Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	80/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
BBC Music	Favourable
Chicago Tribune	3/4
Clash	8/10
Consequence of Sound
Filter	82%
NME	7/10
Pitchfork Media	6.2/10
PopMatters
The Guardian

The Bravest Man in the Universe is the twenty-seventh and final studio album by the American soul artist Bobby Womack. Released in June 8, 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 Stone's 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.

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 world tour.

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Wikipedia