Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man In The Universe (2012)

The Bravest Man in the Universe is the twenty-seventh and final studio album by the American soul artist Bobby Womack. Released on June 12th, 2012, it was his first studio album since 2000 and his first album of original material since 1994's Resurrection. 

It was produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell and released on the UK-based XL Recordings label. The Bravest Man in the Universe is the final album to be released in Womack's lifetime, as The Best Is Yet to Come will be released posthumously.

Recording took place between October 3 and December 2, 2011 in London and New York studios, followed by a brief recording session in London on March 7, 2012. In the period between December and March recordings, Womack was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. In the period between the last recording session and the album's release he was diagnosed with colon cancer and successfully treated through surgery. 

Damon Albarn enlisted Bobby Womack to sing on Gorillaz's 2010 album Plastic Beach, pushing the great soul singer back into action after a prolonged period of silence. Remarkably, the unlikely pair struck up a friendship, a partnership that led to 2012's The Bravest Man in the Universe, Womack's first album in 13 years. Signing with Richard Russell's XL Records, Womack collaborated with his longtime cohort Harold Payne, Albarn, and Russell on this ghostly, skeletal soul collection, each man bringing his own signatures to the table. 

Russell's beats intertwine with Albarn's spectral chords, each evoking distinct memories of his past work, but even if there are clear antecedents in Russell's production of Gil Scott-Heron or the futuristic funk oeuvre of Gorillaz, these two do not bend Womack to fit their needs: they free him to make a startlingly modern Bobby Womack album, one that harks back to such previous masterworks as Understanding and The Poet, albums that fully embodied both the singer and his times. 

And so it is with The Bravest Man in the Universe, an album that sounds like 2012 as much as it sounds like Womack: the rhythms belong to the modern world, the slow, shimmering grooves undeniably Womack's, as he's been specializing in this sound since the turn of the '70s. 

Initially, the most bracing elements of The Bravest Man in the Universe are those electronic flourishes from Russell and Albarn and, most of all, the power of Womack's singing. He's showing signs of age -- his voice is etched and weathered -- but he sounds undiminished, both as a vocalist and as a man. This is not a quiet, mournful album about the dying of the light; this is about living in the moment, embracing age and modernity with equal enthusiasm. 

The past is present on The Bravest Man in the Universe -- nowhere more so than on "Dayglo Reflection," where a song by Womack mentor Sam Cooke is interpolated and chanteuse of the year Lana Del Rey is deployed as effectively ethereal counterpart, but Bobby covers the traditional "Deep River" and revives "Whatever Happened to the Times," a song he co-wrote with his old running partner Jim Ford -- although Womack is never beholden to time gone by; the old days are part of him, informing how he's facing the present, and there's nothing remotely approaching nostalgia here. 

For as haunting as parts of the album are, there is no fetishization of death on the parts of Albarn and Russell; even with a tinge of melancholy coloring the fringes of the album, this is an album that affirms the power of life, in all of its mess and glory. 

The album was listed at #36 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012. It was the winner of the UK's Q Award for Best Album of 2012.

Track listing

1.  The Bravest Man in the Universe - 3:52 

2.  Please Forgive My Heart - 4:30 

3.  Deep River (Traditional)- 1:49 

4.  Dayglo Reflection  (featuring Lana Del Rey) (Womack, Albarn, Payne, Russell, Sam Cooke,          

     Elizabeth Grant) - 4:18 

5.  Whatever Happened to the Times  (Womack, Jim Ford) - 4:08 

6.  Stupid Introlude   (featuring Gil Scott-Heron) (Gil Scott-Heron) - 0:21 

7.  Stupid - 3:51 

8.  If There Wasn't Something There - 4:38 

9.  Love Is Gonna Lift You Up - 3:43 

10.  Nothin' Can Save Ya  (featuring Fatoumata Diawara) - 3:47 

11.  Jubilee (Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around)  (Traditional) - 2:07 

All tracks composed by Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn, Harold Payne and Richard Russell; except where indicated

Sample credits

• "Dayglo Reflection" contains a sample of an interview with Sam Cooke on The Ed Sullivan Show and "Moonlight on Vermont" as written by Don Van Vliet and performed by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, from the album Trout Mask Replica.

Personnel

Damon Albarn – executive producer, backing vocals, piano, guitar, omnichord, additional production, drum machine, bass, composition, Korg M1, synthesizer, mixing, engineering Jason Cox – recording, engineering, mixing Fatoumata Diawara – guest vocals (track 10) Tom Girling – recording, engineering, mixing Gil Scott-Heron – guest vocals (sampled) Kwes – additional production (track 5) Lana Del Rey – guest vocals (track 4) Richard Russell – executive producer, drum programming, MIDI, drum machine, MPC, AKAI MPC 500 production, mixing, samples, Roland TR-909, engineer, various Stephen Sedgwick – recording, engineering, mixing Harold Payne – additional production Jessie Ware – backing vocals Bobby Womack – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, various Notes Release Date: June 12, 2012  Recording Location:  Studio 13, London / The Manhattan Center, New York XL Recordings / XL Studios, London  Genre:  R&B, Neo Soul   Styles:  Trip Hop Duration:  37:04  Label - XL Recording