In the Spring of 1971, Atlantic decided to take a chance and deliberately push to expand Aretha Franklin’s musical base.

In the world of blues, R&B and Soul music, Aretha was the unchallenged “Queen”. Even her contemporary competition acknowledged this, as did a very large portion of the pop (read ‘white’) audience. She was an insurmountably huge star, but Atlantic recognized that they never actually tried to present her directly to the hippies that ruled contemporary rock and roll. The plan, then, was to have Ms. Franklin perform at the high church of hippiedom, Bill Graham’s Fillmore West.

At the time it may have felt a bit risky to the label heads at Atlantic, but the truth is that Aretha owned the crowd before she even stepped onstage. What made it work, though, was Aretha performing at her peak, with a band that couldn’t have been better. The ‘risk’ was a phenomenal (albeit predictable) success.  We start with a few studio recordings that we didn’t have time for last week, and then we close out today’s show with highlights from her San Francisco performance.

Featured Tracks:

You and Me

You’re All I Need to Get By

Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time

Respect (live)

Love the One You’re With (live)

Spirit in the Dark (live)

Spirit (reprise, with Ray Charles)