Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings

iTunes Review

A landmark reissue, Rhino’s expanded edition of Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace ought to give even die hard fans a new found appreciation of one of Franklin’s greatest and most unique recordings. Upon its initial release in 1972 Amazing Grace marked a significant departure from Aretha’s chart busting string of late sixties deep soul masterpieces. Though the backwoods soul and low slung grooves so much in evidence on outings like I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, and Lady Soul crop up in Aretha’s renditions of tunes like “Wholy Holy” and “Precious Memories” the majority of the record is given over to meditative, extended gospel workouts, led by Franklin, Reverend James Cleveland, and Reverend C.L. Franklin. Less a live performance than a full fledged musical service, Amazing Grace finds Franklin revisiting many of the gospel standards that she performed during her mid sixties tenure with Columbia records but these performances are possessed of a slow burning majesty that the younger Aretha could never have approached. Rhino’s reissue presents the two day service from which the album was drawn in its entirety. It’s a marvel to hear these remarkable performances in their original context.