Roberta Flack Sings Covers
In the In Memoriam for February, I mentioned that I might have compiled a Sings Covers mix to mark the death of Roberta Flack, but for lack of time. I have still lacked time, but due to popular demand (by one commenter), I have put together this collection of songs covered by Flack.
Other than a couple of LPs in her 1970s prime which included several interpretations of other people’s songs, and a few covers albums later in her career, Flack was not much of a covers artist — but when she took on a song, she often made it her own.
The obvious examples of that are the two big hits: Killing Me Softly (With His Song) and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Flack invested such intimacy into these songs that hers are the definitive versions, no matter how many times radio DJs play the annoying Fugees cover (no time, please!). Both songs feature here in live versions recorded in Edmonton, Canada, in 1975.
Several tracks here are covers recorded with Donny Hathaway. They are very good, and their You’ve Got A Friend is a contender for the best version of the song. But only one of them eclipses any other interpretation: I (Who Have Nothing). It’s not a song that evokes much emotion in me in any other version. Flack and Hathaway’s invest in the song just the right measure of desperation and intensity.
The most comprehensive reworking here may be the Bee Gees’ To Love Somebody. Flack slows down the song, which by 1971 had already been covered many times, and turns it into an epic soul ballad. I have a hunch singers like Al Green might have taken note — Green went on to turn another Bee Gees song, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, into an epic soul ballad.
There are two Leonard Cohen covers. Flack’s cover of Suzanne is a nine-minute journey, building up to marvellous swirling strings and Flack injecting an African vibe into the proceedings. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye, from Flack’s 1969 debut First Take, features a rather lovely piano solo over a quiet but pretty funky bassline.
Flack’s stab at Bob Dylan’s Just Like A Woman — in the gender-switch, Flack is the woman who is “just like” — is exquisitely phrased and sung, which is not something one would necessarily say of Dylan.
One song here was originally an instrumental, Grover Washington Jr’s Mister Magic, to which Flack sang the lyrics of William Salter to the great tune of Ralph MacDonald. Washington had recorded his nine-minute fusion classic in November 1974 and released it on his Mister Magic LP in February 1975; Flack released her version in March 1975. But (and you just knew there was a “but” coming!), much of Flack’s album had been recorded before November 1974. I’m not sure whose version is the original and which is the cover.
Credits give no clue. MacDonald played on both versions, and Salter wrote a lot for both Flack and Washington (often with MacDonald). For the latter, there were tracks like Just The Two Of Us and Be Mine Tonight; for Flack, songs like Trade Winds, Where Is the Love, I’m The One, and Here’s To Love (her lovely collaboration with Sadao Watanabe).
For fans of the “Sings Covers”, I have two in the works, including one that will feature a song featured here.
As always, the pre-“bonus tracks” playlist is timed to fit on a standard CD-R. The lot includes home-softly-killed covers and the above in a PDF. PW in comments.
Names in brackets are either the acts who first recorded the particular song, or had a hit with it. The years are, obviously, the release dates of the cover by Roberta Flack.
1. Compared To What (1969, Les McCann)
2. You’ve Got A Friend (with Donny Hathaway) (1972, Carole King)
3. Mr. Magic (1975, Grover Washington Jr.)
4. You Are Everything (1978, The Stylistics)
5. To Love Somebody (1971, Bee Gees)
6. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (live) (1975, Bonnie Dobson)
7. If Only For One Night (with Peabo Bryson) (1980, Brenda Russell)
8. I Who Have Nothing (with Donny Hathaway) (1972, Ben E. King)
9. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye (1969, Leonard Cohen)
10. Just Like A Woman (1970, Bob Dylan)
11. Killing Me Softly (With His Song) (live) (1975, Lori Lieberman)
12. Do What You Gotta Do (1970, Johnny Rivers)
13. This Time I’ll Be Sweeter (1977, Martha Reeves)
14. Bridge Over Troubled Water (1971, Simon & Garfunkel)
15. Will You Love Me Tomorrow (1971, The Shirelles)
16. Baby I Love You (with Donny Hathaway) (1972, Aretha Franklin)
Bonus Tracks:
17. The Impossible Dream (1970, Jack Jones)
18. Let It Be Me (1970, Everly Brothers)
19. You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling (with Donny Hathaway) (1972, Righteous Brothers)
20. Suzanne (1973, Leonard Cohen)
21. It Might Be You (1994, Stephen Bishop)
22. Thrill Is Gone (1994, B.B. King)
Previously in Sings Covers:
Al Green Sings Covers
Aretha Franklin Sings Covers
Bruce Springsteen Sings Covers
Diana Ross Sings Covers
Gladys Knight Sings Covers
Tina Turner Sings Covers
PW = amdwhah
Always a pleasure to listen to your collections. Thanks!
Exceptional as always. Thank you for your hard work.