Customer Reviews

Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway

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This was intended to be Roberta's second full fledged collaboration with Donny Hathaway but as we all know, Donny committed suicide before the recording was finished, so we'd never know what the final product might have been had the album been completed. Nevertheless, what we eventually got from the sessions were 7 tracks featuring Donny's vocals on only 2 of them. On 2 tracks, the songs ran back to back for nearly 18 minutes long, so Atlantic must have been pretty desperate to drag out the half complete sessions into a full length album. How else to explain an interminable 9-minute plus take of "Back Together Again" when a 4 to 5 minute version would have done the job ? That aside, the good news is that the quality of this, Roberta's disco album, is remarkably even. Roberta's and Donny's voices blend beautifully on their hit duet, "You Are My Heaven". For those who think Roberta doesn't ever let rip, just listen to the last 15 seconds before the fade out. For a fleeting moment, I thought I was hearing Aretha ! The other stand out but curiously ignored track is Gwen Guthrie's "God Don't Like Ugly". Here, Roberta gets into an unusually funky groove with excellent phrasing and some of her most soulful singing. The two non-disco ballads on the album, "Disguises" and "Stay With Me", also hold their own. "Disguises" is particularly poignant and moving. So, "Roberta Flack featuring Donny Hathaway" isn't quite what its title professes. She flirted with disco but avoided its excesses and worst influences. This album is clearly one of Roberta's better late 70s/early 80s efforts since abandoning the persona of virtuoso performer for that of classy MOR artiste.

The long awaited reunion of Roberta and Donny is one of the highlights of this album. This is one of Roberta's best, where she sounds so good with Donny on "You Are My Heaven," and gets down and funky with him on "Back Together Again." One of my favorite cuts though is "Don't Make Me Wait Too Long." Roberta gets funky on this one too, and it doesn't hurt that another GENIUS, Stevie Wonder, wrote it. The material is outstanding, the melodies will have you humming songs ALL DAY. And while you check out the credits on this one, take note of some of the background vocalists. This is a great album.

Roberta Flack&Donny Hataway Sound Fantastic Together Here.As Always they are Two Great Minds with alot Of Chemistry.You are My Heaven is a Great Classic Cut.their voices are so powerful together.this is a must.Great Music&Lyrics.

Back together again may be the hit song of this album, but this whole album is slammin'. Don't make me wait to long is classic disco. Donny was one of the great ones.

Sadly in all art there are occasions where a sudden tragedy derails a project and,in cases such as this the show must go on. It happened to Chicago after Terry Kath's accidental death a couple years before this and it happened here. After years of personal hardship soul maestro Donny Hathaway planned a comeback set with his famed musical partner Roberta Flack and even enlisted the assistence of Luther Vandross,Hiram Bullock and Stevie Wonder himself for various musical,vocal and songwriting duties throughout. That all ended after Hathaway's suicide resulted in this set being a posthumous release. That's why this is credited more or less as a Roberta Flack FEATURING Donny Hathaway as opposed to the full on collaboration their first duet album was. Either way when it all did come together their vocals and styles still complimented eachother well;Donny's expressive and soulful delivery along with Flack's restrained and quieter style.

Basically,because for one this album was completed after Hathaway's passing it consists of two types of tunes-short ballads and extended lengh uptempo tunes with no middle tempo variations in between. The three ballads "Only Heaven Can Wait","Disguises" and "Stay With Me" all more or less end up featuring Roberta and are firmly entrenched in her style-sleek playing generally adult contemporary lyrical themes. The uptempo tunes are what make this album however. Two of the songs were written by Stevie Wonder and are among his finest compositions for anyone;"You Are My Heaven" features one of the most glossily percussive productions on a late 70's urban sophistifunk/pop song your likely to here and the multi tracked basslines on the slinky disco-funk groove of "Don't Make Me Wait Too Long" really bring out the best in Roberta and Donny's vocal exchanges. "Back Together Again" has a great arrangement and a production that,with it's horn charts and melodic use of synthesizers is actually very futurist for 1979 and since these three tracks are the ones that Hathaway got a chance to complete before his passing it shows that he was looking to musically move forward on all thrusters.

There's also the gospel inflected "God Don't Like Ugly",a funky blues based tune that is a bit out of place with the glossy productions of what goes with it but is a nice change of pace overall. So while this album didn't end up fullfilling every single hope it was meant to due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding it. But at the same time it was a much anticipated release and,partly no doubt due to Hathaway's passing got a lot of good support when it came out-including in that the fact that it was one of the first albums my parents purchased together after they got married. And because the music has a very swoony yet very adult flavor to it's lyrics,with it's tales of romantic trepedation and release it no doubt was the "first album" for many new couples who were just starting out around this time. And because it included a good mix of slow ballads and melodically well crafted uptempo grooves it no doubt served and continues to serve every variety of listener very well.

Peel away the shimmering, beautifully applied disco veneer on 'Roberta Flack featuring Donny Hathway' and what you have is a sophisticated, enticing and enduring concoction of soul, pop and gospel. I have had this record in my life for a long time and it still sounds fresh. I played it last night, late after a hectic night. Kept the volume down low and it was a beautiful sensation, every song hitting home as hard and as soft as they every did.

PS I once bought a copy of the album on Itunes and it turned out not to be the original edition - a number of the tracks are live versions. Weird and unsatisfying. Fortunately Amazon came to the rescue.

mr. hathaway and ms. flack have voices that blend and compliment each other. rarely do artists voices blend so harmoniously.

i will say that you might be disappointed that more of the tracks are not duets. it IS titled *roberta flack, FEATURING donnie hathaway*. even so, the delicate lyrics of these songs delve into your spirit and ingrain themselves into your life. i found myself thinking of lines from the songs during happy and sad times ... the lyrics fit. and that's the joy of a song, isn't it? one that speaks to your life experience. this album tracks the ups and downs of romantic love.

ms. flack and mr. hathaway's voices soar on *you are my heaven* and *don't make me wait too long*, demonstrating the first rush of new love.

in *disguises*, ms. flack's rendition evokes the sadness and resignation that comes at the end of a love affair ... *only heaven can wait* speaks of the anguish of living in a relationship going bad ... *stay with me* made me relive poignant memories of lost loves and somehow reminded me of how much we lost when mr. hathaway died ...

if you are sentimental and enjoy good vocalization, then i think you will really enjoy this album. it ages well.

Classic album but sad considering it was released months after the death of Donny Hathaway. Especially when you hear "Back Together Again." If you listen carefully you can distinctively hear Luther Vandross singing in the background.

A MÚSICA "ONLY HEAVEN CAN WAIT" CANTADA PELA DUPLA ME REMETE À UM TEMPO DE GRANDES E BOAS RECORDAÇÕES. ONDE SONHAR ERA OPROJETO DE VIDA E RELIZÁ-LO... BEM, AO FUTURO PERTENCIA E, SEM COMPROMISSOS, SE VIVIA, INTENSAMENTE,O PRESENTE!!!!

Because of your difficulties in this site, I could not listen to the samples. I am very displeased with this. And will probably never attempt to use this applicaion again. What the hell is the problem?