Happy 55th Anniversary to Roberta Flack’s second studio album Chapter Two, originally released August 12, 1970.
Roberta Flack’s 1970 album Chapter Two is a criminally slept-on treasure that secured her spot as an expressive singer and pianist whose range and versatility had very few equals. Her haunting and intimate debut First Take (1969) was raw and intensely personal. Chapter Two doesn’t replicate that formula; instead, it goes deeper. The LP is an intoxicating blend of gospel, jazz, soul, and classical elements that exudes a quiet strength reserved only for great albums.
These influences came from Flack’s upbringing in Arlington, Virginia. Like many Black singers from that era, her musical awakening started in church. Her family attended the local Zion church, but occasionally, she would sneak off to the Baptist church to hear gospel singers like Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers.
By the time Flack was a teenager, she had taken an interest in classical music, leading her to a full musical scholarship to Howard University at age fifteen. In a 2017 interview with The Washingtonian’s Amanda Whiting, Flack reflected on those early years before her fame. “I skipped two grades, which is why I started college at 15. I was emotionally so young. DC was huge and tremendously interesting to that young girl. I remember the brilliant students and professors, and what I was exposed to as a young artist shaped and changed me completely.” Flack became a voice teacher and performed five nights a week, three sets per night, at Mr. Henry’s on Pennsylvania Avenue.
After receiving critical acclaim for First Take, the 32-year-old Flack recorded Chapter Two, kick-starting a decade of excellence. The old cliche “less is more” comes to mind when I think of this album. With only eight tracks, Chapter Two guides the listener through a gamut of emotions, starting with the sensual and sultry “Reverend Lee,” a musical second cousin to Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.” Written by frequent collaborator Gene McDaniels, the song is a haunting tale of temptation and a precipitous fall from grace. It builds slowly from a sermon to outright confession.
Listen to the Album:
Joel Dorn’s arrangements, with Flack’s production input, are lush and restrained, creating space for her emotionally charged vocals to resonate. Flack doesn’t merely perform these songs. She inhabits them, and they become part of her being. There’s a warmth to her voice that is soothing and unique. With a composer’s ear, she listens intently to her material, and with a poet’s heart, she shapes it into something beautiful. The album unfolds deliberately, slowly revealing emotional moments using piano riffs that illustrate her classical training.
When his songs are placed in the right hands, Jimmy Webb’s genius comes to light. Flack’s version of his “Do What You Gotta Do” is a magical balancing of dignity and heartbreak in equal measure. She sings, “Go on and do, do what you gotta do, my wild sweet love / Though it may mean that I’ll never kiss those sweet lips again / Pay that no mind find that baffled dream of yours / Come on back and see me when you can.” The delivery is so achingly good.
“Just Like a Woman,” Flack’s take on the Bob Dylan classic, is a standout. Just like Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower,” she took his song and made I hers. Gone were Dylan’s sneering vocals, replaced with a deep, slow, meditation that resonated with vulnerability and heartfelt recognition.
The other standout for me is Flack’s version of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Until It’s Time For You To Go.” The song is a tale about a couple who fall in love, but know they cannot be together. Again, Flack took someone else’s song and put her own stamp on it, eclipsing the original.
Chapter Two, a detailed, multifaceted work, is not built for casual listening. It’s an album that grabs your heartstrings and compels you to listen. It is like hearing the whispered diary entries of that nice lady across the hall, who’s learned to live with sorrow and hasn’t let it turn her bitter. Romantic disappointment, spiritual tug-of-war, resilience, and introspection are spread across thirty-eight minutes, and not once did I feel cheated. Flack offers emotional nourishment with grace, intelligence, and soul. Chapter Two is a triumph of songwriting, interpretation, and spiritual depth, showcasing talent that is both skillful and inspired.
Listen: