Bill Withers

This isn't simply Bill Withers' best album -- it's also one of the finest platters of the 1970s. Out of print for decades, Still Bill contains such essential hits as "Lean On Me," "Kissing My Love," and "Use Me." Withers' heartfelt vision shines through on every single cut. Still Bill is still awesome.

Bill Withers has a rough, unexceptional sort of voice and he sings like a truckdriver,
banging out the hot numbers with a resonant holler or treating ballads with a warm,
conversational ease. He has no time for pretty effects and this simple, straightforward
approach–reflected in his lyrics as well as his singing–is clearly his most attractive quality.
With no pretense to being "down to earth," he is just that–a rarity on a scene w... More >

Withers has created the most credible persona of any of the upwardly mobile soul singers, avoiding Marvin Gaye's occasional vapidity, Donny Hathaway's overstatement, and Curtis Mayfield's racial salesmanship. He sounds straight, strong, compassionate. And don't be fooled by "Lean on Me"--he's also plenty raunchy and he can rock dead out. The self-production here is adamantly spare, with Ray Jackson furnishing the hook of the year on "Use Me," one of the few knowledgeable songs about sex our supposedly sexy music has ever produced. (Grade - A)