The Rebirth of Soul

"WHAT IS Soul?" sang Ben E. King in 1967, a year that began with Aretha Franklin’s first Atlantic session and ended with the death of Otis Redding. Back then, it wasn’t too difficult figuring out what soul music was: a spine-tingling blend of R&B grooves and gospel emotion, at its classiest on Motown records out of Detroit, at its grittiest on Stax records out of Memphis.