Pre-order: Soul4real New 45 Releases - Aretha Franklin & Percy Sledge

Pre-order now for 15th June:

𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗔 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗟𝗜𝗡 (S4R29)

So Soon / It Was You

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗬 𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗗𝗚𝗘 (S4R30)

Baby, Baby, Baby / You Can Always Get It Where You Got It / Same Old Loverman

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𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗔 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗟𝗜𝗡 (S4R29)

So Soon / It Was You

Whenever the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, covered another artist's song, she had an uncanny knack of making it her own. The two tracks presented here are no exceptions.

Released for the first time on CD in 2007, the brisk Motown-esque “So Soon” penned by Van McCoy (and officially recorded by Donnie Elbert), and James Brown's down-tempo “It Was You” were recorded in 1967 as part of the Atlantic New York sessions which spawned Aretha's second album for the label 'Aretha Arrives'. For some inexplicable reason, they were left in the can.

Featured musicians include such Muscle Shoals luminaries as Jimmy Johnson (guitar), Spooner Oldham (organ) and Roger Hawkins (drums). Aretha's sisters Carolyn and Erma provide sterling backup vocals, especially prevalent on the driving “So Soon” whilst horns punctuate the stark, declarative “It Was You”, as does Aretha's strident piano chords.

Two outstanding and contrasting outtakes that rightly belong on a single 7" format.

𝗥𝗮𝘆 𝗘𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘀

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗬 𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗗𝗚𝗘 (S4R30)

Baby, Baby, Baby / You Can Always Get It Where You Got It / Same Old Loverman

Percy Sledge’s 1966 worldwide smash “When A Man Loves A Woman” did more to internationally establish southern soul than any record up to that time. The man from Leighton, Alabama subsequently became one of Atlantic’s biggest artists, charting 11 R&B/Pop hits in three years.

Nevertheless, as the 60s drew to a close, Atlantic’s interest in Percy inexplicably dwindled. Very few masters that his producer Quin Ivy sent from Sheffield, Alabama to New York saw contemporaneous release, although some eventually appeared in countries like South Africa, where Percy was revered.

The tracks on this exceptional ‘maxi single’ waited till 2010 to debut digitally. Percy’s terrific take on Aretha’s “Baby, Baby, Baby” dates from August 1969, the others from his penultimate session for Atlantic. Great songs too from Swamp Dogg and the late Gordon Lightfoot; either of which could have given Percy a hit in 1972.

We’ll never know why they weren’t issued then - but let’s be grateful to Soul4Real for making them available on vinyl now…

𝗧𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲