Let's talk about Bill Withers.

"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

I’d advise anybody who hasn’t seen it to check out the documentary ‘Still Bill’ which was released a few years ago...what a wonderful,humane and humble person he seemed...RIP Mr Withers

RIP, the documentary about him was great, seemed like a mensch as well as a wonderful artist and writer.

...and made some of the most majestic music ever recorded

and he gave it all up! Marvelous.

motherfucker packed more greatness into the first 7.5 minutes of his first album than almost anyone else's entire careers

iconic cover shot too

https://img.discogs.com/Qs6U1D1Zq-cr6lidSh97WdRSOb8=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4746799-1550014522-8988.jpeg.jpg

Damn

the GOAT

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, April 3, 2020 9:34 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

damn.

RIP. one of the all time giants.

honestly I can't be TOO sad about this cause as Alfred said he pretty much nailed the whole career thing, had hits and got the respect he deserved while he was around to enjoy it, and 81 is a good run.

one of the all-time greatest, rip to the man

No doubt like many legacy artists he saw his revenue streams dry up in the last fifteen years, but he sold millions at the peak of the record industry's reach and his songs kept getting covered. By all accounts he seemed to have invested and saved wisely.

Hard to think of many artists whose most famous songs are likely to resonate more strongly at this precise historical moment.

RIP. One of my absolute heroes and Alfred otm. Live at Carnegie Hall is essential.

Just As I Am is one of 20 or so favourite albums ever, and that's when he was just getting started. A legend. RIP.

he sold millions at the peak of the record industry's reach and his songs kept getting covered

I'm glad he kept getting $$ in but I will never understand why people record studio covers of Bill Withers songs. What are you gonna do, improve on them? (Not even gonna let it slide for Mark Eitzel.)

Yeah, I feel the same way about the Jose James album, with one of the more incredible bands you could dream up. They're killing it, but the originals are perfect.

I can't think of a cover of any of his songs that I honestly like, but I'm open to recommendations (mention Club Nouveau and get FP'D).

Conversely, his is the only version of "Let It Be" I ever need to hear.