Amazing Grace (Aretha Franklin album)

{{Music ratings

| title = Retrospective professional reviews

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r7736|pure_url=yes}} |title=AllMusic review}}

|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2Score = B+{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: F|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=F&bk=70|access-date=February 24, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}

| rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Larkin |editor1-first=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2007 |publisher=Omnibus |page=563 |edition=5th concise |ol=11913831M}}

| rev4 = The Great Rock Discography

| rev4Score = 7/10{{cite book |last1=Strong |first1=Martin C. |title=The Great Rock Discography |date=2004 |publisher=Canongate |location=New York |page=563 |ol=18807297M |edition=7th}}

| rev5 = MusicHound R & B: The Essential Album Guide

| rev5Score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Graff |editor1-first=Gary |editor2-last=Freedom du Lac |editor2-first=Josh |editor3-last=McFarlin |editor3-first=Jim |title=MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide |date=1998 |publisher=Visible Ink |location=Detroit |page=223 |ol=690592M}}

| rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev6Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |page=310 |edition=4th rev. |ol=21112308M}}

}}

Reviewing for Rolling Stone in 1972, Jon Landau commented: "Amazing Grace is more a great Aretha Franklin album than a great gospel album. She plays havoc with the traditional styles but she sings 'like never before' on record. The liberation and abandon she has always implied in her greatest moments are now fully and consistently achieved." Landau found himself "struck first by the comprehensiveness and depth of the arrangement and then by the brilliance of her lead voice," hailing her performance as "a virtuoso display of gospel pyrotechnics, done with control and imagination." He was especially fond of the uptempo songs expressing "unqualified joy," saying they "hit with tremendous power."{{cite magazine|last=Landau|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Landau|date=August 3, 1972|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/review-amazing-grace-aretha-franklin-251798/|title=Review: 'Amazing Grace,' Aretha Franklin|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=May 23, 2019}}

Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic about the album, later writing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "Because I don't think God's grace is amazing or believe that Jesus Christ is his son, I find it hard to relate to gospel groups as seminal as the Swan Silvertones and the Dixie Hummingbirds and have even more trouble with James Cleveland's institutional choral style. There's a purity and a passion to this church-recorded double-LP that I've missed in Aretha, but I still find that the subdued rhythm section and pervasive call-and-response conveys more aimlessness than inspiration. Or maybe I just trust her gift of faith more readily when it's transposed to the secular realm."

In another retrospective review, Ron Wynn of AllMusic regarded Amazing Grace as possibly Franklin's "greatest release ever in any style" and said, "Her voice was chilling, making it seem as if God and the angels were conducting a service alongside Franklin, Rev. James Cleveland, the Southern California Community Choir, and everyone else in attendance. Her versions of 'How I Got Over' and 'You've Got a Friend' are legendary."

Rolling Stone ranked the album number 154 on the 2020 reboot of their 'The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time' list.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/aretha-franklin-amazing-grace-1063079/|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=September 22, 2020}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Mary, Don't You Weep

| writer1 = Spiritual

| length1 = 7:29

| title2 = Medley: Precious Lord, Take My Hand / You've Got a Friend

| writer2 = Thomas A. Dorsey, Frank Frazier / Carole King

| length2 = 5:34

| title3 = Old Landmark

| writer3 = W. Herbert Brewster, Adeline M. Brunner

| length3 = 3:40

| title4 = Give Yourself to Jesus

| writer4 = Robert Fryson

| length4 = 5:16

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| title1 = How I Got Over

| writer1 = Clara Ward

| length1 = 4:22

| title2 = What a Friend We Have in Jesus

| writer2 = Joseph M. Scriven, Charles Crozat Converse

| length2 = 6:03

| title3 = Amazing Grace

| writer3 = John Newton

| length3 = 10:45

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side three

| title1 = Precious Memories

| writer1 = J.B.F. Wright

| length1 = 7:20

| title2 = Climbing Higher Mountains

| writer2 = Traditional

| length2 = 2:32

| title3 = Remarks by Reverend C.L. Franklin

| writer3 =

| length3 = 1:56

| title4 = God Will Take Care of You

| writer4 = Traditional

| length4 = 8:48

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side four

| title1 = Wholy Holy

| writer1 = Marvin Gaye, Renaldo Benson, Al Cleveland

| length1 = 5:30

| title2 = You'll Never Walk Alone

| writer2 = Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II

| length2 = 6:31

| title3 = Never Grow Old

| writer3 = Traditional

| length3 = 9:57

}}

;Note

• Adeline M. Brunner is also known as Herman Lubinsky.

Information is based on this edition's liner notesAretha Franklin, et al. Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings (Album Notes). Rhino Records. 1999.

;Disc 1
(Thursday Night Show - 1/13/72)

1. Organ Introduction (On Our Way) - Performed by Kenneth Lupper
2. Opening Remarks - Performed by Rev. James Cleveland
3. On Our Way - Performed by Southern California Community Choir
4. Aretha's Introduction - Performed by Rev. James Cleveland
5. Wholy Holy
6. You'll Never Walk Alone
7. What a Friend We Have in Jesus
8. Precious Memories - Featuring Rev. James Cleveland
9. How I Got Over
10. Precious Lord (Take My Hand)/You've Got a Friend
11. Climbing Higher Mountains
12. Amazing Grace
13. My Sweet Lord (Instrumental)
14. Give Yourself to Jesus

;Disc 2
(Friday Night Show - 1/14/72)

1. Organ Introduction (On Our Way)/Opening Remarks
   Performed by Ken Lupper and Rev. James Cleveland
2. On Our Way - Performed by Southern California Community Choir
3. Aretha's Introduction - Performed by Rev. James Cleveland
4. What a Friend We Have in Jesus
5. Wholy Holy
6. Climbing Higher Mountains
7. God Will Take Care of You
8. Old Landmark
9. Mary Don't You Weep
10. Never Grow Old
11. Remarks by Rev. C.L. Franklin - Featuring Rev. James Cleveland
12. Precious Memories - Featuring Rev. James Cleveland
13. My Sweet Lord (Instrumental)

;Note

• Unless otherwise indicated, all tracks (except for "Remarks by Rev. C.L. Franklin") are performed by Aretha Franklin.

{{main|Amazing Grace (2018 film)}}

Amazing Grace, a documentary/concert film directed by Sydney Pollack for Warner Bros., was set to be released as part of a double bill with Super Fly in 1972.{{cite news| url=https://variety.com/2010/music/markets-festivals/grace-film-finally-near-1118013484/ | work=Variety | title='Grace' film finally near | first=Jon | last=Burlingame | date=January 7, 2010}} However, Pollack was unable to complete the film because he had not used a clapperboard to synchronize the picture and sound at the beginning of each take.{{cite web |last1=Willman |first1=Chris |title=Sydney Pollack's 'Amazing Grace': The Tortured 4-Decade History of the Film Aretha Franklin Wants to Stop |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sydney-pollacks-amazing-grace-tortured-820294 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=2015-09-07 |date=2015-09-04}} The film ended up in the studio vaults for over 38 years. Before Pollack's death in 2008, he turned the footage over to producer Alan Elliott, who after two years succeeded in synchronizing the picture and sound and completing the film.

Elliott first planned to release the film in 2011, but was prevented from doing so when Franklin sued him for using her likeness without permission. However, Franklin's original contract for the film was later discovered at Warner Bros., and Elliott planned to show the film at the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and Chicago International Film Festival in 2015.{{cite web |last1=Romano |first1=Nick |title=Amazing Grace documentary pulled from Chicago Film Festival |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/06/amazing-grace-aretha-franklin-chicago-film-festival |website=EW.com |access-date=2015-09-07 |date=2015-09-06}} Franklin once again sued and was granted an emergency injunction against the Telluride screening, saying she had not given permission to screen the footage.{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Noelene |last2=Robinson |first2=Will |title=Aretha Franklin blocks Amazing Grace screening at Telluride Film Festival |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/04/amazing-grace-aretha-franklin-telluride |website=EW.com |access-date=2015-09-07 |date=2015-09-04}} Franklin issued a statement saying, "Justice, respect and what is right prevailed and one's right to own their own self-image."{{cite web |last1=Romano |first1=Nick |title=Aretha Franklin responds after blocking Amazing Grace screening at Telluride Film Festival |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/05/aretha-franklin-amazing-grace-documentary-response-telluride |website=EW.com |access-date=2015-09-07 |date=2015-09-05}} Due to the ongoing litigation, the film was then removed from the schedules of both the Chicago and Toronto{{cite web |last1=Siegemund-Broka |first1=Austin |title=TIFF: Aretha Franklin Doc 'Amazing Grace' Screening Canceled |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tiff-aretha-franklin-doc-amazing-820961 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=2015-09-09 |date=2015-09-08}} festivals as well.

The film premiered on November 12, 2018, three months after Franklin's death.{{cite news |last1=Powell |first1=Alicia |title=Aretha Franklin's 'Amazing Grace' concert film finally debuts |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-film-aretha-franklin/aretha-franklins-amazing-grace-concert-film-finally-debuts-idUSKCN1NI2TS |access-date=November 16, 2018 |work=Reuters |date=November 13, 2018}}{{cite news

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/arts/music/aretha-franklin-amazing-grace-documentary.html| title = Aretha Franklin Didn't Want You to See This Movie. But You Must.| author = Morris, Wesley| date = November 15, 2018| access-date = November 24, 2018|newspaper = The New York Times}}

Unless otherwise indicated, information is based on the album's liner notes:Aretha Franklin, et al. “Amazing Grace” (Album Notes). Atlantic. 1972.

• Aretha Franklin – piano (D5, D7, celesta on B6), lead vocals
• Rev. James Cleveland – piano (A1-B5, B7, C1-C4, D6-D7), lead vocals (C1)
• Cornell Dupree – guitar
• Rev. C.L. Franklin - vocals (C3)
• Kenneth "Ken" Lupper – organ, additional keyboards
• Pancho Morales – congas, additional percussion
• Bernard Purdie – drums
• Chuck Rainey – bass
• Southern California Community Choir – background vocals

• Aretha Franklin - producer, musical arrangements
• Rev. James Cleveland - choir director
• Jimmy Douglass - assistant recording engineer
• Rev. Alexander Hamilton - assistant choir director
• Wally Heider - recording engineer
• Arif Mardin - producer, remixing, music editing
• Gene Paul - assistant recording engineer
• George Piros - assistant recording engineer
• Ray Thompson - recording engineer
• Jerry Wexler - producer

{{certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album |region=United States |artist=Aretha Franklin |title=Amazing Grace |award=Platinum |number=2 |certyear=1992 |relyear=1972 |accessdate=March 6, 2022|refname="riaa"}}

{{Certification Table Bottom| nosales=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|qid=Q61952411|title=Amazing Grace}}

{{Aretha Franklin}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amazing Grace (Aretha Franklin Album)}}

Category:1972 live albums

Category:Albums produced by Arif Mardin

Category:Albums produced by Jerry Wexler

Category:Aretha Franklin live albums

Category:Atlantic Records live albums

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Live gospel albums