106. Aretha Franklin — I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (1967)

Angelic

1. Feels wild that the first glimpse we have of The Queen of Soul comes with her tenth studio album, but in doing a bit of research, it seems her career was really stunted by Columbia Records. I Never Loved A Man… is the first record she made after switching to Atlantic Records, and regardless of how much that shift in company mattered, it’s a hugely consequential album. Columbia had to be kicking themselves for squandering her after hearing this.
2. This is an extremely strong album, start to finish. We open with the inevitable: “Respect,” originally written and recorded by Otis Redding on Otis Blue, but transformed and elevated to a whole other level here. “Respect” is, of course, one of the most undeniable pop songs in history, bursting with horns and Franklin’s transcendent voice. No shortage of ink and/or pixels have been spent praising it; if you told me it was the single most recognizable song in the world, I’d believe you. It never gets old, and it’s hard to imagine a stronger opener.
3. It doesn’t slow down from there, though. “I Never Loved A Man” is smooth, bluesy, and an excellent showcase of what made Franklin special. “Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream” brings in some bossa nova guitar work for her to play off in a song she wrote. “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” continues the feminist bent of her gender-swapped “Respect.”
4. The album closes with the upbeat “Save Me” and her cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” wrapping a neat bow around the themes Franklin hit on repeatedly. (Has any song been recorded so astoundingly well by as many acts as “A Change Is Gonna Come”?) With this album, she’s a force to be reckoned with, a culmination of the excellent soul music that had come before. Highly recommend.

One Essential Song: (duh)

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