A Portrait Of The Queen (1970-1974)

Five classic Aretha albums presenting an early-’70s portrait of the queen! Also Includes a Sixth bonus LP of Session Alternates, Outtakes and Demos! (however not included on the CD set).

The albums in question are This Girl’s In Love With You (1970), Spirit in the Dark (1970), Young Gifted and Black (1972), Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) (1973) and Let Me In Your Life (1974). They have all been remastered from the analog master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

These were all were produced by Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin and Jerry Wexler, except for Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) which saw Aretha work with Quincy Jones. This Girl’s in Love With You saw the first commercial release of The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’, which is remarkable (Paul McCartney apparently sent her a demo and Franklin’s album was issued on 15 January 1970, almost two months before The Beatles’ version).
Both formats come with booklets featuring sleeve notes by Gail Mitchell and David Nathan.