LP Review: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway
Released: 1972
LP Charts: #2 R&B (5 weeks), #3 pop
Conjured up as a way to bolster both the careers of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway wound up being just another note in Flack’s career and the commercial high point for Hathaway. Kind of ironic considering that when it was recorded in 1971, Hathaway to that point had more commercial success than Flack, but by the time it was released in 1972 Flack’s career had exploded while Hathaway’s would sputter.
Artistically, however, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway is a bore with too many dull and drab ballads and I have soooo many bad things to say about it.
The opening “I (Who Have Nothing)” fucking sucks. Aretha Franklin’s absolutely fantastic “Baby I Love You” is sapped of all its vitality and sass here.
Granted there’s hardly a version of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” I find listenable, but Flack’s and Hathaway’s is the worst I’ve ever heard. “When Love Has Grown” is perfectly average (an improvement!) while “Come Ye Disconsolate” makes me want to die it’s so awful. “Mood” is a long meandering classical piano solo. Sounds much better with headphones, but in the end still sounds like padding to me since it’s seven minutes long and is also the final track of the album.
Okay, now for the good stuff, which is very little considering the bad and boring songs are longer in length than the good ones in addition to being more numerous.
The most famous song on this album is the best song: “Where is the Love” (#1 R&B, #5 pop, #1 adult contemporary). It’s a ghostly piece of pop fluff. I mean that as high praise. It’s haunting in a good way.
Their version of “You’ve Got A Friend” (#8 R&B, #29 pop) came out simultaneously with James Taylor’s. Of course, Taylor’s topped the pop chart while Hathaway and Flack got a minor hit out of it.
“Be Real Black For Me” is an ode to Black beauty with a great piano intro.
You know how much I need you
To have you, really feel you
You don’t have to change a thing
No one knows the love you bring
Be real black for me
“For All We Know” is a Hathaway solo feature. Just the man and his piano until the 2:40 mark when strings and woodwinds bring in some climactic drama. It’s a nice quiet, sparkling moment on the album.
ALBUM GRADE: D
Look, this album has some good songs, but it also has some of the worst music I’ve ever heard. Extricate the four good songs, flip a coin for the two perfectly average ones, and burn the four that are abominations. Can’t believe this thing went gold.
Song Scores
I (Who Have Nothing): 0/10
You’ve Got A Friend: 7/10
Baby I Love You: 2/10
Be Real Black For Me: 7/10
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’: 2/10
For All We Know: 7/10
Where Is The Love: 7.5/10
When Love Has Grown: 5/10
Come Ye Disconsolate: 0/10
Mood: 5/10