''Almighty Fire'' is the twenty-fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

, released on April 13, 1978, by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. By the time of the album's release, Franklin was going through a commercial slump. Franklin was reunited with

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the " Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious Afric ...

– who produced the album and composed all the tracks –after their earlier success together with the ''Sparkle'' soundtrack. The title single reached at No. 12 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B Singles Chart and the follow-up single, "More Than Just a Joy", peaked at No. 51. The album earned a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female at the 1979 Grammy Awards.

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' panned Mayfield's work as "tuneless, fussily arranged songs", but praised Franklin and Turman's "I'm Your Speed" for the space it creates for her to "breathe real fire into the music." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' praised "I'm Your Speed" at length, calling it the album's "one moment of pop music transcendence." It called "No Matter Who You Love" as a standout, but considered the album's arrangements "unglamorous and cheesy," and chastised the music Mayfield brought to the table as "stifling," while comparing it to the excitement of the previous Franklin-Mayfield pairing, 1976's ''Sparkle''.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Curtis Mayfield, except where noted.

Side one

#"Almighty Fire (Woman of the Future)" – 4:36 #"Lady, Lady" – 2:45 #"More Than Just a Joy" – 3:03 #"Keep On Loving You" – 3:12 #"I Needed You Baby" – 4:38

Side two

#"Close to You" – 4:22 #"No Matter Who You Love" – 4:01 #"This You Can Believe" – 4:46 #"I'm Your Speed" (Aretha Franklin,

Glynn Turman Glynn Turman (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor. First coming to attention as a child actor in the original 1959 Broadway production of ''A Raisin in the Sun'', Turman is known for his roles as Lew Miles on the prime-time soap opera '' ...

) – 3:40

Personnel

* Aretha Franklin – vocals *

– guitar * Gary Thompson – guitar * Joseph "Lucky" Scott – bass guitar * Donnell Hagan – drums *

Henry Gibson James Bateman (September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009), known professionally as Henry Gibson, was an American actor, comedian and poet. He played roles in the television sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1971, w ...

–

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

s * Rich Tufo – keyboards, arrangements * Lenard Druss – horns contractor * Sol Bobrov – strings contractor * Alfonzo Surrett – background vocals * Mattie Butler – background vocals * Ricki Linton – background vocals * Denese Heard and the Jones Girls – background vocals

Production

* Producer – Curtis Mayfield * Engineers – Roger Anfinsen and Fred Breitberg * Remix – Roger Anfinsen * Mastered by Dennis King at

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios is the recording studio network of Atlantic Records. Although the historic recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 Wes ...

(New York City). * Album cover concept – Aretha Franklin

References

External links

Almighty Fire (Woman of the Future)
Aretha Franklin albums 1978 albums Albums produced by Curtis Mayfield Atlantic Records albums {{1970s-R&B-album-stub