Erma Franklin “Change My Thoughts From You” (Brunswick 55403-B, 1969)

Much more than the big sister to the Queen of Soul, Erma Franklin would have celebrated her 77th Birthday this Friday the 13th. Although not as prolific as her middle sister, the glamorous Big Sister of Soul managed a pretty healthy output of singles during the 1960’s, tracing a post Jazz influenced early career that pushed her in the same direction as Nancy Wilson, to decidedly early proto-funk and Chi-Town soul towards the end of the decade.

Her 3rd and final major label deal with Brunswick starting in late 1968 found her mining the same waters that R&B legend LaVern Baker did at the same label. The slightly gauzy Pop/Soul breeze that made the content of her first B-side is the same nuts and bolts that returned Jackie Wilson to the Top 40 two seasons previous. It is a lovely, if slightly anachronistic throwback to that weird period of slightly sunshine soul music that should have lasted a wee bit longer.