Aretha Franklin - Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Detroit, MI, 11-12-1986

Aretha Franklin is best known for her music of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but she had a pretty successful career resurgence in the mid-1980s. However, she never released a live album in or from the 1980s, except for an all-gospel one. I've found a few bootlegs from this time period, but I thought they were lacking due to sound quality or other reasons. However, I've put together one here that I think is excellent. It's all from the same concert, but it comes from two very different sources. So I don't think there's any version that presents it as one full show like this.

This was special concert for Franklin, because it was taped for a TV special, simply called "Aretha!" I found an old New York Times article that quoted Bonnie Burns, the producer of the special: ''Aretha had been approached for years about doing her own television special, but she declined all the offers. But now she thought the time was right, and we gave her creative approval on all elements of the show - she picked the songs, the wardrobe, the musicians, and she wants to do it in Detroit, because that's her home base."

The TV show was only an hour long, however. But songs from the concert were also selected for a radio show called "Music Machine." Many of the songs selected for that were different. So I compiled all the songs I could find. However, I couldn't find a complete set list for the concert. I had to make educated guesses about the song order (since the order was largely the same for both, just with different songs added or removed). I may be a little off, but the vast majority should be correct.

In case you're curious, here's some more comments about the concert that producer, from the same New York Times article: "[Franklin] wanted it to define musically the last 25 years for her. First she does a chunk of old hits, then a chunk of newer stuff, and then a few songs that just meant something to her personally - like 'Love All the Hurt Away,' which she recorded as a duet with George Benson, although here she sings both parts herself. And then comes the big gospel numbers, because that's so much of her roots."

This concert is an hour and 18 minutes long. It could be that there were additional songs not included in either source. However, this is just about the length of a typical concert from that era, so if something's missing, it probably isn't much.

01 I Can't Turn You Loose (Aretha Franklin)
02 Get It Right (Aretha Franklin)
03 Love All the Hurt Away (Aretha Franklin)
04 I Never Loved a Man [The Way I Love You] (Aretha Franklin)
05 Today I Sing the Blues (Aretha Franklin)
06 Won't Be Long (Aretha Franklin)
07 Try a Little Tenderness (Aretha Franklin)
08 Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody (Aretha Franklin)
09 Skylark (Aretha Franklin)
10 Respect (Aretha Franklin)
11 Chain of Fools (Aretha Franklin)
12 [You Make Me Feel Like] A Natural Woman (Aretha Franklin)
13 Angel (Aretha Franklin)
14 Who's Zoomin' Who (Aretha Franklin)
15 talk (Aretha Franklin)
16 These Dreams (Aretha Franklin)
17 Dr. Feelgood [Love Is a Serious Business] (Aretha Franklin)
18 Freeway of Love (Aretha Franklin with Clarence Clemons)
19 Look to the Rainbow (Aretha Franklin)
20 Oh It Is Jesus (Aretha Franklin)
21 The Old Landmark (Aretha Franklin)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15970773/ArethaF_1986_MuscHallCentrforPrformngArtsDtroitMI__11-12-1986_atse.zip.html

The cover is a screenshot taken from a video of this exact concert.