Best Of: Softly With These Songs

Roberta Flack | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 22, 1993)
• Original Release Date: June 22, 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic UK
• ASIN: B000002IVU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,721 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1986 collection, deleted domestically, 11 tracks showcases her biggest ballads. Atlantic/WEA Int. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quiet Fire, March 13, 2003

By 

Michael Kerner "Michael Kerner" (Brooklyn, New York U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Best Of: Softly With These Songs (Audio CD)

Every so often in the music industry, there is a alarming call for the need of quiet storm in the industry. I sometimes don't know why, but it is just that when a kind of format like Corporate Pop and Branded Hip Hop of people like Eminem, and 50 Cent, gets so overexposed it is sometimes nice to go back to the original flame in the industry that people have said died years ago. In the case, Roberta Flack is a safe flame. Her elegant voice is just one of the most unbelieveable ones I've recently heard, and it is just amazing.

Her Greatest Hits collection, Softly With These Songs, is a true revival of one of the most dynamic eras of our lives, the 1970's. With her elegant voice, Roberta has crafted some of the most beautiful songs in the industry. Songs like, Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You, My Foolish Heart, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, and Set The Night To Music. The songs are still as vital in this industry that a lot of people have kind of ignored for several years, until Norah Jones came along with Come Away With Me. Still, Roberta's voice is just one of the most elegant as you could expect from a talented diva.

Unfortuately, I gave the collection a 3, because it wasn't remastered very well. The music is great, but when they said remastered on the back of it, it seemed to be a joke at first. Hopefully, another Greatest Hits Collection should come out with Roberta Flack soon. In the meantime, enjoy the quiet fire.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flack Chronicles Versatile 30-Year Career w/"These Songs", October 21, 2000

By 

Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best Of: Softly With These Songs (Audio CD)

Softly, gently, but persistently, Roberta Flack has spent more than half her life (she recently turned 60) creating a versatile body of work covering singer-songwriter pop, jazz balladry, and romantic R&B duets.

The most intriguing among "These Songs" are its first half-dozen, which placed Ms. Flack's atop the charts and Grammy nomination lists. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," (featuring Ron Carter's near-perfect bass and featured in "Play Misty For Me"), Goffin-King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," Lori Lieberman's "Killing Me Softly With His Song," and Flack's own "Feel Like Makin' Love" are sparsely arranged, richly sung songs of infatuation and vulnerability to lovers or even to music's seductive power. (Lieberman wrote "Killing Me Softly" after seeing Don McLean in concert).

Philadelphian and jazz historian Joel Dorn's production on "Killing Me Softly," Flack's biggest hit and a Grammy-winner, is notable. Listen to Flack's voice slowly enter echo at the song introduction, or to her wordless singing before the last chorus. What strikes you most, especially amid today's overemotive divas, is Flack's restraint with the confessional lyrics. Little wonder her music sold beyond the era's R&B balladeers to fans of Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and other singer-songwriters.

While "Softly's" first half is its most familiar, the rest of the set has more than its share of highlights. Flack was an empathetic duet partner who scored hits across three decades with reggae's Maxi Priest (Diane Warren's 1991 "Set The Night To Music") Peabo Bryson ("Tonight I Celebrate My Love," along with two 1980 live collaborations with Marcus Miller and Luther Vandross) and her classic 1970s duets with Donny Hathaway. You also get "And So It Goes" (co-written with Maya Angelou!) and the gentle Bacharach-Sager title song from the 1982 film "Making Love."

Sadly, Flack and many singers she influenced (Brenda Russell, Anita Baker, Sade) have been heard from little lately; even their older songs are restricted to "smooth jazz" or "groovin' oldies" radio. But despite missing one or two chart hits ("If Ever I See You Again" most notably) "Softly With These Songs" comprehensively collects the best from this genre-bridging artist and is essential to any 70s music collection.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The # 1 diva of the 1970's!", August 13, 2001

By 

Joseph J. Brigante "Joseph Brigante" (Norwalk, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best Of: Softly With These Songs (Audio CD)

Atlantic records held the best diva in the 1960's, Aretha Franklin. Sure enough, they did in the 1970's: Roberta Flack. She had the soul, the voice, and with great writers and producers. This collection is must, as it contains here greatest songs from 1969 to 1991. Of course, it has the best song, Joel Dorn's production of "Killing Me Softly With His Song" from Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. Charles Fox is one leading writer of the 1970's and the 1980's, which is no surprise this song can put you in another world of your own. The best song with Donny Hathaway is also included, "The Closer I Get To You", which is another classic. Besides "Killing Me Softly With His Song", the best written song and thought provoker is "Making Love" from the 1982 film. It is a pleasure to see this song included, as it never hit the top 40 of the year, despite the fact it is a masterpiece. Another reason it is important to include this in your collection is that her other hit collections never include, since they are older, "Set the Night to Music" with Maxi Priest. Surprisingly, that is one of the best songs of the 1991. But then again, it is no surprise, since mastermind Arif Mardin produced it. Even the cover of this album is great, as Roberta's face is sincere and straight, similar to Phil Collins' on "Face Value". It is an indicator she is serious and a soul master with her music. Thanks for reading.