Amazing Grace
Artist: Aretha Franklin
Community Score: 10.00

Aretha Franklin disproved the notion that once you leave the church, you can't go back. She returned in triumph on this 1972 double album, making what might be her greatest release ever in any style. Her voice was chilling, making it seem as if God and the angels were conducting a service alongside Franklin, Rev. James Cleveland, the Southern... Read More

Going East
Artist: Billy Paul
Super Hits - MOTOWN
Artist: Marvin Gaye
Community Score: 7.50

A fabulous anthology, one of the best ones Motown ever released. Both Super Hits packages were crammed full for albums of the era, and the sound and selections were first rate. Motown has issued the first volume on CD, but thus far not the second -- a major mistake. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide Read More

Brother, Brother, Brother
Artist: The Isley Brothers
Young, Gifted and Black
Artist: Aretha Franklin

It's nearly impossible to single out any of Aretha Franklin's early '70s albums for Atlantic as being her best, particularly given the breadth of her output during this era. In terms of albums rather than singles, it's probably her strongest era, and if you count live albums like Amazing Grace, choosing a standout or a favorite record isn't any... Read More

Just as I Am
Artist: Bill Withers
Community Score: 10.00

Though low-key by the standards of early-'70s soul, Withers' debut record is by most measures an astonishing maiden outing. Perhaps being at a relatively advanced age for a singer-songwriter doing his first album (Withers was in his early thirties by the time it was released) helped give the songs a maturity and weight lacking in most initial... Read More

Did You Hear From Me/The Crown Prince of Dance
Artist: Rufus Thomas

The "world's oldest teenager" was springy, sassy, and jubilant when he cut this date in the early '70s. Thomas, whose career goes back to the days of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, made some brilliant novelty cuts for Stax in the 1970s. He simply went into the studio and clowned, backed by the great Stax session pros. The results are comic gems,... Read More

Up for the Down Stroke
Artist: Parliament
Community Score: 6.38

Kicking off with one of prime funk's purest distillations -- the outrageously great title track, with a perfect party chorus line and uncredited horns (presumably the Horny Horns were involved somehow) adding to the monster beat and bass -- Up for the Down Stroke finds Parliament in rude good health. As was more or less the case through the... Read More

Back Stabbers
Artist: The O'Jays
Community Score: 10.00

A major turning point for the O'Jays, Back Stabbers took the group to the top of the charts and made them household names in the R&B world. The O'Jays had been paying serious dues since the late '50s, and their perseverance payed off in a major way when the unsettling title song, the infectious "Time to Get Down," and the uplifting "Love Train"... Read More

Caught Up
Artist: Millie Jackson

Taking the drama of a love triangle to logical extremes, Millie Jackson's Caught Up turns the pitfalls of tainted love into the basis for a concept album (the seeds for soul music's explicit treatment of the topic having been planted by James Carr's "Dark End of the Street"). While the "other woman's" view is taken up initially on cuts like the... Read More

Anthology
Artist: Marvin Gaye

With Anthology you can get an overview of Gaye's Motown work without having to plunk the money down for The Marvin Gaye Collection boxed set. The two-disc set contains most of his major hits (although the number one hit "Let's Get It On" appeared only on CD editions of Anthology), including "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)," "Mercy Mercy... Read More

Bingo
Artist: The Whispers

This two-disc set is a goldmine, assembling in their entirety the three hard-to-find LPs the Whispers recorded for the Janus label during the early 1970s, along with a handful of period B-sides and unreleased cuts. It's fascinating to follow the group's evolution from the harmony ballads and slow jams that comprise Love Story to the shimmering,... Read More