Let's talk about Bill Withers.

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!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/arts/music/bill-withers-still-himself-but-hell-allow-the-attention.html

Ben Sisario talks to him

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

how do you turn a duck into a soul singer?

put it in the microwave until its bill withers

― del a robbo, Saturday, May 17, 2003 11:39 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hey, it's a good joke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59-Dven7bnY

Heads up

Bill Withers has a new song released this Friday. And it's a cover of a Little Jimmy Dickens recitation. https://t.co/Pq9vG4zaRR

— Charles Hughes (@CharlesLHughes2) August 31, 2017

Whew! Thought he'd died for a sec...

Yeah! I like Wilie Nelson and Mavis Staples' version of "Grandma's Hands":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3K0u6Kxgog

RIP? Some lovely songs but I feel I’ve never explored his discography

First three albums full of greatness, others will need to vouch for what's best from what followed. RIP.

God damn this week is brutal. RIP.

Oh shit. Yeah.

His live album is among the best I've heard. Rarely has a sense of warmth and communion between performer and audience been more palpable.

welp I know what I'll be cranking all morning

otm

The between-song banter is as essential as the songs

the GOAT