Compared to What - Roberta Flack
- Feb 27
- 2 min read
A severe attack of polymalgia rheumatica (a form of arthritis) that has lasted since just before Christmas till now has curtailed my keyboard time, but now the purchase of a new computer-friendly chair and a course of steroids has eased the keyboard pain. As a result I'm now almost exactly a year behind my remembrance of the musical troubadours queueing up at St Peter's gates. And there's plenty to get through, which I'm going to vigorously essay, so we can get onto other interesting musical and troubadourian things.
Next up is the wonderful Roberta Flack, who died on February 24th last year (also see previous posts:
Flack's first album, the 1969 appropriately named "First Take" was a terrific denouement, skilfully mixing the subtlety of her classical piano training with the toughness and timing learnt performing in the clubs of Washington DC. Her second offering, "Chapter Two", eschewed this for a sustained softness which, especially for a person who specialised in the interpretation of other people's songs, often meant that they lost their bite when receiving the Flack treatment. If you want something to lull you to sleep, "Chapter Two" and much of Flack's subsequent work, including her duets with Donnie Hathaway, and later, Peabo Bryson, is just the ticket, the kind of music that a character in a 1970 US movie would put on to set the tone for an intimate candle-lit meal in their apartment with a prospective lover.
It seems churlish to say so, but "First Take" is the one truly great album of her career, otherwise highlighted by her standout US Number One singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and "Fell like Makin' Love" with every track a gem.
There's no finer place to celebrate Roberta Flack than right at the beginning: first track, First Take: it doesn't get any better, or tougher and angrier than this. "Compared to What" was written and originally performed by singer songwriter Gene McDaniels whose material was to become Roberta Flack's primary source as the years progressed.
Too many of the lyrics resonate in today's America, , especially "you have one doubt, they call it treason", suggesting that we've gone backwards, not forwards in Roberta Flack's lifetime.
you have one doubt, they call it treason
I said we're chicken feathers, all without one gut
tryin' to make it real, but compared to what?
....But where's that bee and where's their honey?
Where's my God and where's my money?
Unreal values, crass distortion,
unwed mothers need abortion.....
Said I love the lie, lie the love,
hangin' on with a push and shove,
possession is the motivation,
hangin' up the whole damn nation.
Looks like we always end up in a rut,
tryin' to make it real, but compared to what?"
What a star ⭐