Aretha Franklin with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir “Amazing Grace� (1972)<i> Atlanti</i> c

Jerry Wexler, who was head of Atlantic Records in 1972, had been begging Aretha Franklin for years to record in church, for he knew that of all the elements that combined in her brilliant sound, gospel truly was the key. She finally agreed to cut this album live at a Baptist church in Los Angeles on two successive nights. Much of the material--Thomas Dorsey’s “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,� Clara Ward’s “How I Got Over,� the traditional “Precious Memories� and “Climbing Higher Mountains�--was unknown to the general white public at the time. Marvin Gaye’s “Wholy Holy� and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone� were more familiar. But the best tracks by far are “Amazing Grace� and “Never Grow Old,� the first song she’d ever recorded, back when she was 10 years old--in her father’s church.