Originally a protégé of Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack is a gritty-voiced soul singer who has written a wealth of terrific songs, including "It's All Over Now," a Number One hit for the Rolling Stones in the Sixties. But Womack's immense talents as a singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer have not earned him the kind of stardom he deserves. The Poet is changing all that. Both the album and the single "If You Think You're Lonely Now" have topped the soul charts and are also making steady inroads on the pop charts.

Like Marvin Gaye, Womack is the perfectly cool urban soul singer. Though he conveys an emotional commitment to his material, he is a singer, not a shouter – it's impossible to imagine him working up a sweat. Though in the past he's been comfortable writing about social problems, Womack focuses mostly on love with The Poet. While side one is an uptempo romp through infatuation ("So Many Sides of You"), sex ("Lay Your Lovin' on Me"), romance ("Secrets") and heartbreak ("Just My Imagination"), side two is devoted to three more serious pieces that form the heart of the album. "If You Think You're Lonely Now" is certainly the highlight, but it's framed by two tasty ballads. "Games" finds Womack offering a stream-of-consciousness rap on the "games people play" theme, while "Where Do We Go from Here" is a cool uptown ballad in which he reminisces about a relationship. Bobby Womack has been intermittently turning out R&B classics for something like two decades, but The Poet makes it seem as if his career and talent have only just begun to blossom. (RS 369)

MICHAEL GOLDBERG