Bobby Womack always was a soulful singer, stellar session guitarist, and smash songwriter. "It's All Over Now," "Lookin' for a Love," and "I'm a Midnight Mover"--covered by the Rolling Stones, the J. Geils Band, and Wilson Pickett, respectively--are just three of his copyrights. However, it wasn't until he recorded "That's the Way I Feel About Cha" for this 1971 album that he first tasted solo success. The wracked, confessional tune became his blueprint for another two decades' worth of hits. This album's title track, however, is a muscular, guitar-driven, funk workout played by Womack and the Muscle Shoals studio cats around a rhythm-box pattern on loan from Sly Stone. The rest of the record segues from gospel rewrites to lounge-soul to idiosyncratic interpretations of hits by James Taylor, Ray Stevens, and the Carpenters' "Close to You," distinguished here by an unforgettable talk-sung introduction/meditation on the subjects of Art, Style, and Commerce that's reason enough to own this record. --Don Waller
|
