Bill Withers

In a career laden with highlights and hallmarks in the annals of soul history, Just as I Am gets rather overlooked as one of the best soul debuts ever issued. Remastered and repackaged as a part of Sony's DualDisc series, Just as I Am gets cleaned up and presented to a new generation of listeners who may have missed out the first time. And with this remastering comes an intimacy, warmth, and immediacy to the recordings that was only hinted at with previous versions; it's almost as if Withers is in a living room singing to a small group of people, rather than making a record. Of course, the instantly recognizable anthem "Ain't No Sunshine" gets all of the acclaim it so richly deserves, but tracks like "Harlem" and "Better Off Dead" also warrant kudos for the intensity and maturity of their performances.

At only ten tracks, "Greatest Hits" is a little brief and doesn't contain much of his earliest material, but it remains a first-rate compilation of Bill Withers' prime hits, featuring "Use Me," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)," and "Just the Two of Us." The latter-day Legacy compilation is a bit more thorough, but this remains a good basic overview.

Bill Withers is one of the greatest and best-selling singer-songwriters of all time who scored such classic hits as "Lean On Me," "Use Me," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lovely Day" and many more. Neo-soul singer/songwriter Anthony David has, for more than a decade, been considered "the Bill Withers of his generation," with his warm, resonant baritone and thought provoking songs, scoring radio hits (including a #1 with "4Evermore") and collaborating with India. Arie.

Despite the import of the occasion - an October 1972 night at America's most prestigious hall - what really impresses about Bill Withers' Live at Carnegie Hall is the good feeling and sense of interplay passed between the star, his band, and the audience. From the surpassingly casual opening of "Use Me" and its build through eight-plus minutes and an extended ending to the complexity and occasional joy of Withers's socio-personal "Lean on Me", "I Can't Write Left-Handed", and a medley of "Harlem" and "Cold Bologna", Carnegie is an underappreciated document of what for a moment was progressive R&B. Always one of music's most humble performers, Withers quietly, intensely proves his mettle over the length of this album.

Released in 1976, "Naked & Warm" is the fifth studio album by American R&B singer Bill Withers and his second for Columbia Records. Warm wonderful soul from Bill – recorded with a bit less of the acoustic folksy sound that graced his Sussex recordings, but still with loads of excellent song writing, and a whole bunch of great piano work in place of the missing guitar.

"Just As I Am" is the debut studio album by Bill Withers and was first released in 1971. It was recorded at Sunset Sound and Wally Heider Studios in Hollywood, California and produced by Booker T. Jones. The album features the classic hit single "Ain't No Sunshine", which has been ranked #280 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Lovely Day: The Very Best Of is a 2005 compilation by American singer Bill Withers. This was released in the UK by Columbia via Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

Les Rois de la Soul. 2-disc collection split between Billy Paul with 15 tracks & Bill Withers with 18. Highlights include 'Mrs. Robinson', 'You Just Can't Smile It Way', 'Soul Shadows', 'Me And Mrs. Jones' and 'Just the Two of Us' (With Grover Washington Jr.). Sony Music Media.

One of Wither's most underrated sets, a nice effort from the latter part of his Columbia career. The set has the sort of modern soul polish throughout that separates these CBS sides from his earlier grittier work for Sussex, and though the sound has a little more commercial and mainstream appeal than some of the funkier folksier early albums, it's aged a lot better than we might have predicted upon its release. Overall the vibe is a lot like the excellent Menagerie album which immediately preceded this, with some nice jazzy touches, and even though it didn't produce a big hit like "Lovely Day", it does features some arrangements by Wade Marcus that contribute to the warm, polished production. Titles include "Love Is", "All Because Of You", "You Got The Stuff", "Don't It Make It Better", and "Look To Each Other For Love".