Wow, how long has ILX been going and - unless I have totally fucked up here - there has never been a Bobby Womack thread???!?! What's that all about? Anyway, I think I've got all of his 70s albums and they're all good in different ways. Stylistically, they're all over the map, for instance he has a fondness for covering the whitest, most cornball MOR stuff imaginable: The Carpenters, Ray Stevens et al (which he sort of explains in the monologue to "Close to You" on the "Communication" album). I don't say that he's the greatest singer - his mannerisms can grate and he's not particularly versatile... hell, what am I saying, he is great. As a writer, his own songs are invariably the highlights of his albums. Also a great guitarist, he's all over "There's a Riot Goin' On". In short, classic. Also RIP Jim Ford.
― Tom D., Tuesday, 27 November 2007 10:22 (5 years ago) Permalink
help me out with this one: I listened to a Bobby Womack "best of" some years ago, and there was this one song that had the exact same melody as Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"...(Womack's song was recorded earlier, I think)...what was the name of this track, and why isn't more made of this similarity?
― henry s, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:02 (5 years ago) Permalink
I always want to like him more than I do.
― Billy Pilgrim, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:04 (5 years ago) Permalink
Saw him on an oldies bill with the Dells in 2005 and said the following about his live show on the chitlin circuit soul thread:
Opener Bobby Womack has had quite a musical life -- teenage gospel singer, guitarist with Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and Sly Stone, pal of the Rolling Stones and successful solo artist off and on from the '60s through the '80s. Unfortunately, he left the strumming to a band mate, and either rushed through his hits or languidly lagged behind the beat. His voice retains a distinctive bittersweet feel, but his renditions of "Across 110th Street," "Harry Hippie" and "If You Think You're Lonely Now" lacked the melancholy passion of his studio versions.
-- steve-k, Monday, 9 May 2005 14:10 (2 years ago) Link
Need to get and listen to more of his studio efforts
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:07 (5 years ago) Permalink
I listened to a Bobby Womack "best of" some years ago, and there was this one song that had the exact same melody as Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
Oh I think Rodders 'fessed up to that one. I think the Womack song is "If You Want My Love, Put Something Down On It", but couldn't swear to it.
― Tom D., Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:11 (5 years ago) Permalink
People, it was Jorge Ben's "Taj Majal" that Rod ripped off with that song.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
hmmm...sounds like there's a whole lotta rippin' goin' on...
― henry s, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:14 (5 years ago) Permalink
The melody is definitely from the Womack song... or rather the instrumental hook is
― Tom D., Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
Hm, looks like it was both.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:16 (5 years ago) Permalink
On the other hand, Jim Ford didn't seem to happy with Bobby's attitude toward songwriting credits.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:19 (5 years ago) Permalink
Up to and including So Many Rivers: mostly C. Thereafter: almost always D.
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:27 (5 years ago) Permalink
i've never heard about him ripping a womack song, Jorge Ben successfully sued him for ripping taj mahal tho
― deej, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:35 (5 years ago) Permalink
He should have sued Womack too then!
― Tom D., Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:36 (5 years ago) Permalink
well, as you say it was only the hook that was lifted from the Womack tune...(but man, it was lifted)...maybe it wasn't enough of a rip to justify legal action...
― henry s, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
or, maybe Jorge Ben to this day isn't even aware of the Womack tune...maybe we can get him sue Womack, and maybe Jorge will share some of the settlement with us, the alert posters of ILM...maybe...
― henry s, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:40 (5 years ago) Permalink
No, Womack didn't rip Jorge Ben, Rod ripped both Jorge and Bobby for different parts of the song.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:41 (5 years ago) Permalink
Naughty Rod
― Tom D., Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
Remember he got into that mix-up with The Rutles as well.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:43 (5 years ago) Permalink
I like me some Womack but his recorded output is really erratic. C: Across 110th St sdtk, parts of Communication, his playing on Riot.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 17:16 (5 years ago) Permalink
Across 110th Street = first R-rated movie I ever snuck into...
― henry s, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 18:13 (5 years ago) Permalink
i like him, but his albums are all patchy. great rhythm guitarist, great voice, just wish he had more songs on the same level as everything else.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 23:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
i must be the only person in the world who actually prefers k-ci's cover of if you think youre lonely now to womacks.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 23:33 (5 years ago) Permalink
"his mannerisms can grate"
this is also OTM. was just listening to his cover of bacharach's close to you and its a bit parodic. or maybe time hasnt been very kind to that sort of soul singing. not sure.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 23:39 (5 years ago) Permalink
classic. except for quite a few of his covers. including the remake of its all over now with bill withers which should be classic but isnt.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 13:30 (5 years ago) Permalink
given the descriptions as 'patchy' i would love to examples of the classics - i only know across 110th street and have never got around to litening further.
― fantasimundo, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 14:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
Imagine there's a few good comps out there
― Tom D., Tuesday, 13 May 2008 14:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
his "california dreamin" is maybe the best song i've ever heard in my entire life
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 14:30 (5 years ago) Permalink
His "Sweet Caroline" is, well, sweet: "Here's my part, heh." "Secrets" and "110th St" are grand too. But his "Living in a Box" is just weird, and as the years went on, he increasingly simply ignored the song structure at hand and just scatted/vamped over the others' work.
― Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 16:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
I love "That's The Way I Feel About 'Cha," "Across 110th Street" and "If You Think You're Lonely Now." Classic, based on those three songs.
― !Alicia!, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 20:26 (5 years ago) Permalink
the thing about womack is you have to really LOVE what he does otherwise there isnt much chance of liking many of his albums as theyre all very samey and yes i know you could prob say that about a lot of artists but there isnt that much variation in what he does.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 21:22 (5 years ago) Permalink
yeah but My Prescription is choice, his best record and pretty essential soul.
― whisperineddhurt, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 19:22 (5 years ago) Permalink
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 09:57 (5 years ago) Permalink
his c+w album is £3 on cd @ fopp, as one of the 2-fer-1 releases that $tateside put out. very tempted.
― mark e, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:16 (5 years ago) Permalink
― Matt P, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:01 (3 years ago) Permalink
just wanted to get a '1 year passes ...' before that pic
― Matt P, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 00:06 (3 years ago) Permalink
anyway 'womack in memphis' sounds so good right now
Can I just put in a word for the joy that is 'If You Don't Want My Love (Give it Back)' , especially the bit where he quotes You Keep Me Hangin On.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 18:04 (3 years ago) Permalink
his The Best of the Poet Trilogy CD is just absolutely killing me today. I've had it for a few years but today every single song is hitting me with some WHOA GENIUS ALERT stuff. A lot of his stuff has finally hit iTunes which is good news to me.
man though this record today is hitting me in a "you can't be my friend unless you LOVE THIS" way, damn.
― a full circle lol (J0hn D.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:39 (3 years ago) Permalink
Across 101th St contributions aside, Womack has kinda underwhelmed me. given the Sly connection and the voice and the cross-genre goofiness and everything I *should* really dig him, but everything I've heard has been pretty hit and miss.
― one less mouth to feed is one less mouth to feed (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:52 (3 years ago) Permalink
man get that best of the poet album, for real
if you already have then disregard obv
― a full circle lol (J0hn D.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 21:56 (3 years ago) Permalink
I have the 101th St one and then whatever one had Harry Hippie on it, forget what that was called. Some other random songs here and there
will check out and report back!
― one less mouth to feed is one less mouth to feed (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 29 October 2009 22:06 (3 years ago) Permalink
ah Understanding is the other one I have
― one less mouth to feed is one less mouth to feed (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 29 October 2009 22:08 (3 years ago) Permalink
dig this unstoppable jam
― a full circle lol (J0hn D.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 22:09 (3 years ago) Permalink
The excellent recent UK film "Fish Tank" features California Dreamin' prominently.
― ρεμπετις, Friday, 30 October 2009 01:17 (3 years ago) Permalink
The great man was on Jools Holland with Gorillaz last night, and did a small teaser for Friday's show, promising a full version of If You Don't Want My Love, Give it Back.Probably one of my top five Bobby tunes, along with Across 110th Street, Girl You're Welcome (Stop on By), So Many Sides of You, What is This?
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:13 (3 years ago) Permalink
Can't find a live version, but here you go...
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:24 (3 years ago) Permalink
didn't see Bobby Womack, but the other Bobby (McFerrin) was awesome!
― gnarly sceptre, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:28 (3 years ago) Permalink
Cool.
The "Oooooooooooooooooooooo" at the beginning of "Across 110th Street" is the best ever.
― Blecch Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:38 (3 years ago) Permalink
― Blecch Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, April 28, 2010 6:38 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark
― 69, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:42 (3 years ago) Permalink
Yes. The Saturday afternoon show on WKCR of the same name is pretty good too.
― Blecch Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
The London Sunday Times last weekend reported that Womack is working with Blur/Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn on an album of new material. Albarn will produce Womack.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 16:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
The London Sunday Times
LOL Americans. Yes, BW was part of the legendary Gorillaz line-up at Glastonbury: legendary for going down like a fart in a spacesuit.
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 16:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
I just took that from someone's posting on a Yahoo southern soul e-mail group. Womack was also on the most recent Gorillaz album (and maybe the one before that).
But this pairing stay true to the tradition that older black musicians are only relevant and can only get attention when younger rock artists produce them.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 17:17 (2 years ago) Permalink
He played a tiny fragment of If You Don't Want My Love (Give it back) on Jools Holland's show a few months back, just him and an acoustic. Sadly, he had no band and just did the Gorillaz number with them.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 17:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
http://stereogum.com/971542/bobby-womack-please-forgive-my-heart/mp3s/
i like this
― catbus otm (gbx), Tuesday, 13 March 2012 00:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
new solo album called The Bravest Man In The Universe, his first studio effort since a 2000 Christmas joint. Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn and XL Records boss Richard Russell are both serving as producers,
I like the single too.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 March 2012 03:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Shame on me for not remedying this yet, 5 years later. It's been 7 years since I saw Womack live. Wow.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 March 2012 15:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
o god so timely, i was walking to work this morning and some boys were BLASTIN if u think ur lonely now on they car radio, i was liiike damn this coffee tastes good
― surm, Tuesday, 13 March 2012 15:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
some boys were BLASTIN if u think ur lonely now
Cool. Bet they were just reading this thread on their phones. Or maybe not.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 March 2012 15:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
:P
― surm, Tuesday, 13 March 2012 15:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
The album, which sets Womack's careworn voice and acoustic guitar against clattering electronics, and mixes old gospel songs with guest appearances by Lana Del Rey, is a triumph.
there's no God just fyi
― cosi fan whitford (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 25 May 2012 13:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
The songs kicking around already sound pretty good. Plus, yay for beating cancer.
― Simon H., Friday, 25 May 2012 13:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
"Please Forgive My Heart" is pretty average. His voice is blown.
― go down on you in a thyatrr (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 May 2012 13:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
Bad as I been, I can sing my ass off, better than I could before. Maybe it's been preserved or something. If I can take control of my life from drugs, divorces, anything, I stand tall." He frowns. "I'm speaking for all those singers who gave up. Marvin, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett: I can keep naming them until you say OK, I got enough. They need more respect than can ever be given to them. And I'm gonna set the record straight." And that Soto guy,man I need to straighten him out too, he added.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 25 May 2012 14:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think NPR is still streaming his new one.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 18:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
wtf with this shit
― retro-shittified (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 19:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
I had a friend tell me she was "our Nico." probably get used to people putting her on where she doesn't belong
― decrepit but free (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 20:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
this album just sounded a bit awkward to me
― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 20:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
Nabisco asked Damon Albarn about it for New York magazine:
This morning, I was listening to the Bobby Womack record you worked on, and I was curious — for you, was that sort of a standard production job, or something you were pretty invested in?
Not really a “standard production job” — Bobby and I talked about it on tour, and it took about another eight or nine months to come to fruition. But he came over, and [XL label head] Richard Russell, who’s really into working with Bobby as well, so we just sort of got together, and in a two-week session, pretty much got the arch and structure of the record from scratch. There wasn’t really a lot of writing done outside of the studio. We all had a few little ideas we brought into the mix, but it was a very collaborative and quick process.
Lana Del Rey appears on one track — who brought her into the loop?
That would be Richard. My studio’s quite close to the BBC, kinda walking distance, so if anyone comes in from abroad and plays at Jools Holland — which is our one legitimate live music show — we’ve got easy access to them. We kidnap them as they’re on break. Which is what we did with Lana, basically. She was amazing, I have to say, she didn’t know any of us personally, she’d just finished her rehearsal at the BBC, came straight here, and, within half an hour, was singing, dueting with Bobby. Really natural, very gorgeous voice she’s got
http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/damon-albarn-on-blurs-london-olympics-reunion.html
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 20:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
her part sounds nice for the most part, but i just wish she'd enunciate.
the second half of this album is really great, though i'm not quite sure what to make of "love is gonna to lift you up" ... it sounds like he's singing over a casio keyboard demo, which is somehow both awesome and lame at the same time. i'm not too familiar with a lot of his older stuff, so maybe he was always open to sounding a bit weird, but it strikes me as a stretch.
― borntohula, Thursday, 14 June 2012 00:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've been listening to the new one a lot this week. Loved "Please Forgive My Heart" since I first heard it but the whole thing is finally clicking in a big way. I don't even get that annoyed with Lana Del Ray.
― this is the dream of avril and chad (jer.fairall), Saturday, 1 September 2012 01:52 (9 months ago) Permalink
Man, this guy's had some bad luck in the last year: http://pitchfork.com/news/49025-bobby-womack-diagnosed-with-early-signs-of-alzheimers/
Bravest Man In The Universe has really grown on me, by the way. Questionable production, definitely, but some of the songs he wrote for this are just too good to ignore.
― Everything You Like Sucks, Wednesday, 2 January 2013 23:38 (5 months ago) Permalink
Alzheimers. Poor guy.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 3 January 2013 14:38 (5 months ago) Permalink
BMITU just missed my Top Ten, but it was a very good year.
― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Thursday, 3 January 2013 16:18 (5 months ago) Permalink
― 2am chopped top (brimstead), Thursday, 3 January 2013 19:28 (5 months ago) Permalink