Deep Feeling: 10 Soul Albums That Reach You Where You Live

Released in February 1967, Aretha Franklin's Atlantic debut was the record that established her as the Queen of Soul. Recorded at Muscle Shoals with a band of white Alabama session musicians who had never played with her before, it produced "Respect" — one of the most powerful three minutes in American music — and an album of sustained emotional intensity that has never been matched.

Recorded in a single day in 1965, Otis Redding's third album is the fullest expression of his talent — a hoarse, physical, pleading instrument deployed on covers of Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, and originals of his own. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and his reading of "Satisfaction" are definitive performances, and the album captures soul music at the apex of its emotional directness.

Released in 1968, Lady Soul consolidated the promise of Aretha's Atlantic debut with an album of even greater range and confidence. "Chain of Fools," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and "Since You've Been Gone" showed that she was not merely a great singer but a great musician — someone who understood the relationship between melody, rhythm, and feeling at a cellular level.

Released in 1973, the third album in Stevie Wonder's remarkable early-seventies run is the most sonically dense and politically urgent. "Living for the City" is a nine-minute journey through the American urban experience that moves from childhood innocence to imprisonment in one seamless arc, and the album's synthesizer textures — all played by Wonder himself — still sound technically advanced.

Released in 1976 as a double album with a bonus EP, Songs in the Key of Life was Stevie Wonder's most ambitious statement — a two-hour meditation on love, childhood, spirituality, race, and joy that moved between funk, jazz, soul, and classical music with complete authority. It won the Grammy for Album of the Year and is widely considered the greatest album of its decade.

Released in 1972, Talking Book marked the beginning of Wonder's creative independence from Motown — the first album where he played most of the instruments himself and controlled every aspect of the production. "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" were both number-one singles, and the album established the template for everything that followed in his classic period.

The 1984 soundtrack album for Prince's semi-autobiographical film is the record that made him the biggest rock star in the world. "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," and the epic title ballad demonstrated a range — from funk to pop to heavy rock to orchestral soul — that no other artist of his generation could match, and the album spent twenty-four weeks at number one.

Released in 2021 when Tom Jones was eighty, Surrounded by Time was a career-redefining statement — an album of covers chosen for emotional rather than commercial reasons that demonstrated the extraordinary intelligence and depth of his voice at an age when most singers have nothing left to say. "I'm Growing Old" and "No Hole in My Head" were performances of remarkable authority.

Released in 1968, Hendrix's third and final studio album is the most ambitious record he made — a double album that stretched blues, rock, and soul into psychedelic territory that no one had mapped before. "All Along the Watchtower" and "Voodoo Chile" contain some of the most inventive guitar playing ever recorded, and the album as a whole still sounds like the future.

Released in February 1967, Aretha Franklin's Atlantic debut was the record that established her as the Queen of Soul. Recorded at Muscle Shoals with a band of white Alabama session musicians who had never played with her before, it produced "Respect" — one of the most powerful three minutes in American music — and an album of sustained emotional intensity that has never been matched.

Recorded in a single day in 1965, Otis Redding's third album is the fullest expression of his talent — a hoarse, physical, pleading instrument deployed on covers of Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, and originals of his own. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and his reading of "Satisfaction" are definitive performances, and the album captures soul music at the apex of its emotional directness.

Released in 1968, Lady Soul consolidated the promise of Aretha's Atlantic debut with an album of even greater range and confidence. "Chain of Fools," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and "Since You've Been Gone" showed that she was not merely a great singer but a great musician — someone who understood the relationship between melody, rhythm, and feeling at a cellular level.

Released in 1973, the third album in Stevie Wonder's remarkable early-seventies run is the most sonically dense and politically urgent. "Living for the City" is a nine-minute journey through the American urban experience that moves from childhood innocence to imprisonment in one seamless arc, and the album's synthesizer textures — all played by Wonder himself — still sound technically advanced.

Released in 1976 as a double album with a bonus EP, Songs in the Key of Life was Stevie Wonder's most ambitious statement — a two-hour meditation on love, childhood, spirituality, race, and joy that moved between funk, jazz, soul, and classical music with complete authority. It won the Grammy for Album of the Year and is widely considered the greatest album of its decade.

Released in 1972, Talking Book marked the beginning of Wonder's creative independence from Motown — the first album where he played most of the instruments himself and controlled every aspect of the production. "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" were both number-one singles, and the album established the template for everything that followed in his classic period.

The 1984 soundtrack album for Prince's semi-autobiographical film is the record that made him the biggest rock star in the world. "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," and the epic title ballad demonstrated a range — from funk to pop to heavy rock to orchestral soul — that no other artist of his generation could match, and the album spent twenty-four weeks at number one.

Released in 2021 when Tom Jones was eighty, Surrounded by Time was a career-redefining statement — an album of covers chosen for emotional rather than commercial reasons that demonstrated the extraordinary intelligence and depth of his voice at an age when most singers have nothing left to say. "I'm Growing Old" and "No Hole in My Head" were performances of remarkable authority.

Released in 1968, Hendrix's third and final studio album is the most ambitious record he made — a double album that stretched blues, rock, and soul into psychedelic territory that no one had mapped before. "All Along the Watchtower" and "Voodoo Chile" contain some of the most inventive guitar playing ever recorded, and the album as a whole still sounds like the future.