Amazing Grace
Aretha Franklin 1972 retrospective
gospel live-album Sacred Music
The greatest live gospel recording ever made, capturing Franklin's return to her sacred roots at a Baptist church in Watts, reasserting the spiritual foundation underlying all soul music.
Acoustic Profile
Production
Method: live-dominant
Fidelity: raw
live recording at New Temple Missionary Baptist Churchcongregation as ambient presenceSouthern California Community ChoirJames Cleveland gospel pianonatural church reverb
Vocal
Approach: sung
Lyrical Abstraction: 4/10
Mood & Theme
devotion ecstasy grief serenity
Territory: spiritual-transcendence, gospel-tradition, Sacred Music, Communal Worship
Emotional Arc: Earthly Suffering to Divine Ecstasy
Era & Context
At the peak of her commercial success, Franklin returned to her gospel roots for a live recording at a Baptist church in Watts, Los Angeles. The result is widely regarded as the greatest live gospel album ever recorded. In an era of increasingly secular Black music, Amazing Grace reasserted the sacred foundation underlying all of soul music.
Spiritual Links (9)
A Love Supreme John Coltrane (1965)
8/10 spiritual-seekingvoice-as-instrument
Journey in Satchidananda Alice Coltrane (1971)
7/10 spiritual-seekingimprovisational-freedom
Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall Nina Simone (1963)
7/10 voice-as-instrumentspiritual-seeking
Call Me Al Green (1973)
7/10 spiritual-seekingvoice-as-instrument
I Look to You Whitney Houston (2009)
7/10 spiritual-seekingvoice-as-instrument
The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album Whitney Houston (1992)
7/10 voice-as-instrumentspiritual-seeking
What's Going On Marvin Gaye (1971)
6/10 spiritual-seekingpersonal-confession
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 Sam Cooke (1985)
6/10 voice-as-instrumentspiritual-seeking
The Belle Album Al Green (1977)
6/10 spiritual-seekingvoice-as-instrument
Influences
Similar Albums (Cross-Artist)
1
The Belle Album Al Green (1977)
80% 2 Savane Ali Farka Touré (2006)
79% 3 Passio Arvo Pärt (1988)
79% 4 Shahbaaz Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1991)
79% 5 The Source Ali Farka Touré (1992)
77% 6 MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 Lauryn Hill (2002)
75% 7 Voodoo D'Angelo (2000)
74% 8 Stimmung Karlheinz Stockhausen (1968)
72% 9 Baduizm Erykah Badu (1997)
72% 10 What's Going On Marvin Gaye (1971)
72%