Aretha Franklin

5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
6LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Back in 2018, Rhino Records compiled Aretha Franklin's The Atlantic Records 1960s Collection, bringing together the Queen of Soul's first five, groundbreaking studio albums for the label originally released between 1967 and 1969 plus bonus material.  Now, BMG is picking up where that set left off with A Portrait of the Queen.  The new collection, available on 5 CDs or 6 LPs, contains Franklin's first five studio sets from the new decade: This Girl's In Love With You (1970); Spirit In The Dark (1970); Young, Gifted And Black (1972); Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky) (1973); and Let Me In Your Life (1974).  Like the earlier 1960s collection, A Portrait of the Queen will include copious bonus material including alternate takes, outtakes, non-LP single sides, and demos, totaling more than two dozen rarities on CD and ten on vinyl.  (All of the bonus material has beThe albums in both the vinyl and CD versions of Portrait of the Queen have been remastered from the original analog master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and Michael Graves at Osiris Studio, respectively.  Omnivore Recordings' Cheryl Pawelski has produced the set which features new liner notes by SoulMusic Records' David Nathan and Billboard's Gail Mitchell.