Bill withers1/3/2023 But Bill Withers is a giant, whether or not the rest of us remember. Somehow, the man who brought us "Lean on Me," "Use Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine" isn't a universally revered musical figure. Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981. The self-production here is adamantly spare, with Ray Jackson furnishing the hook of the year on "Use Me," one of the few knowledgeable songs about sex our supposedly sexy music has ever produced. And don't be fooled by "Lean on Me" - he's also plenty raunchy and he can rock dead out. He sounds straight, strong, compassionate. Withers has created the most credible persona of any of the upwardly mobile soul singers, avoiding Marvin Gaye's occasional vapidity, Donny Hathaway's overstatement, and Curtis Mayfield's racial salesmanship. "Lean on Me" which is currently moving up the single chart is joined by "Who is He (And What Is He to You)," "Kissing My Love" and "Lonely Town, Lonely Street." Plenty of sunshine here. This entry justifies what 99 percent of all music critics said of Bill Withers first LP and concert appearances in that he is not among the soon-forgotten rookies in today's music. This is an album to be listened to one track at a time. By the second side of this disc, however, it begins to wear thin, and by the end monotony has thoroughly set in. In the man's own words, you ought to take it all in and check it out.īill Withers has a modest talent for writing some rather touching songs ("Let Me in Your Life," "Lean on Me") and a strong performing style that communicates through emotional warmth rather than pyrotechnics. Nothing is thrown away, everything works with an unexpected clarity and strength. On the whole, it's a tougher, more relaxed, more assured album than Withers' first effort. The light, mellow "I Don't Know" is typical of Withers' simple, quite effective love songs: "I get a warm summer feeling walking through the snow/ Even chilly darkness has the brightest glow." Not a particularly "clever" or innovative songwriter, Withers' strength lies in his directness and ability to invest even the most "inarticulate" lines with a precise emotional weight: "And I just love you so, sometimes I just don't know." The only lyric here not Withers' own, it's a neat, witty examination of jealousy that Bill carries with just the right tone of suspicious accusation - "You tell me men don't have much intuition/ Is that what you really think or are you wishin'?" Among the most successful cuts: "Use Me," rumbling along on a tough electric piano pattern (Ray Jackson feeling like Stevie Wonder) and fine, tight percussion (James Gadson), sets Withers shouting, "I want to spread the news/ if it feels this good getting used/ you just keep on using me-/ until you use me up." "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?" has an equally insinuating sound, more guitar-based this time (and the strings could easily have been dispensed with). Where some of the songs seemed to languish, unrealized, on Just As I Am, the material here is so buoyed up by the production that even minor pieces achieve a satisfying fullness. Elsewhere, the strings may come in kind of thick and syrupy but, oddly enough do little to mar the determinedly unfussy surface of the album. On the final cut, "Take It All In And Check It All Out," for instance, the persistence of Bill's strumming which opens up the song is pierced and threaded by the sly, needling comments of Benorce Blackmon on wah wah guitar. Withers on acoustic guitar remains in the front of most arrangements and, though it is largely uninventive strumming, his unpolished work, like his voice is turned to his advantage and offset nicely by the punch of the backing instruments. This time Withers took on his own production, working with a core group of four musicians. The latest effort, Still Bill, has those missing qualities in abundance - just see what a little success can do. Jones, Duck Dunn, Chris Ethridge, Steven Stills), the album lacked a certain confidence and verve. Withers' first album, Just As I Am, established him as a voice and as a songwriter, primarily with the touching "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands." But while it had a solidarity and realness and a sprinkling of star credits (producer Booker T. With no pretense to being "down to earth," he is just that - a rarity on a scene where flashy arrogance is still the popular pose. He has no time for pretty effects and this simple, straightforward approach - reflected in his lyrics as well as his singing - is clearly his most attractive quality. Bill Withers has a rough, unexceptional sort of voice and he sings like a truckdriver, banging out the hot numbers with a resonant holler or treating ballads with a warm, conversational ease.
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