Aretha Franklin, RIP
By 
The Queen of Soul has died at the age of 76.
Despite having a very large music library, I am not much of a completist and so I have huge gaps, even of bands that I like. For instance, just yesterday, despite a lifetime of having listened to Who’s Next over and over and over, I finally decided to listen to The Who Sell Out, which I had never heard before, ever. It happens.
So I don’t have the complete Aretha, although I should. What I have is three albums and then a bunch of stuff on compilations. The three albums though are all brilliant: Aretha Arrives, Today I Sing the Blues, and Lady Soul. For me, the latter album is simply one of the best ever made. So let’s listen to a couple of tracks off it in remembrance.
Aretha’s politics were also great, such as the time she offered to post bail for Angela Davis, at a time when Davis was not a beloved elder of civil rights but rather someone Richard Nixon was calling a terrorist.
No doubt there will be more on the passing of one of true all time greats from my colleagues here.