Aretha in Paris

AMG Review of Aretha in Paris

Richie Unterberger
All Music Guide

Atlantic's Jerry Wexler once said that this concert album was an embarrassment to him, criticizing the inferior band (actually they're the musicians who usually accompanied Aretha Franklin live in the late '60s). It isn't that bad; composed of her first few big singles and cuts from her first three albums, it doesn't match the classic studio versions and could be considered her least essential '60s Atlantic LP. That's not to say, though, that it doesn't sound pretty good, with fine if basic readings of a lot of her most popular late-'60s material, although the horns fall distressingly out of tune at a key point in the instrumental break of "Chain of Fools."