Douglas G. Ashley /ABC via Getty ImagesThe Queen of Soul is no longer with us, but we can still enjoy her music this holiday season.
A new lyric video has just been released featuring the newly remixed “Solo Piano Version” of “Silent Night,” which Aretha Franklin originally recorded for her 2008 holiday album, This Christmas. The clip features an animated scene depicting snow falling on a mountainside clearing surrounded by evergreen trees. As the tune progresses, a grand piano materializes in the clearing, and Christmas lights appear on the trees.
“During this time of the year, my aunt would be finishing up her Christmas shopping in New York and Chicago, planning her annual holiday event with family and friends, selecting songs for her Christmas playlist, and talking about her menu for Christmas dinner,” says Aretha’s niece Sabrina Owens, the executor of the late legend’s estate.
“She loved the holidays; it was her favorite time of the year!” Owens adds.
This Christmas has just been released on vinyl for the first time. This Friday will see the release of the Atlantic Records 1960s Collection, a six-LP box set that includes Aretha’s first five studio albums with Atlantic, plus an LP featuring 11 demos and outtakes that are making their vinyl debut.
The limited-edition box set includes the albums I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (mono), Aretha Arrives (mono), Lady Soul (stereo), Aretha Now (stereo) and Soul ’69 (stereo), as well as the new compilation Rarities from the 1960s.
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