Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Burt Bacharach (1971)

In 1956 Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were both working in the Brill Building in New York City for Famous Music, which is where they published their first songs as co-writers. The songs published in 1956 included 'I Cry More' (featured in the motion picture 'Don't Knock The Rock'), 'The Morning Mail', and 'Peggy's In The Pantry', but their career breakthrough came when their song 'The Story Of My Life' was recorded by Marty Robbins, becoming a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Country Chart in 1957. Soon afterward, 'Magic Moments' was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and reached No. 4 on the Most Played by Disc Jockeys chart, and these two songs were the beginning of a career in which they composed over 230 songs together for the pop market, motion pictures, television, and Broadway. In 1961 Bacharach discovered singer Dionne Warwick, who was working as a session backup singer at the time, and that year the two, along with Dionne's sister Dee Dee Warwick, released the single 'Move It On The Backbeat' under the name Burt and the Backbeats - the first time a record appeared under his name. Bacharach and David were both excited by Warwick's singing and decided to form a production company, Blue JAC Productions, so they could write for her and produce her recordings, and she signed with the new company, and the team subsequently secured a recording contract with Scepter Records for Warwick's recordings. Warwick made her solo recording debut in 1962 with 'Don't Make Me Over', which also became her first hit, and their partnership with Warwick became one of the most successful teams in popular music history. Bacharach released his first solo album in 1965 on the Kapp Records label, but 'Hit Maker!: Burt Bacharach Plays the Burt Bacharach Hits' was largely ignored in the U.S., although it rose to No. 3 on the UK album charts, where his version of 'Trains And Boats And Planes' had become a top five single. In 1967, he signed with A&M Records both as an artist and a producer, recording several solo albums, consisting of a mix of new material plus rearrangements of his best-known songs. In 1969 Bacharach released his second A&M album, 'Make It Easy On Yourself', which like its predecessor, featured outstanding song-writing. One of the highlights of the record was the great production between Bacharach and Phil Ramone, as well as the instrumental performances, and even songs that weren't immediately pleasing to the ear grew on the listener. 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again', 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose?' and the title track were all reclaimed and reworked for the record, and by the end of the year of it's release nearly all of the rest of the tracks had been picked up and recorded by other artists for their own records. So here are their takes on the songs from Bacharach's 'Make It Easy On Yourself' album, together with a few tracks from his 1971 eponymous release to make up the running time, and I've gone for less well-known versions of the biggest hits to give it a bit of variety.     

Track listing

01 Promises, Promises (Connie Francis 1968)  
02 I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Bobbie Gentry 1969)  
03 Knowing When To Leave (Kathy Kirby 1969)  
04 Any Day Now (Elvis Presley 1969)
05 Wanting Things (Dionne Warwick 1968)
06 Whoever You Are I Love You (Johnny Mathis 1969)
07 Make It Easy On Yourself (Long John Baldry 1966)
08 Do You Know The Way To San Jose (Rita Reys 1971)

09 Pacific Coast Highway (Jim Wilkas 2023)
10 This Guy's In Love With You (Georgie Fame 1969)
11 All Kinds Of People (The 5th Dimension 1971)
12 One Less Bell To Answer (Gladys Knight And The Pips 1971)

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Carole King (1973)

In the late 1950's Carole King attended Queens College, where she met Gerry Goffin, who was later to become her song-writing partner. When she was 17, they married in a Jewish ceremony on Long Island in August 1959, after King became pregnant with her first daughter, Louise. After they quit college they took day jobs, with Goffin working as an assistant chemist and King as a secretary, writing songs together in the evening, and after writing the Shirelles' Billboard Hot 100 number 1 hit 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow', they gave up their daytime jobs to concentrate on the song-writing. In the 1960's, with King composing the music and Goffin writing the lyrics, the two wrote a string of classic songs for a variety of artists, including 'Chains' (later recorded by the Beatles), 'The Loco-Motion' and 'Keep Your Hands Off My Baby' (both for their babysitter Little Eva), and 'It Might As Well Rain Until September', which King recorded herself in 1962, charting at number 22 in the US and number 3 in the UK. Other songs from her early period, up to 1967, included 'Half Way To Paradise' for Billy Fury, 'Take Good Care Of My Baby' for Bobby Vee, 'Up On The Roof' for the Drifters, 'I'm Into Something Good' for Earl-Jean (later recorded by Herman's Hermits), 'One Fine Day' for the Chiffons, and 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' for the Monkees. By 1968, Goffin and King were divorced and were starting to lose contact, and King moved to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles with her two daughters. There she reactivated her recording career by forming 'The City', a music trio consisting of Charles Larkey, her future husband, on bass, Danny Kortchmar on guitar and vocals, and King on piano and vocals. The group produced one album, 'Now That Everything's Been Said', in 1968, but King's reluctance to perform live meant sales were slow, and the group disbanded in 1969. While in Laurel Canyon, she met James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, as well as Toni Stern, with whom she collaborated on songs, and when  King made her first solo album, 'Writer', in 1970, Taylor played acoustic guitar and provided backing vocals. It peaked at number 84 in the Billboard Top 200, and was followed the next year by 'Tapestry', which featured new compositions as well as reinterpretations of 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' and '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman'. 'Tapestry' was an instant success, with numerous hit singles, including a Billboard No.1 with 'It's Too Late', and every song on it has since become a classic. It's therefore no surprise that they have all been covered by a huge variety of artists, and so here are the best of them, reinterpreting this classic album of the 70's.

Track listing

01 I Feel The Earth Move (Design 1973)
02 So Far Away (Marlena Shaw 1972)
03 It's Too Late (The Sandpipers 1971)
04 Home Again (Kate Taylor 1971)
05 Beautiful (Petula Clark 1971)
06 Way Over Yonder (Cornelia 1972)
07 You've Got A Friend (James Taylor 1971)
08 Where You Lead (Barbara Streisand 1971)
09 Will You Love Me Tomorrow? (Roberta Flack 1971)
10 Smackwater Jack (Quincy Jones 1971)
11 Tapestry (Alice Babs 1973)
12 (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Aretha Franklin 1967)

David Spinozza - ...and on guitar (1976)

David Spinozza was born on 8 August 1949 in Port Chester, New York, and began his professional recording career as a teenager in the 1960’s, swiftly becoming a sought after New York studio musician and soon signing with A&M Records as a solo artist. He has become known for being a versatile musician, with credits that span every facet of the music and entertainment industries, and as well as adding guitar to numerous recordings over the past 50 years, he's also produced, arranged, orchestrated, conducted, co-written and played guitar for a Who's Who of acclaimed artists such as James Taylor, Carly Simon, Garland Jeffries, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler, B.B. King, Judy Collins, Jim Croce, George Benson and three out of four Beatles. His guitar is heard on countless classic hits, most notably Don McLean’s 'American Pie', John Lennon’s 'Mind Games', Paul McCartney’s 'Another Day', Paul Simon’s 'Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard' and his iconic solo on Dr. John’s 'Right Place Wrong Time'. One of his earliest gigs was playing with Paul McCartney during sessions for his 'Ram' album in 1971, and when the chance came to work with Lennon two years later, as Yoko Ono prepared her 'Feeling The Space' album and Lennon his 'Mind Games', Spinozza discovered that Lennon was not aware he had previously worked with McCartney, and was afraid he would be fired if Lennon found out, given their recent feuding in the media, but when Lennon did learn of it his only comment was that McCartney "knows how to pick good people". The relationship with Ono carried on after 'Feeling The Space', where he contributed to her 'A Story' album, recorded during 1974 but not released until 1998, served as her bandleader during a residency at Kenny's Castaways, and rehearsed her band to tour her native Japan, although they parted ways when the tour began. In 1978 he released his first solo album 'Spinozza' on A&M, which was a jazz-oriented album with some vocal tracks, and he has also made contributions to the soundtracks of the movies 'Dead Man Walking', 'Happiness', and 'Just The Ticket'. Spinozza has played on literally hundreds of albums in his career, and so for this post I've only selected tracks from 1970 to 1976 where he was a featured soloist, and to show his versatility in a variety of genres I've split this three disc set into one album of jazz, one of soul and one of pop music.   

Track listing

Some Jazz
01 Ahunk Ahunk  (from 'Consummation' by Thad Jones & Mel Lewis 1970)
02 Man's Hope (from 'Push Push' by Herbie Mann 1971)
03 Lover Man (from 'All The King's Horses' by Grover Washington, Jr. 1972) 
04 Monkey (from 'White Elephant' by White Elephant 1972)
05 Hanky's Panky (from 'Superstition' by Shirley Scott 1973)
06 A Sunday Afternoon Feeling (from 'Journey' by Arif Mardin 1974)
07 Draggin' The Line (from 'Until It's Time For You To Go' by Rusty Bryant 1974)
08 Chile Con Carmen (from 'Joy Of Cookin'' by Joe Thomas 1974)
09 Who Knows What Goes When The Doors Close (from 'Brother Where Are You' by 

                                                                                                             Oscar Brown Jr. 1974) 

Some Pop
01 Come To My Bedside, My Darling (from 'Donal Leace' by Donal Leace 1971)
02 Roller Derby Queen (from 'Life And Times' by Jim Croce 1973)
03 Something So Right (from 'There Goes Rhymin' Simon' by Paul Simon 1973)
04 Get On The Right Thing (from 'Red Rose Speedway' by Paul McCartney & Wings 1973)
05 A Man Can't Always Be (from 'Lifesong' by Cashman & West 1974)
06 Rainy Day Man (from 'Streetlights' by Bonnie Raitt 1974)
07 Genesis (from 'The Second Coming' by Jerry LaCroix 1974)
08 Think I'm Gonna Have A Baby (from 'Hotcakes' by Carly Simon 1974) 
09 Me And My Guitar (from 'Walking Man' by James Taylor 1974)
10 Great Big Man (from 'Homeless Brother' by Don McLean 1974)
11 The Closest Friends (from 'Lucy Simon' by Lucy Simon 1975)
12 Angel Spread Your Wings (from 'Judith' by Judy Collins 1975)
13 Let Me Just Follow Behind (from 'Songs For The New Depression' by Bette Midler 1976)
14 Say The Words (from 'This One's For You' by Barry Manilow 1976)
15 Early Evening Light (from 'Marriott' by Steve Marriott 1976) 

Some Soul
01 Too Many Days (from 'Labelle' by Labelle 1971)
02 You've Got A Friend (from 'Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway' by 

                                                                                  Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway 1972)
03 Cold Sweat (from 'Get On The Good Foot' by James Brown 1972)
04 The Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues (from 'Free Will' by Gil Scott-Heron 1972)
05 I'm Only A Woman (from 'Margie Joseph' by Margie Joseph 1973)
06 Right Place, Wrong Time (from 'In The Right Place' by Dr. John 1973)
07 Grind It Out (from 'The Soulful Crooner' by Nick Holmes 1973)
08 As Long As He Will Stay (from 'New Beginnings...' by Morgana King 1973)
09 I Know It's You (from 'Extension Of A Man' by Donny Hathaway 1973)
10 The Masquerade Is Over (from 'Let Me In Your Life' by Aretha Franklin 1974)
11 Somebody New Is Lovin' On You (from 'I'm In Need Of Love' by Lou Courtney 1974)
12 Early Ev'ry Midnight (from 'Feel Like Makin' Love' by Roberta Flack 1975)

Ron Wood - ...and on guitar (1987)

Ronald David Wood was born on 1 June 1947 in Hillingdon, London, and made his first appearances on record during the mid-'60s, firstly as guitarist for the Birds, who were an R&B band based in Yiewsley, Middlesex. They were a popular live act with a considerable fan base, releasing several singles in the mid-1960's, and Wood wrote or co-wrote nearly half the songs that the group recorded. By 1967 the Birds had disbanded, and Wood briefly took part in a project called Santa Barbara Machine Head, which included later Deep Purple co-founder Jon Lord (did he file that name away for later use?), before becoming a member of the oft-overlooked mod outfit The Creation, remaining with them for a short while, and appearing on a handful of their singles. After he left The Creation in 1967 he joined the Jeff Beck Group, but as Beck was one of the leading guitarists of the time, Wood switched to bass while with the band, and they recorded two highly respected albums, with 'Truth' appearing in 1968, and 'Beck-Ola' following the next year. Following the release of 'Beck-Ola', the Jeff Beck Group disbanded, with vocalist Rod Stewart embarking on a solo career, and after Steve Marriott left the Small Faces, Wood began working with the remaining members of that group, returning to his instrument of choice, the guitar. This line-up, plus Rod Stewart and former Bird Kim Gardner, teamed up with Wood's brother Art Wood in a group that they called Quiet Melon, and they made a handful of recordings in May 1969. When Quiet Melon folded, Wood and Stewart joined the former Small Faces full-time, changing the band's name to The Faces, and it was most of this band, with the addition of Keith Emerson on keyboards, and Steamhammer's Martin Pugh and Martin Quittenton, that backed Stewart on his first solo album 'An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down' in 1969. 

In the first half of the 1970's, The Faces released four studio albums and were among the top-grossing live acts of the period, and as well as his distinctive guitar work, Wood contributed harmonica, vocals and bass to the band's recordings, and co-wrote many of their songs. In 1972, Wood and Faces bassist Ronnie Lane composed the soundtrack to the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' with help from Pete Townshend, Ric Grech and Kenney Jones, but the soundtrack album didn't appear until four years later in 1976. In 1973 Wood asked his old friend Mick Taylor to help out with his first solo album, and later that year he collaborated with Mick Jagger on the song 'It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)', as well as joining David Bowie to record a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Growing Up' during sessions for his 'Diamond Dogs' album. When Taylor departed from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Wood helped out with the band's March 1975 recording sessions for their forthcoming album 'Black And Blue', and although still a member of Faces, he toured North America with The Rolling Stones in 1975. When The Faces announced their break-up in December of that year, Wood was officially declared a member of The Rolling Stones in 1976, playing slide guitar, as Taylor and Brian Jones had done before him, and adding both lap steel and pedal steel guitar to his repertoire. In addition, he often exchanged roles on the guitar with Keith Richards, blurring the boundaries between rhythm and lead, even within a particular song. In 1975, Wood released his second solo album 'Now Look', followed four years later by 'Gimme Some Neck', and to promote it he formed and toured with The New Barbarians, playing 20 concerts in Canada and the US. Throughout the 1980's Wood kept very busy, playing as an official member of The Rolling Stones, continuing his solo career, painting, and collaborating with a number of other artists, including Prince, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Ringo Starr and Aretha Franklin. Wood's first guest appearance was actually on Donovan's 'Barabajagal' single, where The Jeff Beck Group acted as his backing band, but as Wood was playing bass and not guitar I'm starting this collection with his appearance on Rod Stewart's 1970 album, and working through his contributions to other artists efforts through to the late 80's, and for the cover I've used a rare self-portrait painted by Wood himself. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Only A Hobo (from 'Gasoline Alley' by Rod Stewart 1970) 
02 I'm Ready (from 'It Ain't Easy' by John Baldry 1971) 
03 Stop On The Red (from 'Wun' by Gerry Lockran 1972)

04 Just For A Moment (from the soundtrack of the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' 1972)
05 Brahms (from 'The Academy In Peril' by John Cale 1972) 
06 Fallen Angel (from 'On The Road To Freedom' by Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre 1973)
07 Growin' Up (out-take from 'Pin Ups' by David Bowie 1973)
08 Kew (from 'Love Songs' by Billy Nicholls 1974)
09 Shut Up (from 'First Of The Big Bands' by Tony Ashton & John Lord 1974)
10 Ding Dong, Ding Dong (from 'Dark Horse' by George Harrison 1974) 
11 Feet (from 'Stone Alone' by Bill Wyman 1976)
12 Kinky (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)

Disc Two
01 All Our Past Times (from 'No Reason To Cry' by Eric Clapton 1976)
02 What A Town (from 'Rick Danko' by Rick Danko 1977)
03 Slow Screw Against The Wall/A♭ Fry (from 'Ask Rufus' by Rufus feat. Chaka Khan 1977) 
04 Nobody's Child (from 'Puttin' On The Style' by Lonnie Donegan 1978) 
05 Jumpin' Jack Flash (from 'Aretha' by Aretha Franklin 1980)
06 Little Girl (from 'Bump In The Night' Ian McLagan 1981) 
07 Dead Giveaway (from 'Stop And Smell The Roses' by Ringo Starr 1981) 
08 Clean Cut Kid (from 'Empire Burlesque' by Bob Dylan 1985)
09 Go 'Way Little Boy (b-side of 'Sweet Sweet Baby' single by Lone Justice 1985)
10 Love Roulette (from 'Heartbeat' by Don Johnson 1986) 
11 Baby (from 'Dirty Strangers' by Dirty Strangers 1987)
12 The Usual (from the soundtrack of the film 'Hearts Of Fire' 1987)

Thanks to Gil for the suggestion

Duane Allman - ...and on guitar (1971)

Before Duane Allman became a guitar hero in the Allman Brothers Band, he was a hotshot session guitarist who was logging tons of studio time with some of the best R&B singers in the world. After the Allman Brothers started to be appreciated for their albums, Duane continued to record with other artists, most notably with Eric Clapton in Derek And The Dominos, until his death in 1971. Some of his best recordings were with artists like John Hammond, who was the son of the record-company exec who helped launch the careers of everyone from Billie Holiday to Bob Dylan, and from Aretha Franklin to Bruce Springsteen. Like his father, he loved rural acoustic blues music and built a cult career paying tribute to his heroes, attracting some famous fans, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Allman, who played on a couple of Hammond's albums. Clarence Carter was a blind R&B singer who hit the Top 10 with 'Patches' and 'Slip Away,' which Gregg Allman later covered, but on 'The Road Of Love' from 1969 he takes on soulful blues with some help from an eager horn section and Duane Allman's jagged guitar. Delaney & Bonnie had lots of famous friends and fans, including Clapton, Leon Russell and George Harrison, and their 'Livin' On The Open Road' is a bluesy R&B rocker with a positively piercing guitar solo provided by Allman. Boz Scaggs spent two years with the Steve Miller Band when he booked some time at the famous Muscle Shoals recording studio, working with its terrific in-house session group, and his eponymous 1969 album is filled with great music, including the superb 'Waiting For A Train'. Aretha Franklin's 'This Girl's In Love With You' includes some great covers, such as The Band's standard 'The Weight', as well as the soulful 'It Ain't Fair', and fellow soul-maestro Wilson Pickett also benefited from Allman's guitar prowess on his 'Hey Jude' album, most noticeably on the title track. Alongside these legendary US performers, he also played with a number of lesser-known artists, such as Johnny Jenkins, Eric Quincy Tate, Judy Mayhan, and Sam Samudio, as well as renowned bluesman Otis Rush, and Canadian rocker Ronnie Hawkins. Most of the songs on here were included on the extensive 2013 'Skydog' album, but they were scattered throughout the seven discs, and included multiple tracks from some artists, and so I've extracted what I consider to be the best of them from the years 1969 to 1971. So that this is not just a rip-off of that record, I've managed to track down one additional song that wasn't on 'Skydog', from Judy Mayhan, and I've only selected the recordings where you can really hear the contribution that Allman is making to the music, thereby condensing the 7CD set into one concise 55-minute album.  

Track Listing

01 Twice A Man (from '2 Jews Blues' by Barry Goldberg  1969)
02 You Reap What You Sow (from 'Mourning In The Morning' by Otis Rush 1969)
03 Dirty Old Man (from 'New Routes' by Lulu 1969)
04 Cryin' For My Baby (from 'Southern Fried' by John Hammond 1969) 
05 Hey Jude (from 'Hey Jude' by Wilson Pickett 1969)
06 The Road Of Love (from 'The Dynamic Clarence Carter' by Clarence Carter 1969)
07 Waiting For A Train (from 'Boz Scaggs' by Boz Scaggs 1969) 
08 Ghost Of Myself (from 'I'm A Loser' by Doris Duke 1969)
09 Everlovin' Ways (from 'Moments' by Judy Mayhan 1970)
10 Comin' Down (first album demo by Eric Quincy Tate 1970)
11 Down In The Alley (from 'Ronnie Hawkins' by Ronnie Hawkins 1970)
12 It Ain't Fair (from 'This Girl's In Love With You' by Aretha Franklin 1970) 
13 Down Along The Cove (from 'Ton-Ton Macoute!' by Johnny Jenkins 1970) 
14 Beads Of Sweat  (from 'Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat' by Laura Nyro 1970) 
15 Living On The Open Road (from 'To Bonnie From Delaney' by Delaney & Bonnie 1970) 
16 Relativity (from 'Sam, Hard And Heavy' by Sam Samudio 1971) 

Eric Clapton - ...and on guitar (1970)

Throughout the 60's Eric Clapton's reputation as one of the greatest British guitarists grew and grew, as he moved through some of the UK's best bands, from The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, and finally Blind Faith. With a workload like that, and the constant touring that it involved, it's not surprising that he didn't have a lot of spare time to go into the studio and offer his services as a guest guitarist, so it wasn't really until 1968 that he started to appear on records by other artists. His most famous guest appearance was in 1968 on The Beatles' 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', at the request of George Harrison, who asked him to play on it following the two guitarists collaboration on Harrison's Wonderwall Music' album, and that seems to have given him a taste for popping into the studio to help out friends, acquaintances, and artists that he admired. Also in 1968, while Cream were touring the US, Atlantic supremo Ahmet Ertegun asked him if he would play guitar on a record by a fellow Atlantic artist, and so the other guitarists were pulled out of the studio and a nervous Clapton laid down the lead guitar on Aretha Franklin's 'Good To Me As I Am To You'. The Beatles' recording followed later that year, and the Apple Records connection led to him playing on the b-side of Jackie Lomax's 'Sour Milk Sea' single, and also on Billy Preston's 'Do What You Want To' single from the same year (Preston had played on the 'Get Back' sessions, and on John Lennon's 'Cold Turkey' single). He was also one of the many, many guest artists on Martha Velez's 'Fiends & Angels' album, and by 1970 he was in the studio with other artists more than ever, helping out King Curtis, Jonathan Kelly, Shawn Phillips, and Leon Russell. One of my favourite guest appearances of his was on the 'Labio-Dental Fricative' single by Vivian Stanshall, and especially it's b-side 'Paper Round', where his guitar-work really shines. After adding his guitar to songs by Doris Troy and Stephen Stills, we end this album in 1970, after a flurry of guest appearances spanning just a three-year period. Once his solo career started to take off he cut back on the moonlighting, but rest assured that before that happened there are more than enough for a second volume.        

Track listing

01 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from 'The Beatles' by The Beatles 1968)
02 Good To Me As I Am To You (from 'Lady Soul' by Aretha Franklin' 1968)
03 The Eagle Laughs At You (b-side of 'Sour Milk Sea' single by Jackie Lomax 1968)
04 Do What You Want To (b-side of 'That's The Way God Planned It' by Billy Preston 1969)
05 Cold Turkey (single by John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band 1969)
06 I’m Gonna Leave You (from 'Fiends & Angels' by Martha Velez 1969)
07 Teasin' (single by King Curtis 1970)
08 Don't You Believe It (single by Jonathan Kelly 1970)
09 Man Hole Covered Wagon (from 'Contribution' by Shawn Phillips 1970)
10 Prince Of Peace (from 'Leon Russell' by Leon Russell 1970)
11 Paper Round (b-side of 'Labio-Dental Fricative' single by Vivian Stanshall 1970)
12 Ain't That Cute (single by Doris Troy 1970)
13 Go Back Home (from 'Stephen Stills' by Stephen Stills 1970)

Aretha Franklin - So Soon (1971)

Like I discovered with my previous post, Aretha Franklin was taping extra tracks in her recording sessions as far back as the mid 60's, and so there were enough unissued songs from 1967 to 1970 to put together another album of unheard music. It's fleshed out with a couple of b-sides which never appeared on an album, but the rest of these tracks are a great mixture of soulful covers and original material. Once again, these are not just sub-standard cast-offs, but are of a quality which makes this a cohesive and enjoyable early 70's album from the Queen of Soul.    

Track listing

01 It Was You (previously unreleased 1967)
02 The Letter (previously unreleased 1967)
03 So Soon (previously unreleased 1967)
04 Mr. Big (previously unreleased 1968)
05 Talk To Me, Talk To Me (previously unreleased 1969)
06 Pledging My Love/The Clock (b-side of 'Share You Love With Me' 1969)
07 The Fool On The Hill (previously unreleased 1970)
08 You're Taking Up Another Man's Place (previously unreleased 1970)
09 You Keep Me Hangin' On (previously unreleased 1970)
10 I'm Trying To Overcome (previously unreleased 1970)
11 My Way (previously unreleased 1970)
12 Lean On Me (b-side of 'Spanish Harlem' 1971)

Aretha Franklin - This Is (1973)

I have to admit that soul music is fairly well down my list of favourite musical styles, but there are a few artists that I do love, and Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin are among them. When Franklin selected Quincey Jones to co-produce her 1973 album 'Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky)' with her, the collaboration was so productive that they recorded almost twice as many songs as were needed for the disc. By taking the seven extra songs that they laid down in those sessions, and adding three out-takes from 1970's 'Young Gifted And Black', we end up with a quite superb album of unheard material which could have easily been slotted in between the two parent albums. Bearing in mind that these songs were not considered good enough to release at the time they were recorded, the quality of them is astounding, and this album is the equal of any of her official releases of the period.  

Track listing

01 My Cup Runneth Over
02 I Need A Strong Man (The To-To Song) 
03 Heavenly Father 
04 This Is 
05 Sweetest Smile And The Funkiest Style
06 Tree Of Life 
07 Do You Know 
08 Can You Love Again 
09 Suzanne
10 I Want To Be With You 

Aretha Franklin - Soul '71 (1971)

After hearing about Aretha's poor health today, I thought I'd make a special post to wish her well.

In January and February 1971, Aretha travelled to Miami to record at Criterion Studios with the house band The Dixie Flyers. The resultant recordings formed the basis of the 'Young, Gifted, and Black' album, as well as providing some non-album singles, b-sides, out-takes, and some new songs which were later added onto a greatest hits compilation. This re-imagining is a compilation of the best of those album tracks, b-sides and out-takes to make a record that could have eclipsed 'Young, Gifted, And Black' had it been released instead. A longer and funkier version of 'Rock Steady' starts the disc, followed by a stunning new version of 'You're All I Need to Get By' that was tucked away as a non-album b-side to 'Spanish Harlem'. This song and 'Day Dreamer' were both hit singles, and so deserve their place on the album, as do 'I Need A Strong Man' and 'Lean On Me', which were consigned to the vaults until resurrected for rarities compilations, and other tracks recorded in New York later in the year also remained unreleased at the time.
In 1972, Aretha went back to her gospel roots and recorded her most successful album, 'Amazing Grace', live at a church service.  It became the best selling gospel album ever made, but for pure soul and pop numbers this album takes some beating.

Track listing

01 Rock Steady
02 Day Dreaming 
03 You're All I Need To Get By
04 All The King's Horses 
05 I've Been Loving You Too Long
06 Spanish Harlem
07 I Need A Strong Man (The To-To Song)
08 First Snow In Kokomo
09 Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time 
10 Lean On Me

I've managed to find an archive of The Album Fixer's site (thanks Stenn) and so this is the first of half a dozen or so of his old posts.