Bobby Womack may make something soulful, and never simply on his personal compositions. The storied R&B singer from Cleveland is remembered for any variety of self-written classics, from “Lookin’ For A Love” and “Across 110th Street” to later gems reminiscent of “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” and “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much.” However he was additionally a grasp of the imaginative cowl, together with a number of pop favorites within the late Sixties and early Seventies.
Having beforehand turned his hand to the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” and classics of American straightforward listening music reminiscent of “Fly Me To The Moon” and “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” the summer season of 1972 noticed Womack opening the Neil Diamond songbook. On August 26 that 12 months, Womack entered Billboard’s Greatest Promoting Soul Singles chart together with his tackle “Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good).”
Diamond’s personal enduring model of his feelgood quantity was a No.4 hit on the Sizzling 100 in 1969, and was quickly attracting covers by Andy Williams, Bobby Goldsboro, and Elvis Presley, who made it a function of his dwell present. There was an instrumental tackle the tune by the Ventures, on their tenth Anniversary Album of 1970. Womack obtained to it on his1972 album Understanding, from which the opening single, his personal “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” turned his first R&B No.1 in June.
“Sweet Caroline” was chosen because the second 45 from the album, and whereas it largely missed the crossover viewers, as had its predecessor, the Diamond cowl turned one other soul favourite, climbing to No.16. Larger success would meet the follow-up, Jim Ford’s “Harry Hippie,” which reached No.3 R&B and made the pop High 40 at No.31.
When Womack spoke to Blues & Soul upon the album’s launch, he was enthusiastic about not solely his personal LP however different current initiatives on which he had left his imprint. “I’ve worked with some heavy people in the last year and I’ve learned a lot of new things which I’ve been able to put into my new album,” he mentioned. “I’m on Sly’s album, There’s A Riot Going On – you’ll even see me on the sleeve if you like to look closely! I worked on Billy Preston’s new album and I’m on ‘Outa Space’ playing my guitar.”
Billboard described Understanding as “a great album,” and within the New York Instances, Loraine Alterman was filled with reward for it, and for Womack’s covers of each “Sweet Caroline” and The Beatles’ “And I Love Her,” describing them as “relaxed and soulful interpretations.” Alterman judged Understanding to be “one of the tastiest albums I’ve heard in the past year. He possesses a warm, throaty, very expressive, and always funky voice. The arrangements, written by Womack, feature a dynamic interplay of instruments and lead and background voices.”
Hearken to “Sweet Caroline” on Bobby Womack’s Understanding album on Apple Music and Spotify.
