Bill Withers 4 Albums 1971 1977 (2015)

A practical, no-frills clamshell box set celebrating the soft rock/folk-pop hitmakers' '70s heyday, the Warner Bros. Years 1971-1977 rounds up seven complete studio albums and one live LP. Comprised of America (1971), Homecoming (1972), Hat Trick (1973), Holiday (1974), Hearts (1975), Hideaway (1976), Harbor (1977), and America Live (1977), all of which were remastered in 2014, the collection is aimed squarely at completists…

A French band with a very distinctive sound centered around Roland Bocquet's ghostly Farfisa organ. Their first album (recorded March 1971 at Studio ETA) was a mixture of easily accessible tunes, strange wordless chanting, high hippie spirits, Arabian elements, strong percussion and a few avant-garde excursions. Their music had a very spontaneous feeling, as if the group was assembled for some kind of occult ritual using music to reach a higher consciousness. Arguably they had some common ground with the early Pink Floyd and Amon Düül philosophically, but it lead to other conclusions musically. Masq is also notable for its surrealistic cover design…

More generous than the 20-track The Very Best Of, Essential Bill Withers is a 34-track anthology that features all of Withers' notable singles, along with other highlights from the singer's albums for the Sussex and Columbia labels, from 1971's Just as I Am through 1985's Watching You Watching Me. This is a fine and extensive introduction to Withers' catalog, featuring "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," "Use Me," "Lovely Day," and "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh." He also recorded scads of excellent deep album cuts that could not fit. In 2013, the lovingly packaged The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums Collection – released the previous year – retailed for roughly three times the price of this set. Anyone with a serious interest in Withers' work should seriously consider that option, though it doesn't contain "Just the Two of Us," the big hit from Grover Washington, Jr.'s Winelight album.