Bobby Womack - Understanding & Communication / The Womack Live & Safety Zone

If you were to point to the 'sweet spot' of Womack's career, this is considered by most to be it. According to the discography Understanding preceded Communication but the excerpt from the wiki bio below claims the opposite. What is clear is that Bobby has his ears open to the music world around him and influences from the like of Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, and James Brown are taking his music to exciting new places.

".....After two more albums with Minit, Bobby switched labels, signing with United Artists where he changed his attire and his musical direction with the album, Communication. The album bolstered his first top 40 hit, "That's the Way I Feel About Cha", which peaked at number two R&B and number twenty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1972.

Following Communication, Womack's profile was raised with two more albums, released in 1972. The first of which was Understanding, noted for the album track, "I Can Understand It", later covered by the funk band New Birth and a three-sibling lineup of Bobby's old group, the Valentinos, and two hit singles, "Woman's Gotta Have It" and "Harry Hippie", the latter song was written for Womack by Jim Ford in a country version, in which Womack re-arranged in an R&B version. "Harry Hippie" later became Womack's first to be certified gold. Contrary to popular belief, the song was not about Womack's brother Harry. "Woman's Gotta Have It" became Womack's first to hit number-one on the R&B charts.


Another hit album released after Understanding was the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film, Across 110th Street. The title track became popular during its initial 1972 release and later would be played during the closing scene of the film, Jackie Brown, years later...."

Some of the packaging choices made by Stateside are a little bit confusing. This volume combines what was the third and final Minit album 'The Womack Live', 1970 with 1975's Safety Zone - the final two volumes also choose to ignore the chronology for reasons that don't seem to be space oriented. It is an odd choice here because the style and instrumentation are so obviously 5 years apart. I've been tempted for a while now to reformat these chronologically and listening to it today I think I'm finally convinced.