Search - Roberta Flack :: The Very Best of Roberta Flack

Great songs, but leaves off way too many hits

James E. Bagley | Sanatoga, PA USA | 02/10/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Roberta Flack emerged on the music scene in the early `70s with a cool, soothing, precise delivery that contrasted greatly with the fiery vocals of established Atlantic labelmate Aretha Franklin. Her more refined style helped her establish a successful niche as a soulful singer-songwriter, ultimately recording 15 albums over 25 years (1970-1995).



Flack was most successful - and prolific - in the early part of her recording career, with the intimate, folk-oriented recordings "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (1972) and "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (1973) both garnering Record Of The Year Grammies, while the sumptuous "Feel Like Makin' Love" (1974) earned a nomination in that same category. A series of duets with college chum Donny Hathaway were also well-received at this time, including the chart-toppers "Where Is The Love" (1972) and "The Closer I Get To You" (1978).



Outside projects and Hathaway's suicide in 1979 slowed down Flack's output thereafter, but she continued to make some great music. This included the gentle theme for the film Making Love (1982), the breezy chart-topper "Oasis" (1988) and top ten collaborations with Peabo Bryson ("Tonight I Celebrate My Love" - 1983) and Maxi Priest ("Set The Night To Music" - 1991). These latter pairings, by the way, are nice, but don't begin to approach the intensity that Flack shared on record with the mighty Hathaway.



This 17-track Very Best Of contains 12 overlaps from Flack's 1993 retrospective Softly With These Songs (which also had 17 tracks), including all of the aforementioned hits. Available on the earlier set only were a slowed down rendition of the Shirelles' hit "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (1972) and the not missed, inane single "Uh-Uh Ooh-Ooh Look Out" (1989), while this new Very Best Of adds "You Are My Heaven," a posthumous R&B hit with Hathaway (1980).



While duplicates abound, several key tracks remain unavailable on a domestic Flack collection. These include early duet hits with Hathaway ("You've Got A Friend" - 1971, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - 1971), top 30 solo ballads ("Jesse" - 1973, "If Ever I See You Again," - 1978), additional collaborations with Bryson ("Make The World Stand Still" - 1980, the adult contemporary staple "You're Lookin' Like Love To Me" - 1982), and the up-tempo boast "I'm The One" (1982). They all deserve to be anthologized and hopefully the folks at Rhino will see fit to include them in a double-disc Flack set in the near future.

"

Another Repetitive Greatest Hits Collection

R. Unger | 03/12/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"When I read Rhino was coming out with a Roberta Hits CD, I was really excited. At last, a complete Roberta Flack compilation - or so I thought. But this is so similar to Atlantic's 1993 "Softly With These Songs" hits package, it has to be deemed a major disappointment. The only plus is it does contain "Trade Winds", the much sought-after b-side previously unreleased on CD before. But where is "Jesse", "If Ever I See You Again", "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "I'm The One", "Uh-Uh Ooh-Ooh Look Out", not to mention the 1996 club remix of "Killing Me Softly With His Song"?!!! That remix went straight to #1 on Billboard's dance chart yet has NEVER been available on CD and a MUST for all Roberta fans. What a LETDOWN! Even the casual Flack fan is forced to buy two CDs to get a decent collection. Sorry, Rhino! This time you really missed the mark. The songs deserve 5 Stars but Rhino's efforts for putting together what should have been the ultimate Flack greatest hits package is deserving of nothing more than a big fat zero! Without a doubt, this should have been a double CD. So I am still waiting for a comprehensive collection of her work! Maybe someday someone will get it RIGHT!"

At long last.....Trade Winds!

Vincent Vendetta | 03/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since 1971 I have hoped and wished Trade Winds would be included on a long-playing album,then later on a CD.I couldn't believe my years of waiting are finally over. This has always been one of my Top 5 Roberta Flack songs of all time.

What made it even better was that an almost 7 minute complete version is the one on this CD! This song too should have been nominated and won a grammy in my opinion. The sound on this disc is wonderfully improved over all others of these wonderful, glorious songs and performances by one of my Top 5 female vocalists of all time (and that's 6 decades worth!)"