Mfsl Bill Withers

Bill Withers created mellow, downhome-style soul for barely more than a decade before retreating from the industry to pursue craftsman interests. Yet over the course of the handful of albums he made for Sussex and CBS, the Appalachian native struck lasting emotional chords in legends ranging from Booker T. Jones to Stephen Stills – not to mention the millions of listeners that fell under the spell of now-standard tracks such as "Lean on Me," "Use Me," and "Ain't No Sunshine." The antithesis of the sweaty R&B shouter that prowled the edge of stages, Withers dealt in calm and vulnerability, qualities that come to fore on the seminal Bill Withers' Greatest Hits. Characteristics ranging from the tension of the guitars, funky bends of the bass, whisper-soft coo of the formal strings, airiness of the backing harmonies, and sharpness of the snare drum emerge with utmost clarity and lifelike presence. Always prized for its naked honesty and pure conviction, Withers' music positively caresses the senses on this SACD, the unadulterated production and beautiful soundscapes revealed anew with each listen.

On par with the most treasured concert albums of the 60s and 70s, Bill Withers’ transformative Live at Carnegie Hall is a forgotten classic—an easygoing portrait of a down-home soul artist coming into his own in front of an audience eager to share every moment of his brilliance. Soothing with subtlety, charming with calmness, and healing with a vocal timbre as relaxing as his grooves, Withers uses the stage to expand the range of favorites and engage in dialog with the crowd. Distinguished with sonics that restore the performances’ balance and improve the soundstaging, this reissue takes you inside the venue. Moreover, aspects that really make this concert document unique—the energetic crowd, Withers and his band’s willingness to extend arrangements, and the undeniable communicative bond between the performer and his fans—are brought into fuller relief. While most live albums give you the sense of what transpired, Mobile Fidelity’s reissue allows it to seem that what you’re hearing and sensing is happening right now, in the moment.

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".

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.