[Shaun]

Youtube video

first single from an album produced by Damon Albarn

Already an industry veteran by the time he broke out as a solo artist in the 1970s, Bobby Womack had a music personality to match his vocal chops. He inhabits his songs with a gruffness that cuts through even the most florid arrangements to communicate romantic agony or social outrage. Like so many of his contemporaries, he struggled in subsequent decades to match those early hits, eventually reappearing in 2010 on Gorillaz' Plastic Beach. On this first glimpse of his first album in nearly 20 years, The Bravest Man in the Universe, co-producers Damon Albarn and Richard Russell don't try to re-create the musical flourishes of his old material. Instead, they opt for a burbling piano and synth syncopation that sounds like futuristic R&B. The pair's sonic touches are hypnotic enough to sound unobtrusive, providing an intriguing contrast with Womack's coarsely textured voice, but also allowing him to sound as direct as ever. "Please Forgive My Heart" conveys regret as an existential state of being, which sounds all the more powerful for coming so late in a bold career: "Your term is not commuted," he sings. "It lingers, lingers without a sound."

It's a free download here: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/...give-my-heart/

[Shaun]

Wonderful news: Bobby Womack's doctors have given the singer the all-clear from the colon cancer with which he was diagnosed in March. A posting on Womack's Facebook page reads:

"We're delighted to announce that Bobby Womack has successfully undergone surgery for suspected colon cancer. A tumour was removed last night which turned out to be cancer free. We wish him all the best in his recovery from the operation. Thank you for all your kind messages and support."

Womack is to release The Bravest Man in the Universe, an album co-produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell, on June 11 in the UK and June 12 in the U.S. via XL Recordings. It's his first record in 13 years