Go Up Moses/Bridge Over Troubled Water/Sunday & Sister Jones/See You Then/Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow/To Love Somebody/Let Them Talk/Sweet Bitter Love
R & B vocalist and pianist Roberta Flack increased her commercial and artistic recognition with Quiet Fire, which includes a significant number of covers of well known songs. (US:18)
“Roberta Flack is back to her smouldering self on Quiet Fire. I was apprehensive as the first tune, Go Up Moses played, because while she does a fine job with gospel, it's the ballads that I really want. Then came her cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water, a song that has been covered countless times, with most failing miserably. Roberta nails it, with all the emotion, love and promise that Paul Simon intended. It's beautiful. But the best of all is the final cut, a gorgeous soulful reading of Sweet Bitter Love which explains perfectly why I love listening to Roberta Flack sing ballads. It's really something to behold.”
“As usual, less is always more with a Roberta Flack album, so the best tunes by far are those that simply feature her on piano. Nothing on this album really misses, and sometimes the results are amazing.”
“You'll love Roberta's passionate readings of many covers on this gem. She does a beauty remake of Aretha Franklin's minor hit Sweet Bitter Love with just herself on keyboards.”
“Quiet Fire is as apt a name as any for this wonderful singer. Her voice is a slow boiler that starts out cool, gradually heats and builds to a raging fire on this album. Go Up Moses stokes those flames. Again, Miss Roberta mines her choices well, and there isn't one bad cut here.”
“Roberta's approach to a song is rather conservative. She may slow it down a bit but always tries to preserve the melody and the cadence of a song. What she does is use her peerless phrasing and majestic performance to transform a song into something precious and personal. Listening to her voice build and rise above the piano is akin to a religious experience and it can't get more churchy than Go Up Moses which has Roberta feverishly incanting over a raucous rhythm.”
“This disc finds Roberta Flack at her peak, flush with her initial success, and building on that with an album that combines soul and jazz feeling. It captures the times, employing themes of mass movement as well as individual passion.”
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