This Christmas

Performer: Aretha Franklin
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Audio Mixer: Al Schmitt. Photographer: Timothy Wise. With THIS CHRISTMAS, Aretha Franklin delivered what was, amazingly, the first Holiday CD of her stellar, decades-long career. Producer Tena Clark wisely keeps it simple, framing the queen of soul's heaven-sent voice with velvety, sparsely adorned retro-style R&B. The album includes a mix of time-worn chestnuts given typically sensitive, understated readings ("Silent Night," "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing") and impassioned takes on lesser-known songs such as the funky, gospel-infused "Christmas Just Ain't Christmas" and the smooth-as-silk title track.

Aretha Franklin is one of the most important and influential female soul singers of the 20th century. The daughter of famed preacher Rev. C.L. Franklin, Memphis-born Aretha started out singing gospel while still in her teens in the 1950s, subsequently moving on to jazz and pop. She didn't hit her stride until her string of 1960s R&B hits on Atlantic records--"Respect," "Chain of Fools," and many others--which earned her the lifelong title "the Queen of Soul." Franklin's powerful, emotional voice goes straight to the heart--no list of the greatest voices in recorded history would be complete without her.

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