First Take is the debut album by the American soul singer Roberta Flack. It was released in 1969 on Atlantic Records. The hallmark of Roberta Flack is an ability to make sure that nothing stands between you and the experience of the song.
The story of Take One‘s rise to the Billboard album chart’s top slot starts with Clint Eastwood. Roberta Flack’s stunning, extended interpretation of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s 1957 folk song “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” (first popularized in 1962 by the Kingston Trio), didn’t gain traction until it played behind a sex scene in Eastwood’s 1971 directorial debut, Play Misty for Me. But then Flack has always been more of the soul singer’s singer (Lauryn Hill and the Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly” notwithstanding, Flack’s vulnerability is the DNA encoded in Mary J. Blige’s tender side) than she is a pop commodity. Take One, released in 1968, remains her only Billboard-crowning studio LP, and similar to the legendary Nina Simone, Flack’s prolific abilities as a cover artist have unfairly diminished her broader recognition as a pure talent and standard-bearer.
With the appearance of her first album a little less than a year ago, Roberta Flack immediately established herself as worthy to enter the pantheon with the two other truly great black female singers of the Sixties, Aretha and Nina Simone.
Track listing
- "Compared to What" (Gene McDaniels) - 5:16
- "Angelitos Negros" (Andrés Eloy Blanco, Manuel Álvarez Maciste) - 6:56
- "Our Ages or Our Hearts" (Robert Ayers, Donny Hathaway) - 6:09
- "I Told Jesus" (Traditional; arranged by Roberta Flack) - 6:09
- "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" (Leonard Cohen) - 4:08
- "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (Ewan MacColl) - 5:22
- "Tryin' Times" (Donny Hathaway, Leroy Hutson) - 5:08
- "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" (Fran Landesman, Tommy Wolf) - 7:00
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Top LPs | 1 |
| Billboard Top Soul Albums | 1 |
| Billboard Jazz Albums | 3 |
0 Comments