As is my new custom when I roll a
disc that is actually two albums repackaged on one disc I review them at the
same time, but treat them as two separate albums, since that is what they are
intended to be.
Disc 627 and 628 are….Just As I Am and Still Bill
Artist: Bill
Withers
Year of Release: 1971 (Just As I Am)
and 1972 (Still Bill)
What’s up with the Cover? This combo version
has a bad bit of art featuring Bill playing the guitar and some black and white
photo that looks like it was lifted from the internet.
The
original covers are both shown in miniature at the bottom right. “Just As I Am”
features Bill looking like a regular Joe heading to work, lunch bucket in hand.
“Still Bill” features Bill looking like the same regular Joe (hey, it is called
Still Bill) but this time engaged in
off-work activities. Clockwise from left this looks like: 1) lurking in parks
2) going out without a jacket and regretting it 3) standing on a street corner
and 4) back in the park, looking awkward. Bill obviously needs a hobby.
How I Came To Know It: Bill Withers is one of those
artists you’ve probably heard but never really thought about who you were
listening to. He sings “Lean on Me”
so I knew that song as a kid. Later he was featured on a Tarantino soundtrack,
(1997’s Jackie Brown, Reviewed Back at Disc 30). However, what got me to
buy this album was seeing him in the documentary “Soul Power” about the 1974
concert in Zaire. Watching him play “Hope
She’ll Be Happier” at that show blew me away. In fact, here it is:
You’re
welcome.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Bill Withers albums, these two and
1977’s “Menagerie”. “Just As I Am” and “Still Bill” are clearly superior, and
both very close. If I had to choose I’ll put “Just As I Am” just slightly ahead
of “Still Bill.”
Disc 627: Just As I Am
Rating: 4 stars
Looking at the picture of Bill
Withers on the cover of “Just As I Am” it would be easy to mistake him for just
a guy heading down to work a little construction. He just looks so…regular.
Then you put this record on and his voice immediately grabs hold of your soul
and takes you on a journey.
That journey is a soulful one through
the streets of America. These are songs about ordinary people living ordinary
lives. Despite the fact that this is squarely in the soul genre, Withers’ delivery,
subject matter and down-home feel makes it feel almost like folk at times.
The music is laid back and easy,
but Withers vocals are so rich and powerful that even simple topics take on
deeper meaning. “Grandma’s Hands” is
an homage to his grandmother, seen as a child often remembers his grandmother –
through her weather-beaten and expressive hands. In the wrong…er…hands this song could be just a laundry
list of grandmotherly things. Withers brings grandma to life: clapping in church,
slapping a tambourine, admonishing the boys for running recklessly and
interceding to protect her grandson from a beating. Tough and weathered, but
gentle and expressive, you feel like he’s singing about your grandma, not his.
“Harlem” paints a similar picture – this time of a whole
neighbourhood rather than a single person. This is the Harlem of 1971 of
course, not today – both rougher and more neighbourly at the same time. My
favourite verse:
“Sunday morning here in Harlem
Now everybody's all dressed up
The hip folks just gettin' home from the party
And the good folks just got up.”
Nothing is so beautiful as Bill
when he’s feeling down, and this album has no deeper blue than “Hope She’ll Be Happier.” If you listened
to that Youtube clip I linked to earlier, you already know what I mean, but if
you didn’t go do so now. There’s nothing more stark than hearing Wither’s
tortured testimonial:
“Maybe the lateness of the hour
Makes me seem bluer than I am
But in my heart there is a shower,
I hope she'll be happier with him.”
What makes this song so perfect is
there is no artifice in Withers’ delivery. So many songs like this have an
element of passive aggressiveness. Instead, we have a man wholly destroyed by
lost love, but at his core still honestly wishing the best for the woman he’s
lost. It’s hard to hear, but worse to miss. While the studio version lacks a
bit from the Zaire concert it still gets the job done more than admirably.
Even the album’s other lost love
song, “Better Off Dead” fails to be
as stark as “Hope She’ll Be Happier” despite
ending with a suicide gunshot. On “Better
Off Dead” at least we know the character – an unreformed drunk – deserves
to lose his girl. “Hope She’ll Be Happier”
offers no such emotional chart markers – it just lets you float in misery, not
knowing how or why you came to be there. That’s how lost love feels.
There’s little not to recommend
this record, which also features an up-tempo remake of the Beatles “Let It Be” (different but just as good
as the original) and the slow and sultry “Moanin’
and Groanin’.” I didn’t love “I’m Her
Daddy” but even that saccharine paternity anthem entry works with Withers
honest delivery.
On one of the songs Withers has a
little rap where he admits he wasn’t sure of himself making his debut record,
but his mentors just told him to “do what
you do, and do it good.” Mission accomplished, Bill.
Best tracks: Harlem, Ain’t
No Sunshine, Sweet Wanomi, Do It Good, Hope She’ll Be Happier, Moanin’ and
Groanin’, Better Off Dead
Disc 628: Still Bill
Rating: 4 stars
“Still Bill” is as advertised. It
is still Bill Withers, and all the greatness that implies. His rich and steady
voice, so perfectly suited to soul music. And it still sings the songs of the
people of the street and the routine things they endure to get through the day.
Still, it is a slight departure from “Just As I Am” being noticeably more
funky, and less folksy. The result is a slightly different vibe, but ultimately
just as good.
The album features the classic “Lean On Me” and reminds you that despite
that unfortunate remake in the eighties, the original of this song will never
be matched. The jump ‘n’ joy in this song, despite the fact that fundamentally
it is about troubled times, creates the perfect tension between our darkest
times, and the strength we generate when we face them together.
On the other side of the emotional
spectrum is “Use Me.” This song takes
“Moanin’ and Groanin’” to a whole new
level – a girl so bad for you that everyone wants you to dump her but that is
so damned sexy you won’t. And the music of “Use
Me” matches the subject matter. It is down and dirty music that hits you
right where it should – in the pelvis.
Overall, the themes on “Still
Bill” have this darker flavour. “Who Is
He (And What Is He To You)?” leaves you wondering whether the singer has
discovered infidelity or is just jealously imagining it:
“A man we passed just tried to stare me down
And when I looked at you
You looked at the ground
“I don't know who he is
But I think that you do
Dadgummit
Who is he, and what is he to you?”
Whether the guy is onto something
or not, there is a menace in this song that lets you know something bad is
going to happen before it is resolved. Also, a fine use of ‘dadgummit’. And here I thought it was
only Bluegrass singers that don’t like to swear.
And as on the preceding album’s “Do It Good” “Still Bill” features music
with some eminently sensible suggestions such as this from “Take It All In And Check It All Out”:
“You can fill up a room with idle conversation
You can stir up a whole darn nation with your mouth
But before you start to show your indignation about a
situation
You ought to take it all in and check it all out.”
Good advice, Bill. As for this
album, I would recommend you do the same. And with this album and “Just As I
Am” available on one disc, it is advice that’s never been easier to take.
Best tracks: Who Is He
(And What Is He To You)?, Use Me, Lean on Me, Take It All In and Check It All
Out, It’s All Over
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