Understanding/ Communication

UNITED ARTISTS 1971/1972, ID, £11

You say: “Where the template of funky to folky was set.” Cody Lee, via Facebook

Bit of cheating here. These LPs were recorded in one early ’70s two-week blitz at Muscle Shoals and much later, in 2004, reissued as this CD twofer. Womack had played many sessions in the South as a guitarist and they were accustomed to his methods. Released first,

Communication revisits gospel (Yield Not To Temptation), has Close To You preceded by a heartfelt monologue, and That’s The Way I Feel About Cha. Understanding boasts the classic I Can Understand It plus Woman’s Gotta Have It (Linda Cooke a co-writer), and covers of The Beatles’ And I Love Her, and Neil Diamond’s sun-dappled Sweet Caroline. He offers the definitive version of Jim Ford’s wistful Harry Hippie, too.