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.

Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters - Cry Baby

It seemed like there was some interest in my bringing this early post back to the front.

"Mimms grew up in Philadelphia, where he sang in gospel music groups such as the Evening Stars, the Harmonizing Four, and the group with which he would record his first record in 1953, the Norfolk Four. He returned to Philadelphia after serving in the military and formed doo-wop group, the Gainors in 1958.

In 1961, Mimms and Sam Bell from the Gainors left to form a new group, Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, with Zola Pearnell and Charles Boyer. The group moved to New York and began to work with the songwriter and record producer, Bert Berns. Berns signed them to the United Artists label and wrote the hit, "Cry Baby" for them with songwriting partner, Jerry Ragovoy. The song topped the R&B chart and went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1963. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Mimms and the group had a follow-up double sided hit, "For Your Precious Love" and "Baby Don't You Weep", both tracks entering the Billboard Top 30, before he went solo in 1964. In 1966, Berns and Ragavoy produced another big hit for Mimms, "I'll Take Good Care Of You", which climbed to #15 in the R&B chart and #30 in the Hot 100. He worked with Jimi Hendrix in the UK the following year. He did some recording on the MGM and Verve labels. In 1969, Led Zeppelin performed an extended version of Mimms' "As Long As I have You" at various stops on their U.S tour.

In the 1970s, he released a few funk songs as Garnet Mimms and the Truckin' Co. He had his only hit in the United Kingdom at this time, when "What It Is" reached number 44 for one week on the UK Singles Chart in June 1977.

Mimms was given a Pioneer Award in 1999 by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

In the 1980s, Garnet found his calling ministering to lost souls in prison, but in 2007, returned to recording and a year later, released a new gospel album Is Anybody Out There? on the Evidence label, produced and (primarily) written by Jon Tiven."