VIA PRESS RELEASE | Shipping now from our friends at SoulMusic.com: the 50th Anniversary Edition of Roberta Flack’s Grammy Award-winning classic debut album, First Take. SoulMusic.com salutes this classic with a limited edition 2CD/1LP set that features a newly remastered version of the original album on both vinyl and CD, along with a disc of rare and unreleased recordings.
Produced in a limited edition of 3,000 copies, the set comes packaged in a 12 x 12 hardcover book. The release features extensive liner notes by SoulMusic.com founder David Nathan and two essays by pianist-vocalist Les McCann, who was instrumental in getting multi-Grammy winner, Flack, signed to Atlantic Records. This deluxe edition also features three bonus tracks: the B-side “Trade Winds,” as well the single edit versions of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Compared To What.” The second disc opens with a live version of “All The Way,” a track that was originally recorded in 1968 and later released on the McCann album, Les Is More , in 1991.
It’s followed by 12 unreleased demos that Flack recorded over two days in November 1968. On the other demos, she covers a range of genres, including her take on traditional songs (“Frankie And Johnny”), blues standards (“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out”), folk (“The Song Is Love”), pop (“To Sir With Love”), and R&B (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”)
First Take: The 50th Anniversary Edition has already received 4.5 stars from Uncut and 5 stars from Record Collector and is now shipping.
