| Soul '69 | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Aretha Franklin |
| Cover: | Soul_'69.jpg |
| Released: | January 17, 1969 |
| Recorded: | April 17–18 & September 24, 1968 |
| Studio: | Atlantic Studios, (New York City, New York) |
| Genre: | Soul, jazz |
| Length: | 40:49 |
| Label: | Atlantic, Rhino |
| Producer: | Tom Dowd, Jerry Wexler |
| Prev Title: | Aretha in Paris |
| Prev Year: | 1968 |
| Next Title: | Soft and Beautiful |
| Next Year: | 1969 |
Soul '69 is the fourteenth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin; released in 1969 by Atlantic Records, the album features cover material. The album charted at number 1 on Billboards R&B albums chart and at number 15 on Billboards Top Albums, but launched two largely unsuccessful singles, "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.
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". 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".[1]