First Take is the debut album by the American soul singer Roberta Flack. It was released on June 20, 1969, by Atlantic Records. After a track from this album, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", was included by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me, and the song became a number-one hit in the United States, causing the album to reach number one on the Billboard album chart and Billboard R&B album chart; furthermore, the single topped the chart for the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972, possibly the only sleeper hit to accomplish this. In the 2020 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, the album was ranked number 451.[5]

First Take
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 20, 1969 (1969-06-20)
RecordedFebruary 24–26, 1969
StudioAtlantic, New York City
Genre
Length46:08
LabelAtlantic
ProducerJoel Dorn
Roberta Flack chronology
First Take
(1969)
Chapter Two
(1970)
Singles from First Take
  1. "Compared to What" / "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye"
    Released: August 14, 1969
  2. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" / "Trade Winds"
    Released: January 24, 1972
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Pitchfork9.5/10[3]
Rolling Stonefavorable[4]

In 2019, Flack's website[6] announced that First Take would be remastered and re-released as a limited deluxe edition of only 3,000 copies commemorating the album's fiftieth anniversary. The set includes one vinyl LP and two compact discs: one CD is the remastered album and the other contains "rare and unreleased recordings". The set was released on July 24, 2020.[7]

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Compared to What"Gene McDaniels5:16
2."Angelitos Negros"Andrés Eloy Blanco, Manuel Álvarez Maciste6:56
3."Our Ages or Our Hearts"Robert Ayers, Donny Hathaway6:09
4."I Told Jesus"Traditional; arranged by Roberta Flack6:09
5."Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye"Leonard Cohen4:08
6."The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"Ewan MacColl5:22
7."Tryin' Times"Donny Hathaway, Leroy Hutson5:08
8."Ballad of the Sad Young Men"Fran Landesman, Tommy Wolf7:00
Bonus tracks on 2020 anniversary edition CD
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Compared to What" (single edit)Gene McDaniels4:37
10."The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (single edit)Ewan MacColl4:20
11."Trade Winds"Ralph MacDonald, William Salter5:37
2020 anniversary edition bonus disc
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."All the Way" (live)Sammy Cahn, James Van Hausen8:39
2."This Could Be the Start of Something"Steve Allen1:23
3."Groove Me"King Floyd4:19
4."Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"Jimmy Cox6:24
5."Hush-a-Bye"Traditional; arranged by Roberta Flack5:33
6."Afro Blue"Mongo Santamaría, Oscar Brown9:21
7."It's Way Past Suppertime"Les McCann, Vicki Arnold3:53
8."Frankie and Johnny"Traditional; arranged by Roberta Flack7:15
9."On the Street Where You Live"Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Lowe2:45
10."The House Song"Noel Paul Stookey, Robert Bannard5:54
11."Ain't No Mountain High Enough"Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson3:25
12."The Song Is Love"Dave Dixon, Richard Kniss, Mary Travers, Noel Paul Stookey, Peter Yarrow5:20
13."To Sir with Love"Don Black, Mark London8:27

Personnel

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Technical
  • William Arlt – recording engineer
  • Bob Liftin – remixing engineer
  • Stanislaw Zagorski – design
  • Ken Heinen – photography

Chart positions

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Chart (1972) Peak
position
Billboard Top LPs 1
Billboard Top Soul Albums 1
Billboard Jazz Albums 3

Certifications

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Certifications for "First Take"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[8] Gold 50,000^
United States (RIAA)[9] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Breihan, Tom (February 25, 2019). "The Number Ones: Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 18, 2023. The album is a total stunner, a florid and lovely jazz-folk meditation...
  2. ^ Bush, John. First Take at AllMusic
  3. ^ Nelson, Elizabeth (26 December 2020). "Roberta Flack: First Take". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  4. ^ Lester, Julius. "Roberta Flack: First Take : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-04-02. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  5. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  6. ^ "Roberta Flack - Singer, Songwriter, Musician". www.robertaflack.com. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  7. ^ store.soulmusic.com https://web.archive.org/web/20210818125821/https://store.soulmusic.com/first-take-50th-anniversary-deluxe-edition-1.html. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2020. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[title missing]
  8. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Roberta Flack – First Take". Music Canada. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  9. ^ "American album certifications – Roberta Flack – First Take". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
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