Library Rock's Backpages

The Rebirth of Soul

Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996

"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.

Total word count of piece: 566

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.