''Feel Like Makin' Love'' is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, Folk music, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm ...

. It was released by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in March 1975 in the United States. Recorded after the release of her duet album with

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto" ...

, '' Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway'' (1972), it marked the singer's first album to be produced by Flack herself, under the pseudonym Rubina Flake.

Background

The album's title cut had been issued as a single in May 1974, affording Flack her third number one hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, after which success

signed Flack to a new five-year contract – reportedly the most lucrative ever signed by a female recording artist. By September 1974, ''Feel Like Makin' Love'' had reportedly already accrued enough advance orders from retail outlets to guarantee gold status upon the album's release, which was expected in November 1974.''Fort Lauderdale News'' 21 September 1974 "Roberta Flack Does New Album: Bessie Smith film next" by Mary Campbell p.9B

Recording

''Feel Like Makin' Love'' would not be ready for release until March 1975, having taken fourteen months to record.''High Fidelity'' May 1978 "Inevitably, Roberta Flack" by Leida White pp.121-124''Los Angeles Times'' 10 May 1978 "Roberta Flack Producing Her Own Albums" by Dennis Hunt pp.IV-1, IV-24 - IV-25 Although Flack had self-produced the "Feel Like Makin' Love" single, she began recording the album with her regular producer

Joel Dorn Joel Dorn (April 7, 1942 – December 17, 2007) was an American jazz and R&B music producer and record label entrepreneur. He worked at Atlantic Records, and later founded the 32 Jazz, Label M, and Hyena Records labels. He called himself ...

. Unhappy when Flack recruited "Feel Like Makin' Love" co-writer

Gene McDaniels Eugene Booker McDaniels (February 12, 1935 – July 29, 2011) was an American singer, producer and songwriter. He had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s, reaching number three on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart wit ...

as an additional producer, Dorn withdrew from the album and after Flack and McDaniels proved unable to establish an agreeable working relationship, Flack was left to produce her album alone. Although Flack had worked closely with Dorn in the recording of her previous albums, the singer found the task of producing an entire album by herself an arduous challenge. She later commented on the process: "I made a lot of mistakes. It was a very hard time for me. There were days when I just cried and cried. But you press on. You press on." Upon the belated release of ''Feel Like Makin' Love'', Flack admitted that

was discontented with the time and expense spent on the album: "The igh price tagis misleading. Some material I recorded will be used on my next two albums

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

I will be able to finish ..very quickly and ost efficiently" In fact, Flack's next album ''

Blue Lights in the Basement ''Blue Lights in the Basement'' is the sixth studio album by American singer Roberta Flack, released by Atlantic Records on December 13, 1977. A commercial success, it peaked at number eight on the US ''Billboard'' 200, becoming her third top-te ...

'' would not be ready for release until December 1977 – thirty-three months after the release of ''Feel Like Makin' Love''.

Critical reception

In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Stephen Cook rated the album three out of five stars and wrote: "Maybe not as fine an album as 1971's '' Quiet Fire'', ''Feel Like Making Love'' will still please the singer's dedicated fans." He found that "Flack never quite hit the heights of this and the handful of other MOR soul releases from the first half of the decade. Her

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

-meets-

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Will ...

sound is particularly impressive on highlights like "Mr. Magic" and "Feelin' That Glow"."

Track listing

Personnel

Performers and musicians * Roberta Flack – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, arrangements (3, 5) * Bob James – keyboards *

Leon Pendarvis Leroy Leon Pendarvis (born 1945) is an American session musician. He plays keyboards and is a background vocalist. He is also an occasional guitarist. Early life The son of a first-grade primary school teacher, Pendarvis grew up in South Carolin ...

– keyboards, arrangements (1, 5, 7, 8) *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American jazz fusion pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as " I'll B ...

– keyboards * Harry Whitaker – keyboards, arrangements (3) * Keith Loving – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

Hugh McCracken Hugh Carmine McCracken (March 31, 1942 – March 28, 2013) was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

David Spinozza David Spinozza (born August 8, 1949) is an American guitarist and producer. He worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing T ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Richie Resnicoff – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

Stuart Scharf Stuart Martin Scharf (September 4, 1941 – November 8, 2007) was an American composer, guitarist, and record producer. Biography Scharf grew up in Crown Heights and attended Winthrop Junior High School. A mathematics major in college, he g ...

– fretted instruments, arrangements (4, 9) * Anthony Jackson – electric bass * Gary King – electric bass *

Alphonse Mouzon Alphonse Lee Mouzon (November 21, 1948 – December 25, 2016) was an American musician and vocalist, most prominently known as a jazz fusion drummer. He was also a composer, arranger, producer, and actor. Mouzon gained popularity in the late 196 ...

– drums *

Idris Muhammad Idris Muhammad (; born Leo Morris; November 13, 1939 – July 29, 2014) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He had an extensive career performing jazz, funk, Rhythm and blues, R&B, and Soul music, soul music and recorded with musicians s ...

– drums *

Ronnie Zito Ronald "Ronnie" Zito (born February 17, 1939) is an American jazz drummer. Early life Zito was born in Utica, New York, into a musical family including his brother Torrie Zito. He began playing drums at the age of 10 and at age 14 took a year ...

– drums * David Carey – percussion,

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was an American percussionist, steelpan virtuoso, songwriter, musical arranger, and record producer. His compositions include " Where Is the Love", a Grammy Award winner for the due ...

– congas, percussion, arrangements (2, 6) * Phil Kraus – percussion,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

* Arthur Jenkins –

kalimba Mbira ( ; ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and ...

, arrangements (2) * James Vass – flute *

Joe Farrell Joseph Carl Firrantello (December 16, 1937 – January 10, 1986), known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name o ...

– oboe * Karen Sargent – oboe *

Jo Armstead Josephine Armstead (born October 8, 1944), also known as "Joshie" Jo Armstead, is an American soul singer and songwriter. Armstead began her career singing backing vocals for blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland before becoming an Ikette in the Ike ...

– backing vocals *

Patti Austin Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American Grammy Award-winning R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter best known for " Baby, Come to Me", her 1982 duet with James Ingram, which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after its re-release ...

– backing vocals *

Betty Buckley Betty Buckley (born July 3, 1947)LuKanic, Steven A (1995). Film Actors Guide'. Los Angeles, CA: Lone Eagle Publishing. p. 55. . is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for an additional Ton ...

– backing vocals *

Bob Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, and composer. He became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''Schoolhouse Rock!'', as well as for his wor ...

– backing vocals * William Eaton – backing vocals, arrangements (2) * Janice Gadson – backing vocals * Lani Groves – backing vocals * Rhetta Hughes – backing vocals * Lesley Miller – backing vocals * William Salter – backing vocals, arrangements (2, 6) * Maeretha Stewart – backing vocals *

Deniece Williams June Deniece Williams (née Chandler; born June 3, 1950) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great Soul music, soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs "Free (Deniece Williams song), Free", "Silly (song ...

– backing vocals Technical * Roberta Flack – producer, album design * Leon Pendarvis – associate producer * Gene McDaniels – co-producer * Antisia Music, Inc. – co-producers * Scharf / Dorough, Ltd. – co-producers * Frederick Wilkerson – vocal production * Louise Fleming – production assistant * Jim McCurdy – engineer, remixing * Stephen Y. Scheaffer – engineer * John Struthers – assistant engineer * Harry Yamick – engineer * Lou Stovall – album design, cover artwork

Charts

References

{{Authority control Roberta Flack albums 1975 albums Albums produced by Joel Dorn Atlantic Records albums