Roberta Flack (album)

Roberta Flack
Studio album by Roberta Flack
Released August 7, 1978
Recorded 1978
Genre R&B, soul
Label Atlantic
Producer Joe Brooks, Joe Ferla, Flake
Roberta Flack chronology
Blue Lights in the Basement
(1977)Blue Lights in the Basement1977		 Roberta Flack
(1978)		 Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway
(1979)Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway1979
Singles from Roberta Flack
  1. "If Ever I See You Again / I'd Like to Be Baby to You"
    Released: 21 April 1978
  2. "When It's Over / Come Share My Love"
    Released: 20 October 1978
  3. "You Are Everything / Knowing That We're Made for Each Other"
    Released: 8 April 1979

Roberta Flack is a 1978 album release by American vocalist Roberta Flack: her eighth album release - including her 1972 Donny Hathaway collaboration - Roberta Flack was the parent album of the #1 Adult Contemporary hit "If Ever I See You Again" which also ranked in the Top 40.

Since signing with Atlantic Records in 1968 Flack had overall abided by her original contract's terms of recording an album every two years: however Roberta Flack was recorded for release barely six months after Flack's precedent album Blue Lights in the Basement, as label president Jerry Greenberg had pressured Flack to cut a new album featuring the theme song from the upcoming film If Ever I See You Again plus other songs also written by Joe Brooks and featured in the film which Brooks produced. Brooks' precedent film production You Light Up My Life had had its theme song via a recording by Debby Boone spend ten weeks at #1 setting a new chart record for a song from a movie (Flack has stated that she had been sent the demo for "You Light Up My Life" but had not had a chance to listen to it before the Debby Boone recording was made).[1]

Although Brooks had produced Boone's recording of the theme song from If Ever I See You Again plus four other songs from the film - one of which: "California", had been Boone's followup single to "You Light Up My Life" and a Top 40 shortfall - he hoped to have an established hitmaker record his songs from his upcoming film, Brooks having already canvassed Arista Records president Clive Davis re placing Brooks' songs on Barry Manilow's upcoming album: according to Brooks' business partner Robert K. Lifton, Brooks withdrew the offer after hearing existing tracks intended for Manilow's upcoming album, which Brooks felt were sub-par and would sink his own compositions (in fact Manilow's 1978 album release Even Now would be a triple platinum seller). Brooks then pitched his If Ever I See You Again songs to Jerry Greenberg for Flack to record: Lifton states that Brooks overcame Greenberg's reluctance to risk impeding the momentum of the Blue Lights in the Basement album with a rapid followup album release, as Brooks convinced Greenberg that the If Ever I See You Again theme would be "bigger than 'You Light Up My Life'...It will be a monster [hit]".[2] Flack herself would eventually state that "If Ever I See You Again" was "a song I couldn't stand" which Greenberg insisted she record: (Roberta Flack quote:) "I had a very clever lawyer who made a huge money deal for [my recording] that song".[3]

Brooks produced Flack's version of "If Ever I See You Again" at A&R Recording Studios in New York City in a session which also yielded Flack's versions of "Come Share My Love" and "When It's Over". Flack recorded six more tracks to complete the album with Greenberg overseeing production at Atlantic Studios. Flack's recording of its theme from If Ever I See You Again was released in 21 April 1978, a month prior to the film's premiere: with the film quickly proving a massive flop Flack's single was left to fare on its own merit and did in July 1978 spend three weeks at #1 on the Easy Listening chart with an eventual ranking as the #8 Easy Listening hit for the year. However, while reaching the Top 40 on both the Pop-oriented Hot 100 and the R&B chart, "If Ever I See You Again" was not on either chart afforded the impact which had previously been customary for Flack's lead singles, the Hot 100 peak for "If Ever I See You Again" being #24 and its R&B peak being #37.[4][5] Flack's August 1978 self titled album release included her version of "If Ever I See You Again" plus the two other tracks cut with Joe Brooks at A&R Studios: "Come Share My Love" and "When It's Over", the two latter tracks being issued on a single in September 1978 with the A-side "When It's Over" reaching #82 on the R&B chart. Upon its 7 August 1978 release the Roberta Flack album would chart no higher than #74, as opposed to the #8 peak of Blue Lights in the Basement. After the second single of Brooks' compositions essentially flopped, Atlantic Records attempted to spur further interest in the album by releasing Flack's remake of the Stylistics' hit "You Are Everything" as a single in April 1979 - a year after the release of the "If Ever I See You Again" single, and the first time a third single had been culled from a Roberta Flack album - without result, the track barely making the R&B chart at #98.

Track listing

  1. "What a Woman Really Means" (Ralph MacDonald, William Salter)
  2. "You Are Everything" (Linda Creed, Thom Bell)
  3. "Independent Man" (Gerry Goffin, Michael Masser)
  4. "If Ever I See You Again" (Joe Brooks)
  5. "And the Feeling's So Good" (Charles Fox, Norman Gimbel)
  6. "Knowing That We're Made for Each Other" (Larry Alexander)
  7. "Come Share My Love" (Joe Brooks)
  8. "Baby I Love You So" (Larry Alexander)
  9. "When It's Over" (Joe Brooks)

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1989/01/29/roberta-flack-charting-her-own-course/707dfd24-7907-4e18-a965-06ff2631ee3a/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9f15e72e130e
  2. ↑ Lifton, Robert K. (2012). An Entrepreneur's Journey: stories from a life in business & personal diplomacy. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-4772-7931-1.
  3. ↑ Vibe Vol. 11 #1 (January 2003) p.40
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 207.
  5. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 93.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.