Let's talk about Bill Withers.

I don't know, the part where he talks about having to be more forgiving than other people and how it makes for better character seemed like a really positive way to get children who might be victimised to see a way to turn their problems into a sign of strength, that whole part really got to me.

― boxedjoy, Saturday, March 10, 2012 5:14 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, shit was profound. love this guy x1,000,000.

withers is one of those rare dudes who can answer questions off the cuff in fully-turned, beautiful sentences that i would kill to be able to write. i know some people in my personal life who are like that, but the other famous guy who speaks like that is leonard cohen.

Okay since Doctor Casino didn't post again I assume he found the Carnegie Hall album as captivating as the rest of us and is listening to it constantly to the point he can't do anything else.

The documentary is on Netflix Instant BTE.

The preamble to 'Grandma's Hands' reduces me to a blubbering fool EVERY time I hear it...'"I love that old lady...love that old lady"...and don't get me started on the documentary...

the closing jam on harlem/shake 'em on down is so immense. could go on another hour and still be absolutely riveting.

I've always felt Withers was unfairly overlooked in comparison to the Marvin/Stevie/Al/Sly cannon. Ridiculous statements that most of his albums are disposable reinforce that notion. I wrote about that a few years back. I saved it at the end of a more recent piece on 70s soul - http://www.fastnbulbous.com/70s_soul.htm

At least his albums keep getting reissued.

Bill's albums disposable?! Have they heard Just As I Am??

Still Bill is fucking amazing!

Okay since Doctor Casino didn't post again I assume he found the Carnegie Hall album as captivating as the rest of us and is listening to it constantly to the point he can't do anything else.

The documentary is on Netflix Instant BTE.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, March 12, 2012 9:37 AM Bookmark

haha, i got distracted, finally finished listening to it just now. It's great. I need to find a vinyl copy - my tinny computer speakers aren't really doing justice to the warmth and fullness of the sound. Not to mention that the Spotify ads kind of break the mood. But this is a great album.

Still Bill is perfect end to end. "I Don't Want You On My Mind" and "Take It All In..." are some kind mutant folk that haven't been duplicated.

documentary is totally incredible

i love this dude so much

oh yeah live at carnegie hall is my favorite bill withers record, and while i fuck with live records they're rarely my favorites, especially when the dude's adjacent studio work is just massive. alfred otm re: "mutant folk" as a descriptor

Just scored the live album on cd for $5 at Barnes & Noble. Listening now, lives up to the rep.

"...he only said eight words last year, and I think six of 'em were 'airport'".

Cornel West is pretty irritating in this doc

yes but he is maybe in it for all of a minute total

Yeah, the live album is great. I'm sorry that I avoided it all these years.

Grabbed a cheapie Greatest Hits today, and mannn, is it weird to hear these later numbers like "Steppin' Right Along" and "Whatever Happens." They're really kind of listless musically and the canned drums are a huge letdown after the 70s gold. I'm sure quiet storm devotees probably take to this material a little more than I do - the thing is there's still the amazing quality of his voice that almost carries it through. But it's definitely a dropoff.

i think withers himself would admit as much

there's that latter-day TV clip in the documentary still bill where he's lip-synching to one of his later minor hits and he just looks dead inside.

it's not a late minor-hit it's him singing "just the two of us" and it's from the time it was released. it's used to underscore his deep cynicism re. the record industry at that time.

listened to Just As I Am this morning. how many records end with the singer killing himself?

Was talking to a drummer the other day and he was telling me James Gadson was his main man

Still find it kind've mind-blowing that New Zealand's #1 single of 1988, 6 weeks at the top, etc, was a cover of an album cut from his '85 album Watching You Watching Me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8U8FK6wEfc

oh yes ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Sussex-Columbia-Album-Masters/dp/B008S80PCE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1352975059&sr=8-5

wow

its ace.
picked it up from fopp today for £21.
they've even replicated the foldout sleeve that 'still bill' had.
of course the love for the 1st two is well known, but damn, '+justments' is fantastic ..
looking forward to digging through the pretty thorough booklet, seems to have a lot of detail.
well chuffed.

Wow, that's tempting.

Was anyone else surprised that the doc's hung so much weight on "Grandma's Hands?" That's the one apparently iconic Withers track that I didn't know was so highly rated, esp. compared to "Ain't No Sunshine," "Use Me," "Lean On Me," et al.

Well, Blackstreet sampling it should have told ya something's up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KL9mRus19o

I was a little surprised by that too, but I was glad they spent so much time on it relative to "Lean On Me" (which is great and all, but no "Grandma's Hands").

xp

I love me some "No Diggity." I guess I just never knew the sample.

i never picked up re the sample.

just hope it helped him out $$ a la david axelrod and 'the edge'.

also, now i see why the live album gets so much love.

its f*cking brilliant.

the only real duffer is the 1985 album, 'watching you .. ' that's full of nasty mid 80s production. just dreadful.

the rest however, hits so many of my sweet spots.

i have bought a few boxsets this year (the byrds, simple minds, neil young, tom moulton, cabaret voltaire, roxy music), but i have to say, this is the one i will be revisiting the most.

letz talk abt withers mane

discovered yesterday that naked & warm is a really good record

when "city of the angels" gets all mercurial... man. nothing else like it in his catalog as far as i know?

"I don't care whether you own a furniture store. The best sign you can put up is, 'Sold out.'"

fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtT_8pEjHgo

16:05-19:57 after the guitar drops out and it's just the bass, rhodes and his voice is just too perfect. So gentle.

Heard "Use Me" at a coffee shop today, the speakers were screwed up or something and there was no trace at all of the clavinet part! I guess it could have been an alternate version or something, but there were other songs that didn't sound quite right. Anyway, it was kind of amazing, since that funky hook is so key to the song - but without it, it was still an indelible song and actually a lovely arrangement. When it first started with just this guitar strumming I thought it was, like, "Tin Man" by America or something. Totally convincing laid-back folk-pop.

I'm guessing they had one channel of a stereo output hooked up, especially since of lot of records of that era were mixed with instruments panned completely to one side or the other.

Actually, now I'm sure that's the case cause I was able to replicate that by unplugging the left stereo channel.

Yeah, I figured it was basically that but didn't want to say it and be wrong. How's it sound?

like you described

this track is so nasty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMKBINhQZO0

I like this YouTube comment: "Watch out! This is grown folks music."

anyone catch his acceptance speech to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame? typically idiosyncratic, funny, wise. I could listen to this man talk for hours.

this is only a fraction of it but it's also the only one i've found with intelligible audio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2bV6X-i8qU

Yes I've been looking for a decent recording of this to no avail.

Oh an interview with him about Live at Carnegie Hall? SHUCKS.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/reprint-the-legend-revisiting-bill-witherss-carnegie-hall-classic-7714480?utm_content=buffer60145&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

(Plus plenty of comments from his backing band.)

yesyesyesyes

that album is the balls

thanks for that link!

Seconded!