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 Pastiche Liberation Front (sonnyboy), Monday, 12 March 2012 14:05 (twelve years ago) link
the closing jam on harlem/shake 'em on down is so immense. could go on another hour and still be absolutely riveting.
― brokering (pimping) (stevie), Monday, 12 March 2012 15:11 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Fastnbulbous, Monday, 12 March 2012 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
Bill's albums disposable?! Have they heard Just As I Am??
― I Fucked Up (jer.fairall), Monday, 12 March 2012 16:06 (twelve years ago) link
Still Bill is fucking amazing!
― gospodin simmel, Monday, 12 March 2012 16:46 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 13 March 2012 02:58 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 March 2012 03:01 (twelve years ago) link
documentary is totally incredible
i love this dude so much
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Tuesday, 13 March 2012 03:16 (twelve years ago) link
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
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Tuesday, 13 March 2012 03:18 (twelve years ago) link
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'".
― Mike Love Costume Jewelry on Etsy (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 01:15 (twelve years ago) link
Cornel West is pretty irritating in this doc
― the sir edmund hillary of sitting through pauly shore films (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
yes but he is maybe in it for all of a minute total
― Whiney vs. (BradNelson), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, the live album is great. I'm sorry that I avoided it all these years.
― I Fucked Up (jer.fairall), Thursday, 22 March 2012 01:53 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 28 March 2012 20:10 (twelve years ago) link
i think withers himself would admit as much
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― jed_, Wednesday, 28 March 2012 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
listened to Just As I Am this morning. how many records end with the singer killing himself?
― Dominique, Thursday, 5 April 2012 15:49 (twelve years ago) link
Was talking to a drummer the other day and he was telling me James Gadson was his main man
― zing left unguarded, the j/k palace in flames (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 9 April 2012 03:33 (twelve years ago) link
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
― etc, Tuesday, 15 May 2012 10:54 (twelve years ago) link
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
― mark e, Thursday, 15 November 2012 10:31 (eleven years ago) link
wow
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 15 November 2012 15:28 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Thursday, 15 November 2012 15:32 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 15 November 2012 16:16 (eleven years ago) link
Well, Blackstreet sampling it should have told ya something's up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KL9mRus19o
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 15 November 2012 16:21 (eleven years ago) link
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
― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 15 November 2012 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
I love me some "No Diggity." I guess I just never knew the sample.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 15 November 2012 16:57 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Friday, 16 November 2012 17:56 (eleven years ago) link
letz talk abt withers mane
― thraeds of life (The Reverend), Friday, 16 November 2012 19:23 (eleven years ago) link
discovered yesterday that naked & warm is a really good record
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 16 November 2012 19:56 (eleven years ago) link
when "city of the angels" gets all mercurial... man. nothing else like it in his catalog as far as i know?
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 16 November 2012 19:57 (eleven years ago) link
"I don't care whether you own a furniture store. The best sign you can put up is, 'Sold out.'"
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 17 March 2013 23:28 (eleven years ago) link
fantastic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtT_8pEjHgo
― raggett neds of your summer dress (The Reverend), Wednesday, 29 January 2014 05:03 (ten years ago) link
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.
― Spottie, Wednesday, 29 January 2014 06:40 (ten years ago) link
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.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 05:20 (ten years ago) link
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.
― raggett neds of your summer dress (The Reverend), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 05:25 (ten years ago) link
Actually, now I'm sure that's the case cause I was able to replicate that by unplugging the left stereo channel.
― raggett neds of your summer dress (The Reverend), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 05:27 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, I figured it was basically that but didn't want to say it and be wrong. How's it sound?
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 05:42 (ten years ago) link
like you described
― raggett neds of your summer dress (The Reverend), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 05:50 (ten years ago) link
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.
― he quipped with heat (amateurist), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 17:26 (nine years ago) link
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
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 19:16 (nine years ago) link
Yes I've been looking for a decent recording of this to no avail.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 21:49 (nine years ago) link
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
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 21:46 (eight years ago) link
(Plus plenty of comments from his backing band.)
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 21:54 (eight years ago) link
yesyesyesyes
that album is the balls
― please don't shampoo your eyes (stevie), Wednesday, 30 September 2015 08:52 (eight years ago) link
thanks for that link!
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 2 October 2015 04:01 (eight years ago) link
Seconded!
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Sunday, 4 October 2015 16:28 (eight years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/arts/music/bill-withers-still-himself-but-hell-allow-the-attention.html
Ben Sisario talks to him
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 7 October 2015 15:08 (eight years ago) link
how do you turn a duck into a soul singer?
put it in a microwave until its bill withers.
― michael wells (michael w.), Friday, April 18, 2003 9:51 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
put it in the microwave until its bill withers
― del a robbo, Saturday, May 17, 2003 11:39 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― pplains, Wednesday, 7 October 2015 18:56 (eight years ago) link
hey, it's a good joke.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 7 October 2015 20:39 (eight years ago) link