Anytime I come home, the song I taught you last night, you better know it today”. That’s why I’m gonna make you be an entertainer. Womack remembers his father’s words, “There’s one thing they will always let you do, is to let you entertain them. Womack’s father trained his boys to be singers as a way to succeed despite the barriers of racism. He tells the interviewer a story about growing up in the pre-Civil Rights Era.
He’s an electric entertainer, who energizes the crowd and turns the show into a party. Womack only performs nine songs on Bobby Womack: Soul Seduction Supreme, which include several of the aforementioned titles such as “Woman’s Gotta Have It”, “Harry Hippie” and “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much”, but he twists every ounce of excitement out of the material.
During the eighties Womack’s aching ballad of temptation, “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much,” crossed over into the pop charts and his video for this song received much airplay on the tube. Famous artists as varied as The Rolling Stones (“It’s All Over Now”) and James Taylor (“Woman’s Got to Have It”) profitably covered his tunes with Top Ten results. Womack also scored one of the first blaxploitation flicks, Across 110th Street. Womack went on and wrote some tracks for the Wicked Wilson Pickett (“Midnight Mover”) played guitar on Sly Stone’s best records, ( There’s a Riot Goin’ On with it’s big hit single “Family Affair”) and then had a successful solo career on the R&B charts as a country soul singer (“Harry Hippie”), an interpreter of pop standards (“Nobody Wants You When You’re Down and Out”), and as featured crooner with a jazz band (The Crusaders’ Wilton Felder). After Cooke was killed, Womack married Cooke’s widow. Cooke also employed Womack as his guitar player. Sam Cooke thought they were so good that Cooke signed the band up on his record label and produced their early pop records (as The Valentinos). The soul man began his career during the ’50s as a member of a gospel vocal group with his brothers. It presumes the audience knows his history, but although he’s still alive and recording in 2005, many people have forgotten Womack’s importance and talents. The disc does not provide any background information about the man. Bobby Womack: Soul Seduction Supreme is essential viewing for anyone into contemporary soul music. The result is a brilliant snapshot of the man as a human being, an artist, and an entertainer. Womack also tells stories and speaks openly about a number of different personal, social, and political topics.
He performs with a kick-ass six-piece band and three back-up singers who provide him with top-notch funk accompaniment. He’s a lover, like Marvin Gaye, who understands both the spiritual side of sex and the carnal pleasures of sin. Womack possesses an earthy and sensual voice. He’s playing the midsize London Town and Country Club rather than a big arena. Still, the musician’s career as a star performer had faded. There’s even one scene that features a young, male, British fan kissing Womack’s hand in deference as if Womack was the queen or a bishop, and repeatedly thanking Womack for his music. By then Womack was a soul music legend more respected in England than the United States. Musician – Bobby Emmons, Bobby Wood, Gene Chrisman, J.B.Although the outside of the DVD box doesn’t say it, this disc features Bobby Womack performing and being interviewed during his tour of Great Britain in 1991.Keyboards, Synthesizer, Musician – Dan Christian, Frank Hamilton III*, Patrick Moten.Baisden, Fernando Harkless, Louise Baranger Guitar, Musician – Bobby Womack, David Shields, Paul Jackson Jr., Robert Palmer (2).Engineer – Elliott Peters, Bert Battaglia*.Backing Vocals – Ann Swanigan Hines, Bertram Brown (2), Deborah Carter-Hall*, Toni Wine, William Brown*.Backing Vocals – Daryl Phinnessee*, Myrna Smith Schilling*, Natalie Jackson, Phil Perry (2), Roy Galloway, Sandra Simmons*, Van Ross Redding.
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