African American Music Appreciation Month: Aretha Franklin – Happy 50th: ARETHA NOW

50 years ago today, Aretha Franklin released the album that opened with a song that she’d memorably perform in a feature film more than a decade later, stealing every single moment that she spent on celluloid. Talking a bit about this classic LP seems like a perfect way to continue our celebration of African American Music Appreciate Month, wouldn’t you say?

Produced by Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Studios in New York City, ARETHA NOW features a track listing that’s as iconic as any LP she released during the 1960s, starting with “Think,” the song that provided Aretha with one of the best moments of The Blues Brothers. From there, however, the album features a number of other iconic tracks, including her take on Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “I Say a Little Prayer,” a cover of Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me,” and her version of the Big Bill Broonzy blues classic “Night Time is the Right Time.” Aretha was backed by a murderer’s row of some of the best musicians around, including Spooner Oldham, Bobby Womack, King Curtis, and more, making all the tunes sound top-notch.

Appropriately, ARETHA NOW continued the Queen of Soul’s chart reign, providing her with another #1 R&B album and taking her to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Length-wise, it’s a little shorter than you might expect, but when the end result is that it leaves listeners wanting more, it’s hard to view it as anything other than a great career move.