Known as the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin ranked as No.1 in the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” Rolling Stone magazine’s 2010 poll. She was also an 18-time Grammy Award winner as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement and Grammy Living Legend awardee ( she died in 2018 at the age of 76 ). Presented on this LP are some of her best recordings from her Columbia years, recorded in 1960-62.

Personnel:

Aretha Franklin ( lead vocals on all tracks ), plus:

On Tracks A1-A2, A4, A6, A8, B3 & B5:

Small groups featuring Al Sears or Warren Lucky (ts), Tyree Gleen or Quentin Jackson (tb), Chauncey “Lord” Westbrook (g), Ray Bryant (p), Bill Lee (b), Belton “Sticks” Evans or Osie Johnson (d).
New York, August-December 1960.

On Tracks A3, A5, A7, A9, B1-B2, B4, B6 & B7-B9:

Orchestra conducted and arranged by Richard Wess.
New York, August 1961-May 1962.

Tracks:

A1 WON’T BE LONG
A2 TODAY I SING THE BLUES
A3 ROCK-A-BYE YOUR BABY WITH A DIXIE MELODY
A4 (BLUE) BY MYSELF
A5 DON’T CRY, BABY
A6 SWEET LOVER
A7 AC-CENT-TCHU-ATE THE POSITIVE
A8 OVER THE RAINBOW
A9 WITHOUT THE ONE YOU LOVE

B1 OPERATION HEARTBREAK
B2 ROUGH LOVER
B3 ALL NIGHT LONG
B4 I’M WANDERING
B5 RIGHT NOW
B6 IT’S SO HEARTBREAKIN’
B7 I SURRENDER, DEAR
B8 THAT LUCKY OLD SUN
B9 TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS