Anyway, if you haven't heard them already, I'd recommend First Take and (especially) Quiet Fire... the latter's second side is as perfect as Flack got: "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (why did she add the "still"?)/"To Love Somebody"/"Let Them Talk"/"Sweet Bitter Love."
― ||amateur!st|| (amateurist), Friday, 6 August 2004 02:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― ||amateur!st|| (amateurist), Friday, 6 August 2004 02:20 (nineteen years ago) link
Clarence Carter does a version of "Do What You Gotta Do" that's really instuctive in its 180-degree difference from the Flack cover. Carter follows the melody very closely; it comes across as perfect and pristine. I don't know why anyone would want to embellish it. I don't mind people embellishing or extemporizing on much-loved melodies, so long as the embellishments have something interesting to offer in exchange. I wonder if Flack's take on this song owes something to her conservatory background, and/or a greater concern for artistic individuality in a, er, rockist sense. Whereas Carter was content to be an (awesome) soul journeyman so he's happy to just present song (with a few of his trademark croaks, yes).
― ||amateur!st|| (amateurist), Friday, 6 August 2004 02:24 (nineteen years ago) link
surprisingly, the best track on there is her cover of "the impossible dream." great mix of schmaltzy broadway and snazzy gospel! i'm intrigued by the last song too, a nina simone-like "socially conscious" hymn/dirge about vietnam (songwriting credited to fred hellerman and fran minkoff, although it might as well be a more bleak, cynical rewrite of laura nyro's socially conscious hymn/dirge "christmas in my soul," which came out the same year).
― Elle a chaud au cul (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 6 August 2004 19:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― briania (briania), Friday, 6 August 2004 19:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― mcd (mcd), Friday, 6 August 2004 19:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 30 May 2005 06:58 (eighteen years ago) link
but how about that '72 album with donny hathaway?! "be real black for me"! c90 go: your favorite black power love ballads.
― chief of chaff (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 07:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― chief of chaff (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 07:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 07:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― chief of chaff (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 07:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 07:56 (eighteen years ago) link
I just bought a CD rerelease of First Take, the vinyl I had was rather worn out, and my vinyl player's broken anyway. Damn that record's sublime! What else should I buy? The local store was selling "Killing Me Softly" for cheap, is is worth it besides the title track?
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Saturday, 6 August 2005 17:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 8 September 2006 23:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Friday, 8 September 2006 23:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― and PappaWheelie, author of Have You Ever Been Poxy Fuled? (PappaWheelie 2), Saturday, 9 September 2006 01:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― I am not Ted Nugent (Bimble...), Saturday, 9 September 2006 06:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― I am not Ted Nugent (Bimble...), Sunday, 10 September 2006 07:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 10 September 2006 08:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 10 September 2006 09:37 (seventeen years ago) link
A recent interview
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 December 2008 02:17 (fifteen years ago) link
sigh
"I Told Jesus"
:(
― Turangalila, Friday, 12 December 2008 02:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Everybody NEEDS to hear her 13 minute aquatic bedroom funktasia "I Can See The Sun in Late December" . . . with arrangements credited to "Rubina Flake". So good.
― Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Friday, 12 December 2008 03:26 (fifteen years ago) link
apparently the artist once and now again known as prince is a huge fan, which makes sense when you consider the phrasing on some of his slow ballads.
― figuratively, but in a very real way (amateurist), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 03:37 (fourteen years ago) link
i like her version of "do what you gotta do" more than i evidently did upthread.
― figuratively, but in a very real way (amateurist), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 03:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Where is the love?
― _Rudipherous_, Thursday, 25 March 2010 05:44 (fourteen years ago) link
omg i saw "play misty for me" last night. i thought it was gonna have rf playing in a club or something but actually "the first time i ever saw your face" is used as background music for an extended sex scene between clint and his love interest, including partial nudity (no penetrations shots unfortunately)
anyway at first i though wtf?!?!? but soon realized that mr. eastwood was simultaneously inventing both mtv and skinemax soft porn 10 years ahead of their time, plus breaking ms. flack to the world at large, and that he is a genius. also, "the first time ever i saw your face", wow - gave me chills. or maybe that was just the waterfall scene
― messiahwannabe, Thursday, 25 March 2010 06:00 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i guess first time ever i saw your face is overused but it's way beautiful
― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, 20 August 2011 07:26 (twelve years ago) link
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway doesn't get enough love on ILM
― huun huurt 2 (Hurting 2), Saturday, 27 April 2013 03:49 (eleven years ago) link
Everybody NEEDS to hear her 13 minute aquatic bedroom funktasia "I Can See The Sun in Late December" . . . with arrangements credited to "Rubina Flake". So good.― Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Thursday, December 11, 2008 10:26 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Thursday, December 11, 2008 10:26 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
seriously anybody who doesn't know this jam and the whole album, you're missing out. it is such a great immersive listen.
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 22 May 2016 13:06 (seven years ago) link
Okay, fair enough, will have a listen. But what's your take on First Take?
― The Wally Funk Bible (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 May 2016 13:12 (seven years ago) link
I think it's really good - her voice is just incredible, the clarity of her tone - but I like Roberta Flack best when she gets a little poppier. Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, Feel Like Makin Love and Blue Light in the Basement, those are peak RF for me
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 22 May 2016 13:28 (seven years ago) link
I've loved First Take since I first got it 30 odd years ago. It seems pretty natural, organic etc. Chapter Two always struck me as more formulaic though I haven't heard it in quite a while. It certainly seemed more forced when I first heard it.
I quite like Quiet Fire. Need to get a physical copy.
I know there was an Original Artist series or equivalent box set but not sure what's in it.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 22 May 2016 13:47 (seven years ago) link
It has five of her first six albums, but for some inexplicable reason it omits Chapter Two (which is indeed in the same mold as First Take, but since FT is awesome, this should be taken as a praise!). Still, you can get it for cheaper than the CD reissue of Quiet Fire alone.
And Joan Crawford is so right about "Late December". When talking about quiet storms soul epics, it's on the same level as Minnie Riperton's best - and that's a high level indeed.
― Tuomas, Monday, 23 May 2016 13:29 (seven years ago) link
It drove me crazy every time I heard the Flack track but I finally just this moment realized that the synthline in T.I.'s 'What You Know' is the same as the bassline in Roberta's 'Gone Away'. It's like the heavens just split open. Mind blowed.
― the smartest persin in the room (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 10 January 2018 20:43 (six years ago) link
I'm kind of glad taht the box omits Chapter Two cos i think it's a pale retread of the sublime First Take.I should have grabbed the box while i was in FOPP cos i think it was among the sets they had in there reasonably cheaply and it is one taht I have meant to pick up for years. Well, think it's back on my to get list along with the Mike Nesmith First National band one.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 10 January 2018 21:13 (six years ago) link
"I can see the sun in late December"is absolute perfection.. an extremely beautiful and intoxicating sound world
― brimstead, Friday, 12 January 2018 01:30 (six years ago) link
feel like makin' love is one of my favorite albums ever. every song is made of clouds
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 01:22 (six years ago) link
Blue Light in the Basement is great, most especially the first song, "Why Don't You Move In With Me," which is completely incredible― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, September 8, 2006 6:27 PM (thirteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, September 8, 2006 6:27 PM (thirteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink
yep
― geoffreyess, Saturday, 1 February 2020 21:26 (four years ago) link
Marvelous: https://www.npr.org/2020/02/10/804370981/roberta-flack-the-virtuoso
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 15 February 2020 12:10 (four years ago) link
Great overview. Was just talking with a DC musician who had Roberta Flack as a school teacher here in DC and later played music with her at Mr Henry’s on Capitol Hill in DC, which still has music years later.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 15 February 2020 17:03 (four years ago) link
He says she is tough but fair as a bandleader and teacher
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 15 February 2020 17:04 (four years ago) link
Was trying to recall how Movin' Out goes while cleaning, but it keeps turning into Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly in my head - something about that turnaround in the chorus is v similar
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, August 29, 2017 6:57 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink
strumming my pain with his fingers, is that all you get for your money
GAH Cannot un-hear that now, thanks a lot.
who needs a house out in Hackensack, singing my life with his words
― Tone-Locrian (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, August 29, 2017 7:10 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink
roberta flack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, August 29, 2017 7:24 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 16 February 2020 03:56 (four years ago) link
got a full scholarship to go to Howard...at age 15 whaaaaaaaaaat
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 4 May 2020 19:47 (four years ago) link
There's a 1970 video turned up on Dime yesterday. Not got a chance to watch it yet,I think its several tracks played live as a trio.
― Stevolende, Monday, 4 May 2020 20:04 (four years ago) link
Wish I could post Steve Hurley's House Remix of "Uh-uh Ooh-ooh Look Out (Here It Comes)" (it's referenced upthread) because it pops up in my head every now and then and it came up in a DJ mix I was listening to last week, but it seems to have been erased from YouTube. Hurley's sort-of-dub House of Trix Mix is all there's left.
― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Monday, 4 May 2020 21:07 (four years ago) link
Roberta Flack to Host Live Charity Listening PartyOn Rhino's YouTube ChannelTo Benefit Feed The Children's COVID-19 Relief Efforts Flack's First Take Celebrates 50 Years With Deluxe Reissue Out This SummerFeaturing 12 Recordings Never Heard Before
Broadcast Host And Singer Santita Jackson to Introduce the Set ListFor Streaming Event on May 16 at 3:00pm Eastern
details etc. here:http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1103923394056&ca=db998055-a3dd-4a2d-87f3-061a42690e75
― dow, Monday, 11 May 2020 18:13 (four years ago) link
1970 show mentioned a few posts ago by me is Flack on Boboquivari so about 1/2 hour of her around teh time of Chapter two. Her on piano with a rhythm section.Seems quite good. Hadn't realised there was more of a series than the Tim Buckley set . Hadn't realised it was a series.So would like to know what else is in it if the rest is as good as the 2 I've seen.Looks like it must be being repeated on some channel since there is on screen text happening , recommendations to listen to shows. thankfully didn't seem to be much in the way of clips across the bottom of the screen
THis was the one clip I could see on youtube from ithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlZihXbU91Q
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 12 May 2020 19:03 (three years ago) link
Almost wholly because of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"--one of '70s greatest singles, I'd say, though it actually came out in '69--there's an American Masters on her airing next week.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 16:06 (one year ago) link
Meant to attach this link:
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/masters/roberta-flack/#
let's not forget the supposedly-don-mclean-inspired "killing me softly."
― Thus Sang Freud, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 17:53 (one year ago) link
speaking of which, there's a new lori leiberman record.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_r5V1oknPI
― Thus Sang Freud, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 17:55 (one year ago) link
lieberman rather
American Masters special on her is on PBS now (here in DC area and maybe elsewhere)
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 25 January 2023 02:03 (one year ago) link
I PVR'd it to watch later.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 January 2023 02:12 (one year ago) link
It was superb.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 25 January 2023 15:57 (one year ago) link
86 today!
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Friday, 10 February 2023 11:41 (one year ago) link
She has ALS :(
― I & I, Claudius (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 20 May 2023 03:56 (eleven months ago) link
Sorry to hear that.
I fluffed up that post of mine above--what I meant to say was that my interest in the American Masters episode was almost wholly because of "The First Time." Obviously, Flack had many other hits, including two other #1s. If anything, "Killing Me Softly" has become her signature song--it's the one that made a couple of the Rolling Stone Top 500s. I markedly prefer "The First Time," and "The Closer I Get to You" would be next.
― clemenza, Saturday, 20 May 2023 05:15 (eleven months ago) link