Lady Soul

2025-10-11T06:14:23Z

2804:3630:1031:7600:54D2:D270:EE12:1FFE:

{{Short description|1968 studio album by Aretha Franklin}}
{{other uses|Lady Soul (disambiguation)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Lady Soul
| type = studio
| artist = [[Aretha Franklin]]
| cover = ArethaFranklinLadySoul.jpg
| alt =
| released = January 22, 1968
| recorded = February 16 – December 20, 1967
| studio = [[FAME Studios]]
| genre = {{flatlist|
*[[Rhythm and blues|R&B]]
*[[Soul music|soul]]}}
| length = 29:51
| label = [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]] (SD 8176)
| producer = [[Jerry Wexler]]
| prev_title = [[Take a Look (Aretha Franklin album)|Take a Look]]
| prev_year = 1967
| next_title = [[Aretha Now]]
| next_year = 1968
| misc = {{Singles
| name = Lady Soul
| type = studio
| single1 = [[(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman]]
| single1date = September 1967
| single2 = [[Chain of Fools]]
| single2date = November 1967
| single3 = [[(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone]]"/"[[Ain't No Way]]
| single3date = March 1968
}}
}}
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bush |first1=John |title=Lady Soul - Aretha Franklin {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/lady-soul-mw0000194521 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=26 May 2019 |language=en-us}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev3Score = {{Rating|5|5}} <ref>''Q'', issue 7/93, p. 106.</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev4Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Hoard">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRgtYCC6OUwC&pg=PA214 |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|chapter=Review: ''Lady Soul''|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|editor-last=Hoard |editor-first=Christian David |editor-last2=Brackett |editor-first2=Nathan|pages=214–217|date=November 2, 2004|isbn=978-0-7432-0169-8}}</ref>
}}
'''''Lady Soul''''' is the twelfth [[studio album]] by American singer [[Aretha Franklin]], released on January 22, 1968, by [[Atlantic Records]]. The album stayed at #1 for sixteen weeks on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''{{'s}} [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|R&B album chart]], and it hit number 2 on the [[Billboard 200|pop album chart]] (underneath Paul Mauriat) during a year-long run.<ref>[https://www.billboard.com/artist/aretha-franklin/ "Aretha Franklin"], ''Billboard''.</ref>

==Background==
''Lady Soul'' was Franklin's third R&B chart-topper and reached number two on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]], tying with ''[[I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You]]'' for her highest-charting album on the pop chart. The album also included some of her biggest hit singles: "[[Chain of Fools]]" (number 2 Pop), and "[[(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman]]" (number 8 Pop), and "[[(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone]]" (number 5 Pop). It sold more than a million copies in the United States. The album was reissued on [[Rhino Records]] in a deluxe edition in 1995.

Gospel/R&B singer [[Cissy Houston]] (mother of [[Whitney Houston]]) and her group the [[Sweet Inspirations]] are credited as background vocals on several tracks, along with Aretha's sisters [[Carolyn Franklin]] and [[Erma Franklin]]. [[Eric Clapton]], at the time a member of the band [[Cream (band)|Cream]], is credited as the guitarist on the track "Good to Me as I Am to You".

''Lady Soul'' peaked at number 1, number 2 and number 3 on [[Billboard Music Charts|''Billboard'']]'s Black Albums, Pop Albums and Jazz Albums charts respectively. The single "[[Ain't No Way]]" – B-Side of "(Sweet, Sweet, Baby) Since You've Been Gone" – peaked at number 9 on the Black Singles chart and number 16 on the Pop Singles chart.

==Legacy==
The album was included in the book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Robert Dimery|author2=Michael Lydon|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition|date=7 February 2006|publisher=Universe|isbn=0-7893-1371-5}}</ref>

In 2003, the [[TV network]] [[VH1]] named ''Lady Soul'' the 41st greatest album of all time. In 2003 and 2012, it ranked at number 85 on ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s list "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/aretha-franklin-lady-soul-153736/|year=2012| title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time|magazine=Rolling Stone| access-date= September 23, 2019}}</ref> It rose to number 75 in a 2020 reboot of the list.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2020-09-22|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/|access-date=2021-10-09|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref> The album was rated the 29th best album of the 1960s by ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/?page=9|title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s {{!}} Pitchfork|website=pitchfork.com|language=en|date=August 22, 2017|access-date=2017-08-22}}</ref>

==Track listing==
:All tracks produced by [[Jerry Wexler]] with [[Tom Dowd]] as and recording engineer.
{{Track listing
| headline = A Side
| title1 = [[Chain of Fools]]
| length1 = 2:46
| writer1 = {{hlist|[[Don Covay]]|}}
| title2 = [[Money Won't Change You]]
| length2 = 2:08
| writer2 = {{hlist|[[James Brown]]|Nat Jones}}
| title3 = [[People Get Ready]]
| length3 = 3:42
| writer3 = {{hlist|[[Curtis Mayfield]]|}}
| title4 = Niki Hoeky
| length4 = 2:31
| writer4 = {{hlist|[[Jim Ford (singer-songwriter)|Jim Ford]]|[[Lolly Vegas]]|[[Pat Vegas]]|}}
| title5 = [[(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman]]
| length5 = 2:44
| writer5 = {{hlist|[[Gerry Goffin]]|[[Carole King]]|[[Jerry Wexler]]}}
}}{{Track listing
| headline = B Side
| title1 = [[(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone]]
| length1 = 2:25
| writer1 = {{hlist|[[Aretha Franklin]]|[[Ted White (manager)|Ted White]]|}}
| title2 = Good to Me As I Am To You
| length2 = 3:56
| writer2 = {{hlist|Franklin|White}}
| title3 = [[Come Back Baby]]
| length3 = 2:25
| writer3 = {{hlist|[[Walter Davis (blues)|Walter Davis]]|}}
| title4 = [[Groovin']]
| length4 = 2:57
| writer4 = {{hlist|[[Felix Cavaliere]]|[[Eddie Brigati]]|}}
| title5 = [[Ain't No Way]]
| length5 = 4:17
| writer5 = {{hlist|[[Carolyn Franklin]]}}
}}{{Track listing
| headline = CD reissue bonus tracks
| title1 = Chain of Fools
| note1 = Unedited Version
| length1 = 4:22
| writer1 = {{hlist|Covay}}
| title2 = (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
| note2 = Mono Single Version
| length2 = 2:49
| writer2 = {{hlist|Goffin|King|Wexler}}
| title3 = Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)
| note3 = Mono Single Version
| length3 = 2:49
| writer3 = {{hlist|Franklin|White}}
| title4 = Ain't No Way
| note4 = Mono Single Version
| length4 = 4:12
| writer4 = {{hlist|Carolyn Franklin}}
}}

'''Notes'''

* Chain of Fools (Unedited Version) was originally issued on the 1973 [[compilation album]] ''[[The Best of Aretha Franklin]]''.

==Charts==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Chart (1968)
! Peak position
|-
|U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Soul Albums
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Jazz Albums
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|}

==Singles==
{| class="wikitable"
!Year released
!Title
! width="40"| {{small|[[Billboard Hot 100|US Pop]]}}
! width="40"| {{small|[[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|US R&B]]}}
|-
|rowspan="1"|September 7, 1967 {{small|(Atlantic single #2441)}}
|"You Make Me Feel Like A (Natural Woman)"
|align="center"| ''8''
|align="center"| ''2''
|-
|rowspan="1"|November 22, 1967 {{small|(Atlantic single #2464)}}
|"Chain of Fools"
|align="center"| ''2''
|align="center"| ''1''
|-
|rowspan="2"|February 9, 1968 {{small|(Atlantic single #2486)}}
|"Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)"
|align="center"| ''5''
|align="center"| ''1''
|-
|"Ain't No Way"
|align="center"| ''16''
|align="center"| ''8''
|}

Note: Numbers in italic (following original single release information) denote peak positions on ''<nowiki>Billboard'</nowiki>''s "Top/Best Selling R&B Singles" and "Hot 100" charts respectively – courtesy BPI Communications and [[Joel Whitburn]]'s Record Research Publications.

== Personnel ==
* Aretha Franklin – vocals, backing vocals, piano
* [[Eric Clapton]], [[Bobby Womack]], [[Joe South]], [[Jimmy Johnson (session guitarist)|Jimmy Johnson]] – guitar
* [[Tommy Cogbill]] – bass guitar
* [[Spooner Oldham]] – piano, electric piano, organ
* [[Bernie Glow]], [[Joe Newman (trumpeter)|Joe Newman]], [[Melvin Lastie]] – trumpet
* Tony Studd – trombone
* [[King Curtis]] – tenor saxophone
* [[Frank Wess]], [[Seldon Powell]] – flute, tenor saxophone
* [[Haywood Henry]] – baritone saxophone
* [[The Sweet Inspirations]] – backing vocals
* [[Carolyn Franklin]] – backing vocals
* [[Cissy Houston]] – backing vocals
* [[Roger Hawkins (drummer)|Roger Hawkins]], [[Gene Chrisman]] – drums
* [[Warren Smith (jazz percussionist)|Warren Smith]] – [[vibraphone]]

==See also==
*[[List of number-one R&B albums of 1968 (U.S.)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Aretha Franklin}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1968 albums]]
[[Category:Aretha Franklin albums]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by Arif Mardin]]
[[Category:Albums conducted by Ralph Burns]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Jerry Wexler]]
[[Category:Atlantic Records albums]]
[[Category:Rhino Entertainment albums]]
[[Category:1960s covers albums]]
[[Category:Albums recorded at FAME Studios]]

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Lady Soul