March 1967, London
I’ve left Soul City record shop (at least temporarily) – even though I’m a partner in it with Dave Godin and Robert Blackmore! When I refuse to go back, Dave G threatens to ‘out’ me to my mother. I sit my mum down on the edge of her bed. ‘What’s he talking about?’ she asks nervously. ‘Well, you know Franklin?’ He’s been to our home so she does indeed. ‘He’s not just a friend…he’s my boyfriend!’ Had I expected to be telling my mother this, at the age of 19? No! My mum starts crying and then asks a few embarrassing questions. She’s very upset and says she’ll have to tell my dad (whose reaction is less dramatic, suggesting it’s a phase I’ll grow out of!). I call Dave Godin: ‘There’s nothing for you to tell my mum now,’ I say as I slam down the phone.
The next few weeks are tough, mostly because I miss the new music… I know Aretha Franklin’s first Atlantic single is now out in America. I go to the local branch of Musicland (the shop I used to work at on Saturdays in 1965 and 1966 when I began buying all the Aretha Columbia import LPs) hoping to buy Aretha’s new 45. I’m astounded when the shop has just one imported copy of Aretha’s Atlantic debut LP which has JUST come out! My upset about leaving Soul City is dissolved in weeks as Aretha’s glorious new album washes away my blues!!! I’m stunned by the soulful majesty of her voice and am reveling in the joy that I hear as I play the LP over and over. Aretha and her phenomenal new music has lifted my spirits, right on time!
This rare clip of Aretha singing the title song of the LP live in 1967 says it all…
This is the ‘demo’ I found decades later in the Atlantic tape library when I was doing vault research for Rhino… a full circle moment…
