TAKE A LOOK - Aretha Franklin's Columbia Records Years

TAKE A LOOK works to redefine the recordings Aretha Franklin did during her time with Columbia Records.

A total of 7 studio album and multiple sessions between 1960-1966, and places them in the historical context of the early 1960s to show how even then, as an 18 year old, Aretha was pushing the lines of race, gender, and soul in her recordings with Columbia.

Purchase your box set of: TAKE A LOOK: ARETHA FRANKLIN COMPLETE ON COLUMBIA

“Each performance on TAKE A LOOK is a reminder that Aretha was sharing her own diverse and complex vision of what it meant to be “young, gifted, black” (and female)a full 10 years before she would put her own indelible spin on that anthem. During this crucial period, we can hear Aretha’s focused attention to craftsmanship, her emerging interpretative grace and vocal sophistication, indeed, the very evolution of her musical genius.” — Daphne A. Brooks, English and African American Studies at Princeton University

“TAKE A LOOK is a powerful illustration of Aretha Franklin on the threshold of greatness, the story of a skylark preparing to take flight. Her journey begins here.”

“Original analog tapes from every one of her performances were used here; it’s why Aretha feels so “present.” And because these same tapes are forty to fifty years old, it’s also why we occasionally hear echoes known as “print through,” which is due to a kind of aging process. (You certainly won’t hear that on a digital recording!)” — Leo Sacks, January 2011, New York City