The Specialist: Soul reissues
Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, Fall 2008
WHEN JERRY Wexler convinced the young Aretha Franklin to defect from Columbia to Atlantic in late 1966, few grasped that the signing was in fact a coronation. Overnight, soul's princess-in-the-wings switched from passé supper-club settings to southern gospel sultriness, returning to her early church roots as Wexler provided the right platform for her imperious voice.
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