ROBERTA FLACK Vinilo y CD

Review: Roberta Flack's debut album First Takes remains a treasure of soul jazz voiced by one of the greatest to ever do it. Originally released in 1969, leading up to the release of the album Flack recorded a series of sessions which have only been revisited in scattered moments. As Gilles Peterson continues his exploration of the Warner Music archives, he's comes across these sessions and gathered them together for his Arc label. As well as different versions of classics from First Takes, there are cover versions such as Flack's take on Mongo Santamaria's 'Afro Blue' and Motown anthem 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough'.

Review: Prepare to be wowed by this reissue of a classic Roberta Flack album. It is one that is now 50+ years old so comes on special clear vinyl. It topped the charts in 1972, some three years after it was actually released in 1969. Of course, it is best known for the tune 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' which was in Clint Eastwood's movie 'Play Misty for Me'. It went on to stay at number one for six weeks and then won the Grammyr Award for Record of the Year in 1973. Allegedly the record only took 10 hours to complete in its entirety, and what a record it is.