AMG Review of Very Best of Bobby Womack 1968-1975

Victor W. Valdivia
All Music Guide

One of the better Bobby Womack anthologies around, The Very Best Of collects most of his biggest hits and most influential songs from the period (including his song for the film #Across 110th Street) as well as the scathing "Harry Hippie" and the ballad "Woman's Gotta Have It." In fact, this actually serves as possibly the best single-disc collection of Womack, since it not only contains his biggest hits (excepting the work he did in the early '80s), but it's also much more concise and focused than the two-disc set Midnight Mover, and even has the edge over the single-disc collection Greatest Hits. What's more, this collection also contains several cuts, including the soulful "Got to Get You Back" and the funk-laden "There's One Thing That Beats Failing," that are not available on either of those. There may be some slight quibbles (and Womack's most famous composition, "It's All Over Now," falls out of the range of this collection, so it is not included), but as a sampler of Womack's work from his most productive period, The Very Best Of will please both newcomers and longtime fans.