| Feel Like Makin' Love | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1975 | |||
| Recorded | 1973-1974 | |||
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 46:34 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Rubina Flake | |||
| Roberta Flack chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Feel Like Makin' Love | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
Released in 1975, Feel Like Makin' Love is Roberta Flack's fifth solo album and sixth overall, when counting her duet album with Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway from 1972. It was the first album produced by Flack herself, under the pseudonym Rubina Flake.
The album's title cut had been issued as a single in June 1974 affording Flack her third #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, after which success Atlantic Records signed Flack to a new five year contract - reportedly the most lucrative ever signed by a female recording artist. The Feel Like Makin' Love album had reportedly by September 1974 already accrued enough advance orders from retail outlets to guarantee gold status upon the album's release, which was expected in November 1974.[3]
In fact, the album would not be ready for release until March 1975 having taken fourteen months to record. Although Flack had self-produced the "Feel Like Makin' Love" single, she had begun recording the album with her regular producer Joel Dorn: unhappy when Flack recruited "Feel Like Makin' Love" co-writer Gene McDaniels as an additional producer, Dorn had withdrawn from Flack's album (Dorn would, in fact, end his seven-year association with Atlantic Records) and after Flack and McDaniels proved unable to establish an agreeable working relationship Flack was left to produce her album alone.[4][5]
Although Flack had worked closely with Joel Dorn in the recording of her previous albums the singer found the task of producing an entire album by herself an arduous challenge: (Roberta Flack quote:)"I made a lot of mistakes. It was a very hard time for me. There were days when I just cried and cried. But you press on. You press on."[4] Upon the belated release of the Feel Like Makin' Love album Flack admitted that Atlantic Records were discontented with the time and expense spent on the album: (Roberta Flack quote:)"the [high price tag] is misleading. Some material I recorded will be used on my next two albums [which] I will be able to finish...very quickly and [cost efficiently]"[5] - in fact Flack's next album: Blue Lights in the Basement, would not be ready for release until December 1977 - thirty-three months after the release of the Feel Like Makin' Love album. Despite its reported heavy advance orders, Feel Like Makin' Love would become Flack's first album to not be certified gold.
Track listing
| Track No | Song title | Composer(s) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Feelin' That Glow" | Bob Fusco, Sister Charlotte Laws, Gene McDaniels, Maurice McKinley, Leon Pendarvis | 5:48 |
| 2 | "I Wanted It Too" | Ralph MacDonald, William Salter | 2:51 |
| 3 | "I Can See the Sun in Late December" | Stevie Wonder | 12:48 |
| 4 | "Some Gospel According to Matthew" | Stuart Scharf | 2:37 |
| 5 | "Feel Like Makin' Love" | Gene McDaniels | 2:55 |
| 6 | "Mister Magic" | Ralph MacDonald, William Salter | 3:55 |
| 7 | "Early Ev'ry Midnite" | Gene McDaniels, Leon Pendarvis | 5:54 |
| 8 | "Old Heartbreak Top Ten" | Gene McDaniels | 4:22 |
| 9 | "She's Not Blind" | Stuart Scharf | 5:24 |
Personnel
- Roberta Flack – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, arrangements (3, 5)
- Bob James – keyboards
- Leon Pendarvis – keyboards, arrangements (1, 5, 7, 8)
- Richard Tee – keyboards
- Harry Whitaker – keyboards, arrangements (3)
- Keith Loving – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Hugh McCracken – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- David Spinozza – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Richie Resnicoff – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Stuart Scharf – fretted instruments, arrangements (4, 9)
- Anthony Jackson – electric bass
- Gary King – electric bass
- Alphonse Mouzon – drums
- Idris Muhammad – drums
- Ronnie Zito – drums
- David Carey – percussion, vibraphone
- Ralph MacDonald – congas, percussion, arrangements (2, 6)
- Phil Kraus – percussion, timpani
- Arthur Jenkins – kalimba, arrangements (2)
- James Vass – flute
- Joe Farrell – oboe
- Karen Sargent – oboe
- Jo Armstead – backing vocals
- Patti Austin – backing vocals
- Betty Buckley – backing vocals
- Bob Dorough – backing vocals
- William Eaton – backing vocals, arrangements (2)
- Janice Gadson – backing vocals
- Lani Groves – backing vocals
- Rhetta Hughes – backing vocals
- Lesley Miller – backing vocals
- William Salter – backing vocals, arrangements (2, 6)
- Maeretha Stewart – backing vocals
- Deniece Williams – backing vocals
Production
- Roberta Flack – producer, album design
- Leon Pendarvis – associate producer
- Gene McDaniels – co-producer
- Antisia Music, Inc. – co-producers
- Scharf / Dorough, Ltd. – co-producers
- Frederick Wilkerson – vocal production
- Louise Fleming – production assistant
- Jim McCurdy – engineer, remixing
- Stephen Y. Scheaffer – engineer
- John Struthers – assistant engineer
- Harry Yamick – engineer
- Lou Stovall – album design, cover artwork
References
- 1 2 3 Breihan, Tom (May 29, 2019). "The Number Ones: Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
The Feel Like Makin' Love album... [is] full of these gorgeous excursions that drew as much from folk and jazz as they did from the soul music...
- ↑ Cook, Stephen (2011). "Feel Like Makin' Love - Roberta Flack | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ↑ Fort Lauderdale News 21 September 1974 "Roberta Flack Does New Album: Bessie Smith film next" by Mary Campbell p.9B
- 1 2 High Fidelity May 1978 "Inevitably, Roberta Flack" by Leida White pp.121-124
- 1 2 Los Angeles Times 10 May 1978 "Roberta Flack Producing Her Own Albums" by Dennis Hunt pp.IV-1, IV-24 - IV-25