ARETHA FRANKLIN

Oh Me Oh My: Aretha Live In Philly, 1972

$19.98 CD

An individually numbered, limited edition of 7500 copies from Rhino Handmade.

 In 1972, Aretha Franklin was a superstar at the peak of her artistic powers and the height of her success. It was about mid-way through her historic years at Atlantic Records, a period when her singles and albums were reaping awards and scaling the charts on a regular basis, and when her legend status was sealed. That year, she was the special guest artist at the annual convention for The National Association of Television & Radio Announcers (NATRA), then the only organization in existence for black broadcasters. OH ME OH MY: ARETHA LIVE IN PHILLY, 1972, recorded that long ago night in city known for its soul music, captures a truly inspired performance by the undisputed Queen of Soul. It features many of her most immortal songs, as well as Aretha's only known live recordings of several tunes. 

 Offered in a limited edition of 7,500 copies, this landmark release is previously unissued in any form and was, in fact, unknown and lost to the ages in the depths of a tape library until 2003. It was discovered that year by re-eminent R&B/soul historian David Nathan, when he was tasked with combing the substantial Atlantic Records vaults to find every box with Aretha's name on it in the interest of finding true hidden gems. The U.K.-born Nathan's own career had personally intersected with Aretha as far back as December 1966, when he had a phone conversation with her at the Soul City Records store he co-owned in London at the time. 

 Nathan, who co-produced OH ME OH MY and wrote its liner notes, remembers of his sleuthing of the vaults that there were two tape boxes simply marked “Aretha Franklin, NATRA, Philadelphia, 1972.” “Thankfully,” he says, “spending almost my entire working life in the world of R&B and soul music, I knew what NATRA was…I attended a couple of the famous conventions toward the end of NATRA's existence, and they were the one opportunity for disc jockeys to schmooze with each other and, more importantly, to hang with promotion folks from any record company worth its salt involved with rhythm & blues. Remember, these were the days long before two or three corporations ran the entire radio industry: It was all about the “personal touch,” the influence a promotion person might have with a specific deejay, and black deejays made or broke recording careers. Performing at a NATRA convention was a big, big deal. It was an artist's way of saying thank you…” 

 On OH ME OH MY: ARETHA LIVE IN PHILLY, 1972, Aretha Franklin expressed her gratitude with a fourteen-song set that fully reveals the magnitude of her gifts and the magic of her performance art. Although the tapes bear no specific date, Nathan believes the NATRA show was in the spring of '72. In the context of Franklin's career, it was the year following the huge mainstream success of her seminal 1971 live recording, Aretha Live At The Fillmore West. It would have been shortly after she finished recording Amazing Grace in Los Angeles, a GRAMMY®-winning masterpiece about which John Hammond said, “This will be the album...that will go down in history as both Aretha's shining hour and the final breakthrough of black gospel music to mass appreciation.” 1972 would also see the release of the classic Young Gifted And Black, another GRAMMY-winning album, and the one that delivered “Oh Me Oh My,” the song that lends this Rhino Handmade release its title. 

 Remarkably, OH ME OH MY: ARETHA LIVE IN PHILLY, 1972 features Franklin's only known live recordings several songs including her cover of the Bacharach/David classic “This Girl's In Love With You” (also the title of a '70 Aretha album), “Day Dreaming,” “April Fools” and “Young, Gifted And Black.” Also featured are stirring live versions of Aretha signature songs including “Spanish Harlem,” “Chain Of Fools,” “Rock Steady” and, of course, “Respect.” 

 The set closes with a rendition of “Spirit In The Dark,” the song on which she was joined by Ray Charles on Live At The Fillmore. Nathan writes, “She is no less fiery and urgent on this version… Aretha might as well have been back at her father's New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit as she invests all of her early gospel training into what becomes a foot-stompin', hand-clappin', to-the-bone throwdown. It's Aretha, in her essence, giving glorious praise as only she can. Amen!” 

Selection # 7757

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