Thursday 20 January 2011

BILL WITHERS - JUST AS I AM (SUSSEX 1971) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve




Organic, funky, folky, soulful, and an absolute monument of soul music. Much of this material will be familiar to all but the most ignorant listener - "Everybody's Talkin'" has been covered by basically everybody, "Let It Be" is a Beatles cover, and "Ain't No Sunshine" is possibly Withers' most famous original song (competing with "Just The Two Of Us" and "Lovely Day"). Even "Grandma's Hands" was sampled on Blackstreet's "No Diggity". Steven Stills and Booker T Jones support, but Withers makes sure he's truly the star by crafting an album that, at its best, is as intimate and personal as the likes of Pink Moon. "Hope She'll Be Happier" is the understated peak, though it's hard to pick favourites on an album as complete as this. The only slip comes with "Everybody's Talkin'", which is given a funky treatment to bring it in line with the rest of the album. Here, it doesn't work. Elsewhere, however, Withers displays a sound that 40 years later remains all his own. A remarkable album![sputnikmusic]
Here

5 comments:

Darren said...

I love this album.
Thank you very much

Midnite Passions said...

Big Thanks.

Astral Traveller said...

Love it, love it!! THX a lot! Your Blog kicks Ass! Added you to my Blogroll

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Francesco said...

Thank you very much for sharing this classic. These were truly golden years for soul music and in general for American popular music

matt s. said...

Thank you for sharing this, I have the LP but it is nice to have a digital copy, cheers!