Spirit in the Dark

Review

Spirit in the Dark

(Rhino/Atlantic)
Release Date: 01/01/1970 12:00

Franklin refused to explain what the title track meant — “it’s very, very personal,” she has said — but there’s clearly a carnal meaning beyond the Holy Spirit. Partly recorded at the This Girl’s in Love With You sessions, this is a much more hopeful, even celebratory, record about moving past an old love: She had a new partner (photographer Ken Cunningham) and a new baby, and wrote four songs herself. The album spawned two hit singles (at the time, it was “only” two), the crew of mostly Southern musicians is loose and rollicking, and the singing is effortlessly spectacular.
Download: “Spirit in the Dark,” “Don’t Play That Song,” “When the Battle Is Over”

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