Bill Withers – Just As I Am (Speakers Corner)
- Description
- Release details
- Tracklist
-
"Just As I Am" - if you start your career late in life, you may already have developed an expressive personality profile, even if, as with Bill Withers, it wasn't influenced by music at first. Withers served in the US Navy for many years, worked as a milkman and installed toilets in jets for an American aircraft manufacturer, while his self-made and diligently shipped demo tapes landed in the drain at record companies. In 1971, the steep rise followed when the successful producer Booker T. Jones took him in tow and put top musicians such as guitarist Stephen Stills, drummer Al Jackson and Donald 'Duck' Dunn in the studio as bass man.
In his debut album Withers shows his universal and mature abilities as a singer, composer and performer, which he hardly surpassed in later recordings. "Harlem", an unembellished milieu funk about the New York slums, "Grandma's Hands", the obligatory look back into childhood and the soulful ballad "Ain't No Sunshine" with its prayer wheel-like "I know, I know ..." circling in off-beat, are exposed musical annual rings of an experienced man in his mid-thirties who finally gets a chance to speak. There is no alternative to this record of the great songwriter with the small repertoire.ReviewsI. Düzgün in Stereo 2 / 08: "This first work is a Must-buy for everyone who loves soul, comparable to "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye. And for those of you Already have a record, it is worthwhile to check the sonic Advantages of the newly pressed 180-gram rind to be pressed nießen".Review
AllMusic rating:AllMusic users:Artist: Bill WithersLabel: Speakers Corner Records, SussexFormat: LPUnits: 1Country: GermanyGenre: Soul & FunkStyle: SoulA1 Harlem
A2 Ain'T No Sunshine
A3 Grandma'S Hands
A4 Sweet Wanomi
A5 Everybody'S Talkin'
A6 Do It Good
B1 Hope She'Ll Be Happier
B2 Let It Be
B3 I'M Her Daddy
B4 In My Heart
B5 Moanin' And Groanin'
B6 Better Off Dead