Critical reception
AllMusic editor Thom Jurek rated the album three and a half stars out of five and called it a "wildly ambitious but logical step. The dangers in doing a tribute to a legendary artist, especially Womack, one of soul music’s most storied and colorful legends as both a singer and songwriter, is a daunting task. But Richardson’s and Womack’s voices are very similar, though the latter’s is not as rough as the former’s and has more gospel in it, which works very well in adding to most of these songs." [3] Chris Rizik from SoulTracks called Facts of Life an "extremely enjoyable, well performed album that provides a new generation with a glimpse of the body of work of one of the most gifted artists of the prior generation. Those young’ens should be rightfully blown away by Facts of Life." [6]
PopMatters critic Tyler Lewis found that "from an artistic standpoint, this is clearly a project that is special for Richardson. That is probably why he doesn’t mess with perfection, by covering the songs and recording with actual musicians, which gives the album the kind of texture missing from even the best soul music recorded now. That he doesn’t really mess anything up (although he sounds oddly out of his depth on album opener “Across 110th Street”) is a testament to just how beautiful a singer he is. But there is just no denying that he has sounded just as good, if not better, on his own material." [5] Writing for Creative Loafing , L. Michael Gipson wrote that "Richardson’s commitment to traditional interpretations of this popular material highlights Womack’s skill as a lyricist and arranger on par with Barry White, Leon Ware and Willie Hutch [...] Try as Richardson might — and he tries hard here — he just doesn’t have that enviable problem." [4]
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