The Bravest Man in the Universe is the twenty-seventh and final studio album by the American soul artist Bobby Womack. Released on June 12, 2012, it was his first studio album since 2000 and his first album of original material since 1994's Resurrection. It was produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell and released on the UK-based XL Recordings label. The Bravest Man in the Universe is the final album to be released in Womack's lifetime, as The Best Is Yet to Come will be released posthumously.
Recording took place between October 3 and December 2, 2011 in London and New York studios, followed by a brief recording session in London on March 7, 2012. In the period between December and March recordings, Womack was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. In the period between the last recording session and the album's release he was diagnosed with colon cancer and successfully treated through surgery. The first song released from the album, "Please Forgive My Heart", was offered as a free download on XL Recordings's official website on March 8, 2012.
The album entered the charts at number 49 in the UK and number 181 in the US.
The album was listed at #36 on Rolling Stones list of the top 50 albums of 2012. It was the winner of the UK's Q Award for Best Album of 2012, announced on October 22, 2012.
Background
The Bravest Man in the Universe is Womack's first studio album since 2000's Christmas Album and his first album of original material since 1994's Resurrection. "I'd just come off a heavy drugs scene and I'd been out 20 years", claimed Womack. "I stopped wanting to be a part of music when the Monkees retired." Womack explained that he had lost much of his desire and confidence to create music. Womack's daughter, GinaRe revealed that "there was a point in my dad's life when he didn't even want to write and make music. When I was younger he would, like, drink his tequila and play his guitar and think of new songs 24 hours a day, and then there came a point when he quit everything... He'd just watch TV and be in bed by 10pm every night; he had no passion for the music anymore." In 2009, Albarn contacted Womack during the recording sessions for the Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. Albarn wanted to work with Womack due to him loving Womack's voice, comparing it to the voices of Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. GinaRe convinced him to collaborate with Gorillaz, stating that it would be a good way to return to music. Womack ended up singing on the tracks "Stylo" and "Cloud of Unknowing" and participated in their Escape to Plastic Beach Tour.
Womack became inspired to start writing music again, stating that "one day I was riding on the bus and I told my assistant to tell the driver to pull over and get my guitar and bring a pad and I wrote about 20 songs. My thoughts were running crazy. I was like, 'Thank God, that's the feeling I wanted back.'" Albarn approached Richard Russell about working on Womack's new album. The pair had recently worked together on Kinshasa One Two as part of DRC Music and Albarn had also contributed to Gil Scott-Heron's I'm New Here, which Russell had produced. "I had a gut feeling about the project", claimed Russell. "Firstly because Bobby's spirit is so strong. It's present in that incredible voice of his. I also know Damon is a do-er, he gets things done."
Recording
"This album was put together like we had worked on it for years", claimed Womack. "But we had only worked on it from the time we went in the studio. We just went in and said, 'Let's do a song.' And the songs kept on coming. We'd go in the studio each morning at 11am, and at 6pm every night, everyone wanted to go home and be with their family. Damon was very strict about that, and I respected that, because that was how I wanted to be, and I was persuaded in the past that you gotta hang out all night..." Richard Russell claimed that "working in the studio was a total joy" and described the atmosphere in the studio as "open and free, with no egos involved... everyone was surprised how easy it was, really." Damon Albarn revealed that on many occasions, he would give instrumental demos to Womack who would take them away outside studio hours and use them as a basis for writing lyrics. Womack said that Albarn encouraged him to push the boundaries with experimentation, with Albarn claiming that "the structure and approach [to recording] was unorthodox for Womack." On March 15, 2013 iTunes re-released the album under the moniker "The Expanded Edition" which features three new songs, "It's Been a Long Night", "Hold the River Down" and "Central Avenue", all of which were produced by Richard Russell and Damon Albarn.