''The Poet II '' is the fourteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American musician Bobby Womack. The album was released in 1984, by Beverly Glen Music. The album features three duets with fellow soul legend

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

, including the top three R&B charted ballad, "Love Has Finally Come At Last", and the more modest follow-up, "It Takes a Lot of Strength to Say Goodbye". It also includes the top 75 UK dance hit, "Tell Me Why". The UK music magazine ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' named it the best album of 1984.

Track listing

"American Dream" contains an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 speech "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...

Personnel

*Bobby Womack – vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, arrangements *

– vocals *Courtney Sappington,

David T. Walker David T. Walker (born June 25, 1941) is an American guitarist, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s, Walker has issued fifteen albums in his own name. Career David T. Walker was born to ...

, George Benson, Robert Palmer – guitar *David Shields – bass *

Michael Wycoff Michael Wycoff (January 1, 1956 – March 13, 2019) was an American R&B singer. He scored several hits on the US R&B chart during the 1980s. Biography Wycoff attended Wilmington Junior High School and Phineas Banning High School in Wilmington ...

– keyboards *Denzil "Broadway" Miller, Frank "Rusty" Hamilton – synthesizer * James E. Gadson – drums *Fred Johnson – electronic drums * Paulinho da Costa – percussion *Frank "Rusty" Hamilton - harmonica *Fernando Harkless,

Fred Wesley Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band lead ...

, Harry Kim, Sidney Muldrow, Thurman Green,

Wilton Felder Wilton Lewis Felder (August 31, 1940 – September 27, 2015) was an American saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, later known as The Crusaders. Felder played bass on the Jackson 5's hits "I Wan ...

– horns * Dorothy Ashby – harp *James Gadson, Kathy Bloxson, Regina Womack,

The Valentinos The Valentinos (also known as The Womack Brothers) was an American family R&B group from Cleveland, Ohio, best known for launching the careers of brothers Bobby Womack and Cecil Womack. Bobby went on to find greater fame as a solo artist whil ...

, Luther Waters, Julia Waters, Oren Waters, Maxine Waters – background vocals *David Blumberg – string arrangements ;Technical *Otis Smith – executive producer *Barney Perkins - mix engineer

References

1984 albums Bobby Womack albums Albums produced by Andrew Loog Oldham Albums produced by Bobby Womack {{1980s-R&B-album-stub