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 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
dig this unstoppable jam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK32ZAB0yts
― a full circle lol (J0hn D.), Thursday, 29 October 2009 22:09 (fourteen years ago) link
The excellent recent UK film "Fish Tank" features California Dreamin' prominently.
― ρεμπετις, Friday, 30 October 2009 01:17 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHkwzTKSdx8
Can't find a live version, but here you go...
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:24 (fourteen years ago) link
didn't see Bobby Womack, but the other Bobby (McFerrin) was awesome!
― gnarly sceptre, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:28 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
― 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 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
http://stereogum.com/971542/bobby-womack-please-forgive-my-heart/mp3s/
i like this
― catbus otm (gbx), Tuesday, 13 March 2012 00:06 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
Need to get and listen to more of his studio efforts
― 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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
:P
― surm, Tuesday, 13 March 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link
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 (eleven years ago) link
The songs kicking around already sound pretty good. Plus, yay for beating cancer.
― Simon H., Friday, 25 May 2012 13:42 (eleven years ago) link
"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 (eleven years ago) link
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 (eleven years ago) link
I think NPR is still streaming his new one.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 18:57 (eleven years ago) link
wtf with this shit
― retro-shittified (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 19:53 (eleven years ago) link
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 (eleven years ago) link
this album just sounded a bit awkward to me
― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 20:03 (eleven years ago) link
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 (eleven years ago) link
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 (eleven years ago) link
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 (eleven years ago) link
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 (eleven years ago) link
Alzheimers. Poor guy.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 3 January 2013 14:38 (eleven years ago) link
BMITU just missed my Top Ten, but it was a very good year.
― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Thursday, 3 January 2013 16:18 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.amoeba.com/sized-images/maxs/800/600/uploads/past-performances/hollywood/2012/06.15.2012_Bobby_Womack_Signing/bobbyWomackSigning-7.jpg
― 2am chopped top (brimstead), Thursday, 3 January 2013 19:28 (eleven years ago) link
I saw D.C. old-school soul singer Eddie Jones do a great version of "Harry Hippie" the other night. Was listening to Womack this morning--"Across 110th Street" is so passionate.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 15 January 2014 15:18 (ten years ago) link
I like his rendition of "California Dreamin'" too
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 15 January 2014 15:43 (ten years ago) link
I can't believe I've gotten this far in life without reading about the Womack clan...iirc Bobby married Sam Cooke's widow (2 months after Sam was killed) while steppin with her daughter Linda who married Cecil who married Mary Wells who later shacked up w another Womack brother whose name escapes me. If there's a biography there I'm going to read it.
― musically, Saturday, 15 March 2014 05:24 (ten years ago) link
The Bravest Man in the Universe, indeed.
― Inside Lewellyn Sinclair (cryptosicko), Saturday, 15 March 2014 12:22 (ten years ago) link
Despite current health issues, he's doing some gigs
LiveSunday May 4, 2014 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, New Orleans
Thursday June 12, 2014 AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas
Saturday June 14, 2014 Bonarroo Music And Arts Festival, Manchester
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 20 March 2014 20:34 (ten years ago) link
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bobby-womack-dead-at-70-20140627
Teenie Hodges, Hi Rhythm and Al Green guitarist died the other day and now the great Bobby Womack (teenage gospel singer, guitarist with Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and Sly Stone, pal of the Rolling Stones and successful solo artist). RIP Bobby
― curmudgeon, Friday, 27 June 2014 23:41 (nine years ago) link
So sad. A life and a legacy both.
Did he make that Bonarroo date, I wonder.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 28 June 2014 01:27 (nine years ago) link
I feel it is worth mentioning that his recent "comeback" album The Bravest Man in the Universe was a) one of the very few of these kinds of things that wasn't just him and a bunch of guest stars rehashing his old hits, but rather an album of new material, and b) was really, really good.
― You know something? He *did* say "well, yeah" a lot. (cryptosicko), Saturday, 28 June 2014 01:30 (nine years ago) link
Not sure if he really played on "Suspicious Minds" but who cares. RIP.
― That's How Strong My Dub Is (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 28 June 2014 15:27 (nine years ago) link
Major RIP :(
― Οὖτις, Saturday, 28 June 2014 16:11 (nine years ago) link
This sucks, his music was a big part of my life
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Saturday, 28 June 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
Extra sad this came in the middle of a career revival. RIP.
Not as sad as if it had happened before a career revival though. At least he got the chance to make a great record, get back on the road, play arena shows and festival headliners with Gorillaz and get adoring press.
― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Monday, 30 June 2014 18:06 (nine years ago) link
Its sad that he died, period at age 70.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 30 June 2014 18:41 (nine years ago) link
Fresh Air has been replaying the 1999 interview, which you can download---lots of good stories and musical excerpts (also at least one xpost goofy but invigorating cover so far): http://www.npr.org/2014/07/11/330713212/fresh-air-remembers-soul-singer-and-songwriter-bobby-womack Also, at least one fairly recent Memphis show in the Beale Street Caravan archive:http://bealestreetcaravan.com/ But I just tried to download that one too, with Firefox's Flashgot, as I've done on BSC.com before; this time it crashed my computer. Oh well, gently down the stream.
― dow, Saturday, 12 July 2014 19:54 (nine years ago) link
http://images.junostatic.com/full/CS1703184-02A-BIG.jpg
just dunno
― j., Friday, 20 March 2015 02:59 (nine years ago) link
dunno what the world is coming to either. Wish Bobby was still around to share that
― curmudgeon, Friday, 20 March 2015 14:37 (nine years ago) link
Ha I'm listening to that album right now... halfway thru the track "Git It", which I've just noticed (are you reading this Shakey + Kerr?) has lead guitar by Glen Goins... as does the next track.
― holger sharkey (Tom D.), Sunday, 28 June 2015 17:53 (eight years ago) link
Also just noticed that Bobby plays a lot of bass on this album ... and guess what? He's fucking good!
― holger sharkey (Tom D.), Sunday, 28 June 2015 17:59 (eight years ago) link
wicker game strong as well
― j., Friday, 30 October 2015 21:27 (eight years ago) link
RIPhttp://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bobby-womack-dead-at-70-20140627
― Jazzbo, Tuesday, 28 June 2016 13:34 (seven years ago) link
:((((((( RIP Bobby
― They could have been Stackridge. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 28 June 2016 13:43 (seven years ago) link
... wait a minute, he's already dead!
― They could have been Stackridge. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 28 June 2016 13:44 (seven years ago) link
Yes, I'm an idiot. Sorry. This is what happens when you see something on a friend's Facebook page and you fail to check.
― Jazzbo, Tuesday, 28 June 2016 14:45 (seven years ago) link
I looked for a while and this Bobby Womack "Soul Sides" 2 cd compilation that came out on Metro Select in the Uk is a good compilation. He did alot of ballad material (stuff not unlike Isaac Hayes), but I love his stuff when it gets funky as his guitar is always really tasty. Good comp. 'Across 110th Street' was always the tune that got me interested in Womack's music.
― earlnash, Saturday, 10 February 2018 01:16 (six years ago) link
"Daylight" is his ultimate masterpiece. The catchier things he did, the more ornate work, is his best; as a conventional soul singer doing the conventional cover versions, except for "Fly Me to the Moon," he wasn't all that interesting. "How I Miss You Baby," "What Is This," "It's Gonna Rain" (Tommy Cogbill's bass rules), "Arkansas State Prison," "That's the Way I Feel About Cha," and the mind-boggling "You're Welcome, Stop on By" are amazing. I don't care for his '70s albums, by and large--the material isn't there and his covers are forgettable. "If You Think You're Lonely Now" from '80 is his last great moment. I like his more obvious stuff from the Moman recordings, "Broadway Walk" and so forth. But he was never really the soul vocalist his peers were, so it has a self-regarding edge that detracts from its impact--he was just conceptually a bit soft, undefined. I love him, beautiful guitarist, but I think his career boils down into a fairly small set of tunes. Maybe someone could compile the later stuff to some effect.
― eddhurt, Saturday, 10 February 2018 13:09 (six years ago) link