Soul To Blow You Away

Carolyn Franklin: What Cha Gonna Do and I Don't Want To Lose You
From: Baby Dynamite [RCA, 1969]

Shee-yit, how do I follow that post by Maru? Well how about a no bullshit, straight down the line, forgotten soul gem?

Being the younger sibling of a famous artist must be both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side you would no doubt have easy access to connections beyond the dreams of most up and coming singers. On the down side you will have to suffer comparisons with your established sibling for the rest of your career.

Carolyn Franklin had it worse than most as not only did she have to deal with the overwhelming shadow of one of the greatest voices to ever grace soul music in the shape of Aretha but her eldest sister Erma also had one of the soul songs of the sixties in her catalogue with the brilliant Piece Of My Heart.

Carolyn took the sensible road in all this, spending a number of years performing backing vocals for Aretha and penning tracks for her big sisters before unleashing her own debut, Baby Dynamite, in 1969.

The hard work was worth it cos this is a hell of an assured debut by the then 25 year old Carolyn. Full to the brim of northern soul stompers and sultry slow numbers this album really should have blown up far greater than RCA's pretty lame attempts to sell it.

It quickly becomes clear that Carolyn's vocal range doesn't match Aretha's but that's hardly damning information. In fact, what Carolyn does share is an infectious raw edge and a similar timbre to Aretha; adding additional power and emotional weight to the recordings.

What Cha Gonna Do is a firey track in the northern soul tradition propelled along by the stomping percussion and horn lead with Franklin showing some grit with her vocal performance. Great breakdown in the middle section too.

I Don't Want To Lose You on the other hand is something else entirely. An absolutely sublime slow and sultry number with a top drawer arrangement by Horace Ott, it's a heavy rotation personal favourite and one I highly recommend adding to your playlist. The only criticism I can lay at it that I'd happily double the length to 5 minutes. Like I say, pure brilliance.

The easiest way to get a hold of Carolyn's output now is via the Sister Soul: The Best of the RCA Years 1969-1976 compilation of her RCA albums. Though I would personally rate Baby Dynamite quite a bit higher than the other long players I've sampled of Carolyn's it's a good introduction to the forgotten Franklin sister.