Aretha Franklin may well be the Queen of Soul but her heart started out in gospel and she has always returned to it throughout her career. This delightful -- but brief -- ten-song set collects gospel tracks she recorded for Atlantic Records between 1967 and 1976, including stirring versions of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready," and Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (with "Still Water Run Deep" as a long intro). Calling this stuff gospel or soul is really splitting hairs -- it's just Aretha being Aretha. ~ Steve Leggett
