The Very Best Of
Roberta Flack (CD)
Sound: B Music:
B+
How great and important is Roberta Flack? Her music is still played somewhere all over
the world all the time, many of her records are standards and classics. Her voice remains one of the most enduring
and amazing in all of R&B. Her
timing as one of the greatest of all the singers of the early 1970s, when
competition was at a special height, is uncanny. With all the female singers, she managed to distinguish herself
with a new sound of rich soul that was not as outright as Aretha Franklin or
Patti LaBelle, as pop-friendly as Diana Ross or Helen Reddy, as down to earth
as Gladys Knight, as complex and clever as Dionne Warwick, as for real as Carly
Simon, and as adult contemporary as Karen Carpenter. The Very Best Of Roberta Flack is the latest hits set to
try and capture her amazing career.
The songs include:
1)
Killing Me Softly With His Song –
Despite the huge hit remake/cover by The Fugees, nothing tops the brilliance of
this original by Flack and the great writing team of Norman Gimbel &
Charles Fox. Said to be inspired by a
concert by Don McLean, best known for his overblown hit single American Pie,
the song has outlasted him and set a new standard for Urban Contemporary Soul
that is as haunting as it was when it first topped several singles charts.
2)
Where Is The Love (duet with Donny
Hathaway) – Miss Flack has recorded many duets and collaborations, but her
three albums with the late, great Donny Hathaway are something special and this
is their best single. The chemistry
between the two is dynamite and is the best in all of R&B and beyond since
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
3)
Feel Like Makin’ Love – A
huge #1 hit in 1974, it was another winner the same year as George McCrae’s Rock
Your Baby, which had a similar arrangement and is considered one of the
songs that launched the Disco era. Miss
Flack should get some kind of credit since the two songs have similar
approaches and arrangements.
4)
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – This
beautiful classic was originally from Flack’s debut record, but a few years
later, Clint Eastwood used it in a romantic narrative break typical of many
films of the time, for his directorial debut Play Misty For Me. That was a murder thriller, but had a major
Jazz segment and the popular instrumental title song. Her song added another layer to the impressive film and became a
huge #1 hit.
5)
And So It Goes – Flack co-wrote this
record in 1988 and makes for an interesting selection, a laid back Pop/R&B
piece.
6)
Tonight, I Celebrate My Love (duet
with Peabo Bryson) – Flack’s later duet partner was Bryson, who had some
not-necessarily R&B megahits in the 1980s.
This was the better of their first two hits, the other being the
not-included and ever-odd Looking Like Love To Me. Not her strongest hit, but deserving of
inclusion here.
7)
The Closer I Get To You (duet
with Donny Hathaway) – Another huge hit duet for the pairing was co-written and
James Mtume (Juicy Fruit) and Reggie Lucas, but was more of a striking
adult contemporary piece.
8)
‘Til The Morning Comes – A
1982 single that did not become a big hit shows Flack had not sold out her
style or talent. She co-produced this
one, which is another laid back Pop/R&B piece, but with a little more
R&B in this case.
9)
Back Together Again (duet
with Donny Hathaway) – The Mtume/Lucas team reunited for this 1980 release that
was a huge R&B hit, but was ignored by Pop radio. Ray Chew did some of the strings and horns, making this the most
soulful of the Hathaway duets here.
10)
Making Love – A
fine solo effort became the title song to the daring 1982 film about a married
man’s bi-sexual affair with another man.
20th Century Fox’s new regime was not happy with the film,
but the song was a huge hit and people still talk about both the film and record. A real triumph for Flack.
11)
Only Heaven
Can Wait (For Love) – Flack arranged this solo R&B vocal with some
group backup vocals atypical of her music and it is a nice change of pace cut.
12)
Set The
Night To Music (duet with Maxi Priest) – In yet another big comeback hit
for Flack, a duet in 1991 that was huge on the Pop chart, but too Pop for
R&B stations. Some thought this did
not even sound like Flack, but it is clearly her without compromise.
13)
You Are My
Heaven (duet with Donny Hathaway) – Stevie Wonder co-wrote this
gem with Eric Mercury and is a dead-on production of the great Arif
Mardin. Hathaway, also known for his
great performance of the theme of the ever-great TV show Maude, died
under strange circumstances that meant the end of this collaboration and like
Gaye before her after Terrell’s death, a retreat from public life for Flack.
14)
Oasis – This
title song to her 1988 album was a #1 R&B hit after a long dry spell,
co-written, produced and with backing vocals by Marcus Miller, plus David Sanborn
supplying a saxophone solo.
15)
Don’t Make
Me Wait Too Long – Eric Mercury produced this Stevie Wonder-penned
cut and Flack cut it in 1980, another winner from a time Wonder was in rare
form and having success all over the place.
16)
And So It
Goes (Reprise) – see #5.
17)
Trade Winds – An
early 1971 cut rounds off this particular collection, as thoughtful as her
quietest and most beautiful work.
I hope this is not the last we have heard of one of the
most important music voices of the 20th Century. The 21st Century could use her
now more than ever, as could R&B in particular and the music industry in
general. The PCM 16bit/44.1kHz Stereo
sound is pretty good and though I wished this had been issued in the DVD-Audio format
(it’s never too late Rhino!) where it would really be stunning, this is still
really good, with detail in the older recordings that is really nice. You’ll skip lame MP3s after hearing
them. The CD case came in a paperboard
slipcase and there is a nice booklet inside the CD case that offers an essay
and details about Miss Flack’s amazing career.
The only thing not there are lyrics to the songs. The Very Best Of Roberta Flack is a
compilation above the usual the labels are scrambling to put out all the time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
