Roberta Flack

[Hilary]

Hi All,

I really love Roberta's music and her voice is just lovely.
My favourite songs would be "Killing me softly" and "Feel like makin' love."
Oh, I almost forgot too the lovely "Tonight I celebrate my love for you."
Sadly we don't hear that many songs by Roberta on the radio which is a great shame really but I have a nice compilation CD with all her best songs on, which is very nice indeed!

[paul jh]

We consider Roberta Flack to be a Washington, DC treasure, as she got her start in the Washington coffee houses in the 1960s/early 1970s. Her voice and style are truly unique. My favourites are Killing Me Softly With His Song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Jesse, Making Love, and her duets with Donny Hathaway: Where Is The Love, You Are My Heaven, and the nine minute Back Together Again. I put these duets in the car CD player, get on the beltway, and life is good!

Remember the little tribute that Gabrielle wrote in her fab song When A Woman: "driving down the highway, Roberta, Donny Hathaway, playing on the airwaves, as we're making our way." What a great song!

[jon]

I don't have any Roberta Flack recordings but I like her songs and Johnny Mathis, my favourite singer (along with Matt) has recorded a few of them, notably "Killing Me Softly..." and "The First Time Ever..." While I like his version of "Killing Me Softly..." I have to admit I was rather disappointed with his "First Time Ever...": lacks atmosphere, and Roberta's is better. Johnny also recorded "Where is the Love" on a 1972 album of his which is not available commercially but which I really like, but that was written by Donny Hathaway, wasn't it, not Roberta? Or maybe both of them.

Makes me ponder the subject of recordings by one's favourite singer - in everyone's case here, Matt! - of songs which one doesn't regard as the best version. Much as I love JM, I regard the Carpenters' version of "Solitaire" as better than his, and even Steisand's version of "The Way We Were" is superior. I'm sure I could think of a few more.

But who wins on recordings of songs recorded by both JM and Matt? Hmm...difficult one. I really like both their versions of songs, but they're often quite different. For example, "Hello Dolly": Matt's version is softer and quieter than Johnny's, JM's louder and arguably has the wider range vocally. Similarly, "The Impossible Dream". But then I could go on all day...

[Terence Lee]

I wonder why Roberta has not recorded in recent years. There is a new compilation on the market but half the songs are already on the old compilation.