Roberta Flack - Freedom Song - Non-Album Tracks (1970-1974)

Up until recently, I wasn't a fan of Roberta Flack's music. I'd gotten the impression that most of it was smooth, cheesy, generic pop. I only liked a few of her big hits, like "Killing Me Softly," that were good enough to rise above production issues. But then I discovered her first few albums were different. Her first album came out in 1969, and she only went all in on "adult contemporary" pop around 1973. Her first album, "First Take," is particularly acclaimed. 

In this, I shouldn't be too surprised, because it fits with larger musical trends. The late 60s and early 70s were a musical high water mark, in my opinion. Soul music in particular went drastically downhill as the 1970s went on, especially thanks to disco. Look at many other soul greats who had great music at the start of the 1970s but then struggled from the mid-1970s onward, like Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and many more.

In any case, now that I've come to appreciate at least the early phase of Roberta Flack's career, I've discovered that she did a lot of songs in concert in those years that she never put on her albums. I found enough for a nice stray tracks collection. Furthermore, I plan on posting an early concert of hers that has even more.

Flack is a song interpreter, not a songwriter, so all of these songs are covers. The third and fourth songs are duets from a Les McCann album. Four more songs, "Freedom Song" plus the last three, come from soundtracks or a guest appearance on another album. The rest are taken from concert bootlegs. Luckily, those are of high sound quality. I've removed the audience noise so those songs will fit in with the studio tracks.

This album is 57 minutes long.

UPDATE: On July 2, 2023, I updated the mp3 download file. I added the song "Let's Stay Together," which I'd previously missed.

Here are the original artists for each song:

01 Save the Country - Laura Nyro / 5th Dimension
02 Let It Be - Beatles
03 How Many Broken Wings - Les McCann
04 Baby, Baby - Les McCann & Roberta Flack
05 Freedom Song - unknown
06 Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye - Tammi Terrell
07 Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer - Stevie Wonder
08 Ooh Child - Five Stairsteps
09 God Bless the Child -  Billie Holliday
10 When You're Smiling [The Whole World Smiles with You] - Seger Ellis / Louis Armstrong
11 Let’s Stay Together -Al Green
12 Trade Winds - Three Degrees
13 On a Clear Day [You Can See Forever] - Killer Joe - Barbra Streisand
14 Freedom - Sherman Brothers

Here's the usual song list:

01 Save the Country (Roberta Flack)
02 Let It Be (Roberta Flack)
03 How Many Broken Wings (Les McCann & Roberta Flack)
04 Baby, Baby (Les McCann & Roberta Flack)
05 Freedom Song (Roberta Flack)
06 Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Roberta Flack)
07 Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer (Roberta Flack)
08 Ooh Child (Roberta Flack)
09 God Bless the Child (Roberta Flack)
10 When You're Smiling [The Whole World Smiles with You] (Roberta Flack with Quincy Jones)
11 Let’s Stay Together (Roberta Flack)
12 Trade Winds (Roberta Flack)
13 On a Clear Day [You Can See Forever] - Killer Joe (Roberta Flack)
14 Freedom (Roberta Flack)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15405538/RobertaFl_1970-1974_FreedmSong_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo is from the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1971.