1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 84. Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (1967)

You know, this was completely coincidental, but this one got published on 25th March, which is Aretha Franklin's birthday. Like it was meant to be.

Bring on the Queen of Soul, who arguably sets the bar to which all future female souls singers must aspire. She can belt out the powerful bits but can also do softly very nicely as well when the songs allow her to.

Aside from the cover of the Civil Rights anthem A Change Is Gonna Come, most of the songs on this album are about the relationship between men and women, whether they be empowerment anthems demanding Respect (or rather R.E.S.P.E.C.T. as we all know it), or more quietly declaring that I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You as per the album title. Surprisingly this is the tenth studio album for Franklin, but her first with Atlantic Records, her previous work being mainly jazz standards. It was the producers at Atlantic that saw her potential in a more soul/gospel direction, so well done them.

Respect is probably the stand-out, an iconic track for Franklin. Of the softer more soulful tracks, best is probably Do Right Woman, Do Right Man. Although the only non-love song is the cover of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, but even this sounds more like it’s about personal relationships when Franklin sings it.

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