BOBBY WOMACK: THE LAST SOUL MAN STANDING
Bobby Womack is many things: great songwriter, wonderful guitarist, deeply expressive singer, compelling street philosopher and a moving performer. For those who are familiar with the breadth and depth of his work over the past fifty years, he is a monumental figure, an artist who has done a lot to define soul music with his own unique style, melodically lyrical but punctuated by his trademark monologues, what used to be called “raps” before "rap" as a genre existed. He’s scored dozens of hits, written dozens of others yet it is fair to say that he is under-recognized by the mainstream music arena as well the contemporary R & B world. As impressive as his musical contribution has been, his life story has been just as amazing. He has been present at many pivotal moments in musical history and has navigated myriad personal ups and downs, including serious substance abuse. Bobby Womack is a survivor.
A quick overview: Growing up poor, though not destitute, he got in the music game early via the family gospel group with his brothers, overseen by his very religious musician father. The great Sam Cooke took the boys under his shortly after Sam had left gospel stardom for the secular music world and had become one of the biggest stars of the late Fifties/early Sixties. Sam was a mentor to Bobby both musically and business-wize, as Sam was a very forward-thinking, business-minded artist, one of the few at that time to control his own destiny in the business. Sam re-named the Womack Brothers group The Valentinos and began recording them for his own SAR label—scoring their first hit in 1962 with the Bobby’s original “Looking For A Love.” When Sam was murdered in 1964, in a very Freudian move, Bobby, age 20, married Sam’s widow Barbara, who was at least ten years older; this made him a pariah in the African-American community. At some point, Bobby also became his step-daughter’s lover, which led to Barbara shooting him (though not fatally and they remained married for six more years). Meanwhile, this same step-daughter married Bobby’s brother. In 1964 also, The Rolling Stones covered Bobby’s song “It’s All Over Now”, which became their third American hit. Much of the Sixties found Bobby writing or playing guitar on hit records by everyone from Aretha on down. How good a musician was he? Well, he wrote “Breezin’” which became one the biggest pop guitar hits of all time when George Benson recorded it. His solo recording career started almost by accident in 1967 and he started having hits. Drugs became part of his life and he was the last person to see Janis Joplin alive, hanging out with her before her drug connection came by to give her the heroin that killed her. In the early Seventies he contributed to Sly & The Family Stone’s “There’s A Riot Going On” and was part of the scene hanging with Sly, Ike Turner and a wild cast at Sly’s house. Throughout the Seventies he scored hit after hit, sometime innovative versions of other people’s songs as well as his own compositions, often delivered with his lyrical, preaching style—soul classics such as “That’s The Way I Feel About Cha”, “I’m Through Trying To Prove My Love To You”, “Daylight”, “Across 110th Street”, “Harry Hippie”(written for his murdered brother), and many more. He re-surged in the Eighties with The Poet trilogy of albums. By the late Eighties various demons, excesses and bad breaks had sent him into the wilderness. And all of this is only a limited summary of the amazing and daunting life of Bobby Womack. Check out MIDNIGHT MOVER, his autobiography for more. And now he’s back with a new album simply called “The Bravest Man In The Universe.”
I’d been hearing about the album for awhile. In fact I had seriously considered approaching him about doing an album. An artist I worked with for Shanachie, Calvin Richardson, had at my suggestion recorded a tribute album of Bobby Womack songs—and had done a great job at delivering his style. I arranged for a copy of the album to be sent to Bobby and one day called him to see what he thought of it. He felt Calvin had done the songs justice and seemed pleased. But in the business climate of 2009, it was hard for me to see how the economics could work to make an offer to Bobby and also I was not sure what would be the right kind of album to make. It is always tricky recording legendary artists in their later years. If you take the route of doing it in a retro style, you run the risk of coming up with something that is just an lesser version of their prior greatness that appeals only to hard-core existing fans. If you try do a contemporary album with them, the likely result is an album that does not play to the artist’s strengths. The best way is to take an approach that is not strictly retro but yet has a feel and space that relates to the artist’s specialness. But that is easier said than done. I heard that rock artist Damon Albarn was going to be involved in producing a new album with Bobby. The word was that they were going to do something very contemporary, with no effort to recreate a classic R & B or soul style. So I was very curious to see how that would work out.
“The Bravest Man In The Universe” starts with just Bobby’s raw cry and strings…promising enough! But then a really mechanical, moronic drum machine comes in that is completely at odds with the feel of Bobby’s vocal. Similarly, the second track finds Bobby’s soul-wrenching vocal undermined by a bassline that makes no sense in relation to the aching lyricism of the vocal; it only undermines it. Contradictory emotions surface: on the one hand, Bobby’s voice and phrasing clearly still have what it takes to put across a song. Though his voice may be more ragged and the upper range may not be there, Bobby Womack’s vocals were never defined by a pure tone or impressive range. On the other hand, the music seems to be working at cross-purposes with Bobby’s singing. It gets a little better with the third track, a gospel tune highlighting acoustic guitar and vocals; not a great but a great vibe. Five tracks in, “Whatever Happened To The Times” shows how things could work. The backing track sets a reflective mood, more textural than beat-oriented, and Bobby delivers and evocative song about a man reflecting on his life. On “Nothing Can Save Ya”, the Guinean singer Fatamatou Diawara puts an interestingly effective twist on a strong Womack composition, though it is not a true duet as Bobby’s role is limited. The album ends with an electro update of the gospel chestnut “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You ‘Around” enlivened by one of Bobby’s trademark monologues. It works ok.
So to sum up, Bobby did his job on “The Bravest Man In The Universe”, both as singer and songwriter. With better production, this could have been a very good album, maybe not hitting the heights of Bobby Womack classics, but still good with a fresh twist. Unfortunately, some songs have completely unmusical backing tracks; others have backing tracks that make sense within themselves but don’t work with Bobby’s melodies or singing. And you have a couple where things come together pretty nicely. But all in all, it is a missed opportunity. I read one interview in which Bobby said at times he didn’t really understand what they were doing. In more astute hands, this kind of approach could have worked. The good thing is that the album has gotten a lot of media attention, put Bobby Womack back in the public eye and hopefully that will lead to some opportunities for him. I’d say Bobby has a few more killer songs in him and Lord knows the world could use them right about now!