Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 18, 2024

So what story about the genesis of "Killing Me Softly With His Song" have you heard? While music trivia buffs (ahem) like to (correctly) cite the fact that Lori Lieberman recorded the song first, there is still some lingering dispute as to how much Lieberman contributed to the writing of the song (officially credited to the venerable Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, neither of whom would seem to need to "steal" a writing credit based on their legendary careers). But there is also some background debate about what artist exactly inspired Lieberman and/or Gimbel to respond to a performance with such an intimate lyric, though the consensus is, as unlikely as it may sound, Don McLean. Lieberman may have the right to claim first recording, but of course the world in general will probably always associate the song most firmly with Roberta Flack, whose version was an instant hit and won the Grammy. If the rest of this album may admittedly not be as iconic and memorable as its title tune, it still shows off Flack's considerable vocal and piano skills, and the arrangements are often punchy and energetic.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is another Rhino Quadio release with a static menu that doesn't even really require a monitor or display to be on, since you can toggle between the audio codecs with the colored buttons on your remote.

Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Robert Flack: Killing Me Softly features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The quadraphonic mix gets off to a fantastically well separated and immersive start with the title song, with Flack's a cappella solo line front and center and then the backups emerging from the rear, and then triangle and kick drum joining in the rear with guitars in the front. This same level of detail may admittedly not be a constant through the mix, but virtually every song can feature really nicely immersive use of overdubbed vocals in particular which clearly engage all four speakers. Instrumentation can either be discretely channeled, as in some of the guitar work in particular, but can also utilize all four speakers simultaneously, as in some of Flack's piano work. Fidelity is superb throughout. The mix is a bit on the wet side, with quite a bit of reverb which is especially noticeable in some of the backup vocals.

Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on the disc. The insert booklet features a track listing and credits, the Quadio "tradition" of a couple of photos of the original tape reel boxes with labels, and Rhino's verbiage about bass management setup.

Roberta Flack: Killing Me Softly Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Roberta Flack's haunting version of the title song is rightly considered a classic (at least by everyone other than Lori Lieberman), and if the rest of this album can't quite reach the same heights, there are still great tunes and some especially enjoyable arrangements on hand. The quadraphonic mix has some really fun separation and well defined channelization. Recommended.