One of Bobby Womack's better albums, Communication is also one of the most stylistically varied.

Several of the songs feature his trademark monologues, usually about love, although the one that precedes his version of the Carpenters' "Close to You" is a diatribe against the music business ("Anything I can get into is commercial enough," he declares).

"Communication" is a spare, sinuous funk workout which demonstrates that Womack had been playing close attention to James Brown's recent work, and "That's the Way I Feel About Cha," is a blues with strings (and was deservedly a hit).

There are also a couple of unlikely covers -- an almost singalong version of Ray Stevens' syrupy ode to tolerance "Everything Is Beautiful," and a melodramatic take on James Taylor's "Fire and Rain.".