June 10, 2012

Review: “Whatever Happened to the Times” by Bobby Womack

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TRACK 5

“Whatever Happened to the Times”

From Bobby Womack‘s The Bravest Man in the Universe

XL RECORDINGS

Liner notes: His raspy voice framed by eerie organ and spooky beats, R&B legend Bobby Womack delivers a plea for redemption, crying, “Whatever happened to those good times?”

Behind the music: What a résumé! Womack composed and sang on the original version of the early Rolling Stones hit “It’s All Over Now,” played guitar behind Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, collaborated with Sly Stone, and scored the blaxploitation classic Across 110th Street. His comeback album is coproduced by Damon Albarn, of Blur and Gorillaz fame.

Check it out if you like: Bold soul men from Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke to Charles Bradley and Lee Fields.

 

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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