''Aretha Now'' is the thirteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

, released on June 14, 1968, by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. Quickly certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, it eventually reached a million in US sales. It hit No. 3 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s album chart. In 1993, it was reissued on CD through

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

. The album was rated the 133rd best album of the 1960s by ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''.

Track listing

Information is based on the album’s Liner NotesFranklin, Aretha. “Aretha Now” (Original Album Notes). Atlantic. 1968.

Personnel

Information is based on the album’s Liner Notes *Aretha Franklin – lead vocals (all), piano (1-5, 7, 10) *

Tommy Cogbill Thomas Clark Cogbill (April 8, 1932 – December 7, 1982) was an American bassist, guitarist and record producer known for his work in R&B, soul and country music. Life and career Cogbill was born in Johnson Grove, Tennessee. He was a high ...

– guitar (1-3, 10), bass guitar (6, 8-9) *

Carolyn Franklin Carolyn Ann Franklin (May 13, 1944 – April 25, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter. Besides her own musical success, Franklin was best known as the daughter of prominent Detroit preacher and civil rights activist C. L. Franklin and the youn ...

– background vocals (6, 8-9) * Roger Hawkins – drums (all) *

Jerry Jemmott Gerald Stenhouse Jemmott (born March 22, 1946, in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, New York City) is an American bass guitarist. Jemmott was one of the chief session bass guitarists of the late 1960s and early 1970s, working with many of th ...

– bass guitar (1-5, 7, 10) * Jimmy Johnson – guitar (1, 3, 5-6, 8-10) *

Spooner Oldham Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

(1, 5),

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

(3, 6-7, 10), piano (8) *

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, Cis ...

– background vocals (all) *

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guit ...

– guitar (6, 8-9) *Horns: **

Floyd Newman Floyd Newman (born August 17, 1931) is a saxophonist, session musician and bandleader. As a baritone sax player, he was long associated with Stax Records, and as a member of The Mar-Keys’ horn section and the Memphis Horns. Born in Memphis, in t ...

– baritone saxophone **Willie Bridges – baritone saxophone (1, 3-5, 7, 10) **

Charles Chalmers Charles Chalmers is an American saxophonist, session musician, backup singer, songwriter and producer. He has written several hit songs for many recording artists, and has also arranged and performed on many Grammy winning recordings. Seven of tho ...

, Andrew Love – tenor saxophone **

King Curtis Curtis Ousley (born Curtis Montgomery; February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musicia ...

Seldon Powell Seldon Powell (15 November 1928 – 25 January 1997) was an American soul jazz, swing, and R&B tenor saxophonist and flautist born in Lawrenceville, Virginia. He worked with Tab Smith (1949), Lucky Millinder (1949–51), Neal Hefti, and Louis Be ...

– tenor saxophone **

Bernie Glow Bernie Glow (February 6, 1926 – May 8, 1982) was an American trumpet player who specialized in jazz and commercial lead trumpet from the 1940s to 1970s. Glow's early career was on the road with Artie Shaw, Woody Herman and others during the las ...

, Wayne Jackson,

Melvin Lastie Melvin Clarke Lastie, Sr. (November 18, 1930 – December 4, 1972) was an American R&B trumpeter, flugelhornist, and cornetist. He also played jazz and was a session musician on many soul and rock records of the 1960s. Lastie was born in New O ...

, Joe Newman – trumpet **

Haywood Henry Frank Haywood Henry (January 10, 1913 – September 15, 1994) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist. In 1978 he was induced into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Career Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Henry began on clarinet before choosing ...

– baritone saxophone (6, 8) **Tony Studd – bass trombone **

Frank Wess Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic ...

– tenor saxophone, flute *All arrangements by

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

and

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

*Tom Dowd – engineering

Charts

Billboard Music Charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

(North America)

References

{{Authority control 1968 albums Aretha Franklin albums Albums arranged by Arif Mardin Albums produced by Jerry Wexler Atlantic Records albums

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

See also

References