Customer Reviews

Chapter Two

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

as first take left you breathless, begging for more miss roberta flack gave us more indeed.her very soul runs rapid within the flowing peaceful waters in our minds,bodys,n souls.singing like the true songbird she is without no effort at all,she should definately share the queen's throne as the world's greatest singers on this mother earth.after the soulful reverand lee, she slips into the fabulous,do what you gotta do,just like a woman,let it be me, until it's time for you to go,onto the impossible dream to name the grand highlites.A MUST HAVE!!J.H.52757

Only a strong album could adequately follow First Take, and she does so. Roberta Flack's strong sensitive voice is surely one of God's great musical gifts.

"Reverend Lee" is a song to play over and over again. She just tears up "Let It Be Me", and anyone listening to "Gone Away" soon after the breakup of a loving relationship assumes the risk of suicide. "Do What You Gotta Do" makes me want to pick up and run to wherever she might be when she pleads "come on back, and see me when you can".

Too strong

I was a child when this album came out and it has haunted me ever since. Turn the lights out, light a fire in the fireplace, select your favorite bottle of wine, kick the kids out, curl up on the couch with your loved one, put this album on and enjoy. Hell, this albums so good you don't need anyone. Kick everyone out. "Reverend Lee", with good reason, is the classic of this album. You'll feel Roberta's warm breath on your neck as she sings of sin and lust. It'll take you back in time to that someone whom you couldn't resist, even though you knew better. Other favorites are "Do What You Gotta Do", "Gone Away", and "Until It's Time For You To Go". Those three songs along with "Just Like A Woman" are beautiful in their meaning and the mood they create. "Business Goes On As Usual" is placed last. It's a haunting anti-war song and you'd think it wouldn't fit in with the other songs of love and regret but it does. That's because it too is about love and the lose of that loved one. My personal favorite is "Let It Be Me". Like "Impossible Dream", Roberta's voice, the tempo, what I believe is a French Horn in the background, all combine to make you realize how beautiful songs can be, even songs you've heard a hundred times, when given to a vocal talent such as Roberta Flack. After you've recharged your soul with this album, let the spouce and kids back in and give them a hug.

The brilliant "First Take" is a tough act to follow, so it's all the more incredible that Roberta Flack actually succeeds in capturing the same high with her performance and musicianship on "Chapter Two". I know it's easy to be cynical 'cos you truly wonder how any contemporary black artiste can offer a fresh perspective on familiar songs like "Let It Be Me", "The Impossible Dream" and "Until It's Time For You To Go" which by 1970 had become standards and are (worse) even included in the repertoire of cabaret artistes like Shirley Bassey and Andy Williams. So, you really gotta hear it to believe it. If anybody thought "First Take" was a one off or an inspired fluke shot, "Chapter Two" should prove beyond all doubt that Roberta Flack is an uncommonly gifted diva with the talent to transform just about anything from pop fodder to folk and blues standards into pure hymns of praise to which any response other than listening in rapt silence would seem less than appropriate.

Opening with concert favourite "Reverend Lee", Roberta shows the rocking soul mama side to herself we seldom see when she raises the temparature by a few degrees, breathing and panting over a cooking bass on this slow burning number to deliver a knock out performance. From there on, the tempo slows down with masterful readings of Jimmy Webb's "Do What You Gotta Do" and Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman", songs also recorded around the same time by Nina Simone, the other great black diva, who judged on these performances justifiably regarded Roberta as a serious rival for her fan base in the early 70s. The three familiar standards that follow - the sequence broken only by the moving lament "Gone Away" - are majestic virtuoso performances featuring some of the most heartfelt and inspired singing by Roberta ever. The musical accompaniment on "Chapter Two", like all of her early albums, is typically tasteful and restrained, never intrusive or dominating, allowing her naturally unforced and peerless phrasing and performance to carry the songs. The closing anti-war number, "Business Goes On As Usual", is another highlight. It is also quintessentially 70s, featuring a socially conscious Roberta at her most ironic.

As with "First Take" and "Quiet Fire", listening to "Chapter Two" reminds us of why we love Roberta Flack. No black artiste with self accompaniment sings so powerfully and majestically yet so naturally and freely from the heart the way she does. "Chapter Two" is in my opinion every bit a brilliant as "First Take". Like I said, you gotta hear it to believe it !

I first received this Album as a gift in 1972 and fell in love with it from the start. I played it so much that the record is now scratched but I still have it along with the cover. I never thought about checking to see if it had been made on a CD when I saw it on Target.com I had to have it and ordered it. I know that I will be getting hours of listening enjoyment as I did in the 1970's. I recomend Roberta Flack Chapter Two to anyone if you don't buy another Roberta Flack CD ever you must hear this one.

One of Roberta Flack's best CDs. A collection of beautiful ballads with spare, but superb musical accompaniment. Her voice is, all at once, tender, classy, soulful and plaintive. Many of these songs have been done to death, but in the hands of Ms. Flack they are fresh, powerful and dwarf all other versions by comparison. Highly recommended.

Did sweet music ever so so good? Hearing Chapter Two in 1998 is like hearing it the first time, all new, wonderous and touching you deep in the heart.

It's been 26 years since I first laid the vinyl to the turntable and now it's the CD to the CD player, but it's a good as the first time and I am sixteen and in love all over again

I remembered my parents playing this album and I just HAD to have it! I am not disappointed...as an adult, I can REALLY appreciate the soulfulness, haunting beauty of her music and superb talent of Roberta Flack. The entire CD is great but if you only buy it for "Reverend Lee", "Let It Be Me" and "Gone Away" its worth it! I only wish when Roberta performs live that she would sing some of these classics ... they are her greatest work!

Once again Miss Flack sings about love, life, and pain. And even though I wish that they had left off Business goes on as usual the lyrics are certainly telling if the music and the arrangement are less than inspiring it doesn't detract from an otherwise flawless work.

And I have to refute a previous reviewers comments about the impossible dream. It's not about love at all. It's about stuggling against (seemingly) insurmountable odds while being on the side of rightness and righteousness. And although i've heard this sung many times by many performers I have to say that I heard it truly for the first time only when I heard it performed on this album by this gift to the world of a woman.

A must have in my eyes.

Roberta Flack sings to your soul...it is as if each song knows where you were coming from, where you are now, where you want to go. Her voice resonates with every beat of your heart, brings out your innermost feelings you probably want buried deep inside, making you feel vulnerable in so many ways.

"Let It Be Me" sings about two people who found love in each other so unexpectedly, and they both wonder if and wish they will always be destined to be together...this song is a prayer.

"Do What You Gotta Do" sings about a man who loves and believes totally and unconditionally, a man who lets go and wait despite the pain of losing..."do what you've gotta do my one sweet love, though it would mean I may never kiss those sweet lips again..." cuts like a knife.

"Until It's Time For You To Go" sings about two souls who meet and love, aware of their predicaments, fearful of losing one another, yet this does not stop them from loving, thereby exposing them to the pain of iminent loss....""don't ask forever..love me, love me now...this love of mine, has no beginning it has no end..." captures how soulmates love each other,how every moment of togetherness counts, how their love can go beyond space and time, and coming and going in this and several other lifetimes.

"The Impossible Dream" sings about love's unquenchable faith....a call for courage... a tear for lost dreams.

This album is a gem....something that sings to your heart and soul even after the last cut of the album has long been over.

This is for you, my Handsome Prince.