I have seen miss roberta flack in concert twice;and each time I have seen her it move my spirit. I just wish i could see her in concert again.
January 27, 2008 |  | Quiet Fire - Roberta Flack |  |
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. Highly recommended.
January 3, 2007Roberta Flack is as good as music gets and any chance to hear her sing is worthwhile. This album is more than worthwhile. Listen to "Will You Still Love Me Tommorow" and see if you can think of anything more haunting or beautiful. All the music here is supurb but that one song should be enough to satisfy anyone. This is an album you'll be sorry if you miss.
February 28, 2006 | | Completing a triumvirate of great Roberta Flack albums | |
"Quiet Fire", Roberta Flack's third solo album, has been unfairly overshadowed by the incandescent "First Take" and its masterful follow up, "Chapter Two". Unfairly because it is in every way an equal partner to its two luminous predecessors in constituting the third instalment of a triumvirate of great Roberta Flack albums. Significantly, even its immediate successor, the excellent "Killing Me Softly", doesn't quite measure up artistically with anything she did before that. Just as "Chapter Two" surprised with inspired covers of familiar standards, "Quiet Fire" serves up majestic versions of Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water", Goffin & King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and the Gibb brothers' "To Love Somebody" which Nina Simone had a huge UK hit with in 1969. Unlike Aretha Franklin whose penchant for turning melodies inside out is legendary, Roberta's approach with a song is more conservative. She may slow it down a tad but always tries to preserve the melody and the cadence of the song. What she does is use her peerless phrasing and majestic performance to transform a song into something precious and personal. Listening to Roberta's voice build and rise above the piano is akin to a religious experience and it can't get more seriously churchy than "Go Up Moses", the opening track, which has Roberta feverishly incanting over a racuous rhythmn. Continuing in the same vein is "Sunday and Sister Jones", featuring the album's most powerful moments and a tour de force performance from Roberta that has to be heard to be believed. Winding up are sensitive treatments of "Let Them Talk" and the Dinah Washington standard "Sweet Bitter Love" which are at least equal, in my opinion, to the best versions ever recorded, including Aretha's in the case of the latter song. "Quiet Fire" is indeed the middle name of Roberta Flack and the sound of velvet melting...
July 26, 2002| | | Roberta's best... by far! And that's sayin something | |
Roberta Flack is as always incomparable but this one is just absolutely amazing. And I loved both of her earlier albums and thought that each of them was pretty close to perfect. But without question this album is the pinnacle of her talent and emotion.
Sweet Bitter Love is what I categorize as an A++ cut. Not just A+ but A double-plus. So much beauty, pain, and irony all in one cut. Just incredible! And personally I love Sunday and Sister Jones and To Love Somebody (A+) in and of themselves but some nights i'll play Sweet Bitter Love 3 or 4 times a night.
Cover to cover. High quality. Beauty and feeling. Depth and simplicity.
Just an out and out winner! April 26, 2002
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