Soul '69 is the fourteenth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. Released in 1969 by Atlantic Records, the album features cover material. It was her sixth album to reach number 1 on Billboard's R&B albums chart but ended her Top Five streak on the Pop side, stalling at number 15 on the national Billboard's Top Albums listing.
Two singles were issued but largely unsuccessful: "Tracks of My Tears", which reached number 21 on "Black Singles" and number 71 on "Pop Singles", and "Gentle on My Mind", which charted at number 50 and number 76 respectively. The album was re-released on compact disc through Rhino Records in the 1990s after many years out of print.
The album was critically well received. Music journalist Stanley Booth wrote in Rolling Stone that Soul '69 was "quite possibly the best record to appear in the last five years", describing it as "excellent in ways in which pop music hasn't been since the Beatles spear-headed the renaissance of rock".[2] In spite of critical praise and popular success, however, the album has sunk into obscurity, becoming one of what journalist Richie Unterberger terms as "[Aretha Franklin's] most overlooked '60s albums".[4]
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