made everything work: I played to her voice. On her sessions, it was like the drums were playing themselves”. I think all the musicians involved would say Amen to that.

FIVE “I Say A Little Prayer”, from Aretha Now (1968)
Thrown together in a lunch break as the backing singers fooled around with Bacharach & David’s current hit single, this is one extraordinary recording. The arrangement is so svelte it’s unbelievable that the whole track took an hour to cut. Riding on Hawkins’ tick-tock rhythm (every accent he plays is just so, and listen to how much space he leaves), Aretha renders the definitive version of the song. Precise, powerful, thrilling.

Originally written for rocksbackpages.com

If you’re receiving the email out, please click on the Date Headline of the page for the full 5 Things experience. It will bring you to the site (which allows you to see the Music Player) and all the links will open in another tab or window in your browser.

The book of Five Things is available from Amazon here.

“He writes with the insight of someone who has inhabited the world of the professional musician but also with the infectious enthusiasm of someone who is a fan like anyone of us. He also comes at the subject from an entirely personal, slightly sideways perspective, with no agenda and no product to sell. It’s entertaining and inspiring in equal measure.” – from an Amazon review by Zuma

“A terrific book, stuffed to the gills with snippets of news items and observations all with a musical theme, pulled together by the watchful eye of Martin Colyer… lovingly compiled, rammed with colour photos and interesting stories. Colyer has a good ear for a tune, an eye for the out-of-ordinary and he can write a bit too.” – Steve Carr, everyrecordtellsastory.com