Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack - Let It Be Roberta - 2012 - 429 Records

The Beatles' song catalog is one of the best-known and revered bodies of work in the whole of modern music, and the depth, variety, and timelessness of the songs this once-in-a-lifetime band produced make that catalog both a marvel and a treasure. Everyone knows these songs, and everyone knows them in the original Beatles versions. Those versions are there, shining in stone, and even when they show up in remixes like in the recent LOVE mashup, the original recordings echo unshakably in the mind. Roberta Flack knows this. On Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles, she tackles 12 of the group's songs -- 11 written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and one written by George Harrison -- and she knows full well that she's dealing with the ghosts of the original versions. She knows, and she addresses it by reconfiguring the 12 songs she's chosen to sing into fascinating new shapes and arrangements, not exactly escaping the original versions, but giving them a fresh new direction by jazzy shifts in the melodies, and pinning them to inventive and very contemporary rhythms and recording techniques. Flack doesn't treat songs like "In My Life," "We Can Work It Out," and "I Should Have Known Better" like they're made of museum glass, and because of it, she stretches them into interesting new corners. Not everything works -- Flack singing "Come Together" could never have been a good idea -- but what does work, and that's most of what's here, brings these Beatles songs delightfully into the 21st century. Even though the ghosts of the original versions still echo here, they support rather than derail what Flack does with them. © Steve Leggett © 2013 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved

The Black Mountain, N.C.- born Roberta Flack, is probably best known for her soul jazz 1970's hits like “Feel Like Makin’ Love”, “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” She remembers being blown away by the Beatles when she began her career playing piano and singing in clubs in Washington, D.C. Roberta has said “I love the romanticism of the music of the Beatles. When I started to record, the Beatles were hot, hot, hot. You couldn’t turn on radio or the TV even without hearing something from them. It never left my brain, stuck in my heart, I love it. I love the stories the songs tell. I love the simplicity, the fact that they’re so accessible. The thing that just overwhelms me is how these young musicians were able to write so deeply and so intensely and to be so correct that here we are talking about it all these years later. People all over the world know these songs.” On "Let It Be Roberta", her first solo album in thirteen years, she interprets eleven Lennon & McCartney songs and George Harrison’s “Isn't It A Pity”. Her beautiful and elegant alto voice is complemented by urbane, jazz, blues, gospel, neo-soul, electronica, and hip-hop elements. There are many talking points regarding this album. Many Beatles purists may wonder what hip-hop has to do with the Beatles. Also, at the end of “Hey Jude”, Roberta omits the famous “la-la-la-la's”. "I Should Have Known Better” hardly sounds like the original Lennon & McCartney tune, but beautifully presented just the same. There are thousands of Beatles covers, and it is really hard to mess up their tunes. Beatles songs have been covered in every conceivable music genre, and even if you are not into jazz, hip-hop, or neo-soul you will hear something different on this album from a legendary soul singer. Musical classifications, and genres shouldn’t be of great importance if the music sounds good. Remember, “good music is in the ear of the beholder”. It’s just a shame that there are so many tone deaf people out there who think that people like Simon Scowell and “Spritney Beers” are leading authorities on what constitutes good music. They certainly know what makes good money. Check out Roberta discussing this album @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjUGsgvcjlM and there’s a playlist available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRx99FfVMDQ Listen to Roberta’s often overlooked “Blue Lights in the Basement” album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 139 Mb]

TRACKS

1. In My Life 4:09
2. Hey Jude 3:11
3. We Can Work It Out 4:02
4. Let It Be 4:15
5. Oh Darling 4:39
6. I Should Have Known Better 3:14
7. The Long & Winding Road 4:08
8. Come Together 4:39
9. Isn't It A Pity 3:41
10. If I Fell 3:24
11. And I Love Him 3:50
12. Here, There, And Everywhere 6:16

All songs composed by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except Track 9 by George Harrison

MUSICIANS

Roberta Flack – Keyboards, Vocals, Background Vocals
Sherrod Barnes - Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Drums, Strings, Background Vocals
Jerry Barnes - Guitar, Bass, Background Vocals
Dean Brown, Nathan Page - Guitar
Nichlas Branker, David Williams - Bass
Selan Lerner, Barry Miles, Shedrick Mitchell, Morris Pleasure, Bernard Wright - Keyboards
Charlie Drayton, Ricardo Jordan, Kuhari Parker, Chris Parks, Bernard Sweetney, Buddy Williams - Drums
Paul Lassiter - Strings
Katreece Barnes, Tameeka Simone, Vivian Sessoms - Background Vocals

BIO

Classy, urbane, reserved, smooth, and sophisticated -- all of these terms have been used to describe the music of Roberta Flack, particularly her string of romantic, light jazz ballad hits in the 1970s, which continue to enjoy popularity on MOR-oriented adult contemporary stations. Flack was the daughter of a church organist and started playing piano early enough to get a music scholarship and eventually, a degree from Howard University. After a period of student teaching, Flack was discovered singing at a club by jazz musician Les McCann and signed to Atlantic. Her first two albums -- 1969's First Take and 1970's Chapter Two -- were well received but produced no hit singles; however, that all changed when a version of Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," from her first LP, was included in the soundtrack of the 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The single zoomed to number one in 1972 and remained there for six weeks, becoming that year's biggest hit. Flack followed it with the first of several duets with Howard classmate Donny Hathaway, "Where Is the Love." "Killing Me Softly with His Song" became Flack's second number one hit (five weeks) in 1973, and after topping the charts again in 1974 with "Feel Like Makin' Love," Flack took a break from performing to concentrate on recording and charitable causes. She charted several more times over the next few years, as she did with the Top Ten 1977 album Blue Lights in the Basement -- featuring "The Closer I Get to You," a number two ballad with Hathaway. A major blow was struck in 1979 when her duet partner, one of the most creative voices in soul music, committed suicide. Devastated, Flack eventually found another creative partner in Peabo Bryson, with whom she toured in 1980. The two recorded together in 1983, scoring a hit duet with "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love." Flack spent the remainder of the '80s touring and performing, often with orchestras, and also several times with Miles Davis. She returned to the Top Ten once more in 1991 with "Set the Night to Music," a duet with Maxi Priest that appeared that year on the album of the same name. Her Roberta full-length, featuring interpretations of jazz and popular standards, followed in 1994. As she continued into the 21st century, Flack recorded infrequently but released albums like 2012's Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles, which showed that her poise and balanced singing had aged well. Varese Sarabande released a lovingly remixed version of Flack's fine 1997 holiday album Christmas Songs (it had originally appeared from Capitol Records under the title The Christmas Album) that same year, adding in an additional track, "Cherry Tree Carol." © Steve Huey © 2013 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/roberta-flack-mn0000290072