First Take (album)
First Take is the debut album by the American soul singer Roberta Flack. It was released on June 20, 1969, by Atlantic Records. After a track from this album, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", was included by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me with the song becoming a number 1 hit in the United States, the album reached number 1 on the Billboard album chart and Billboard R&B album chart. In the 2020 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, the album was ranked number 451.[5]
| First Take | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 20, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | February 24–26, 1969 | |||
| Studio | Atlantic Studios, New York City | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 46:08 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Joel Dorn | |||
| Roberta Flack chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from First Take | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [2] |
| Pitchfork | 9.5/10[3] |
| Rolling Stone | favorable[4] |
In 2019, Flack's website[6] announced that First Take would be remastered and re-released as a limited deluxe edition of only 3,000 copies commemorating the album's fiftieth anniversary. The set includes one vinyl LP and two compact discs: one CD is the remastered album and the other contains "rare and unreleased recordings". The set was released on July 24, 2020.[7]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Compared to What" | Gene McDaniels | 5:16 |
| 2. | "Angelitos Negros" | Andrés Eloy Blanco, Manuel Álvarez Maciste | 6:56 |
| 3. | "Our Ages or Our Hearts" | Robert Ayers, Donny Hathaway | 6:09 |
| 4. | "I Told Jesus" | Traditional; arranged by Roberta Flack | 6:09 |
| 5. | "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" | Leonard Cohen | 4:08 |
| 6. | "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" | Ewan MacColl | 5:22 |
| 7. | "Tryin' Times" | Donny Hathaway, Leroy Hutson | 5:08 |
| 8. | "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" | Fran Landesman, Tommy Wolf | 7:00 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Compared to What" (single edit) | Gene McDaniels | 4:37 |
| 10. | "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (single edit) | Ewan MacColl | 4:20 |
| 11. | "Trade Winds" | Ralph MacDonald, William Salter | 5:37 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "All the Way" (live) | Sammy Cahn, James Van Hausen | 8:39 |
| 2. | "This Could Be the Start of Something" | Steve Allen | 1:23 |
| 3. | "Groove Me" | King Floyd | 4:19 |
| 4. | "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" | Jimmy Cox | 6:24 |
| 5. | "Hush-a-Bye" | Traditional; arranged by Roberta Flack | 5:33 |
| 6. | "Afro Blue" | Mongo Santamaría, Oscar Brown | 9:21 |
| 7. | "It's Way Past Suppertime" | Les McCann, Vicki Arnold | 3:53 |
| 8. | "Frankie and Johnny" | Traditional; arranged by Roberta Flack | 7:15 |
| 9. | "On the Street Where You Live" | Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Lowe | 2:45 |
| 10. | "The House Song" | Noel Paul Stookey, Robert Bannard | 5:54 |
| 11. | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson | 3:25 |
| 12. | "The Song Is Love" | Dave Dixon, Richard Kniss, Mary Travers, Noel Paul Stookey, Peter Yarrow | 5:20 |
| 13. | "To Sir with Love" | Don Black, Mark London | 8:27 |
Personnel
- Roberta Flack – piano, vocals
- Bucky Pizzarelli – guitars
- Ron Carter – bass
- Ray Lucas – drums, percussion
- Seldon Powell, Frank Wess – saxophone
- Charles McCracken, George Ricci – cello
- Benny Powell – trombone
- Jimmy Nottingham, Joe Newman – trumpet
- Emanuel Green, Gene Orloff – violin
- Alfred Brown, Selwart Clarke, Theodore Israel – viola
- William S. Fischer – horn & string arrangements, string conducting
- Technical
- William Arlt – recording engineer
- Bob Liftin – remixing engineer
- Stanislaw Zagorski – design
- Ken Heinen – photography
Chart positions
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Top LPs | 1 |
| Billboard Top Soul Albums | 1 |
| Billboard Jazz Albums | 3 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[8] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[9] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
See also
References
- Breihan, Tom (February 25, 2019). "The Number Ones: Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
The album is a total stunner, a florid and lovely jazz-folk meditation...
- Bush, John. First Take at AllMusic
- Nelson, Elizabeth (26 December 2020). "Roberta Flack: First Take". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
- Lester, Julius. "Roberta Flack: First Take : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-04-02. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
- "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
- "Roberta Flack - Singer, Songwriter, Musician". www.robertaflack.com. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- store.soulmusic.com https://store.soulmusic.com/first-take-50th-anniversary-deluxe-edition-1.html. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - "Canadian album certifications – Roberta Flack – First Take". Music Canada. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
- "American album certifications – Roberta Flack – First Take". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
External links
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