![]() ![]() ![]() And yet there were still wonderful moments, like originals " My Imagination" (from Naked & Warm), and " I Want to Spend the Night" and " Tender Things," both from Menagerie (1977). While some of his peers like William Bell ("Tryin' to Love Two") and Johnnie Taylor ("Disco Lady") were finding new audiences by following trends, Withers largely refused. Indeed, Withers' time with Columbia was marred by the label's unwillingness to allow Withers to record the music he wanted. Though Withers wrote all of Naked & Warm (1976), it is the most un-Withers album of his catalog - slick, overproduced, impersonal - though the ambitious 10-minute long " City of the Angels" seemed to mirror both Withers' increasing disconnect with Los Angeles and his new label. Never one for regrets, Withers closes Making Music with " Hello Before," which narrates a chance reunion that will remain a lost love in Withers world. Yet there are gems, like the album opener " I Wish You Well," which seemed his goodbye anthem to Nicholas - because love is always lost - and " I Love You Dawn," arguably Withers' most gorgeous ballad, if not the most gorgeous two-and-a-half minutes in all of soul music, which featured a cold ending that left listeners breathless. Like +'Justments, Withers' follow-up, Making Music, might not have produced any hits, and for the first time included several song collaborators, perhaps as a concession to his new label. Some of those stories were his own, like " Railroad Man," on which he was accompanied by José Feliciano, which shares tales of coming-of-age in West Virginia " Can We Pretend," a soft parting ballad that was penned by Nicholas and " Liza," a lullaby that Withers wrote for a niece which was reminiscent of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson's "Song for Bobby Smith," which was released the same year. A key, but underappreciated narrative of Bill Withers' career is not his chart-topping early hits - or his so-called comeback in the late 1970s with "Lovely Day" and few years later with Grover Washington on the Grammy winning "Just the Two of Us" - but the thoughtful, introspective and brilliant albums that he recorded in the interim, with little airplay or fanfare.Īs Withers sings on " Stories" from +'Justments, "Young and old, we all have stories that we all must try to sell," and Withers chose to sell and tell the stories that mattered to him, whether they found public favor or not. No doubt +'Justments was hampered by the financial struggles at Sussex, but he was also not interested in recording simple pop songs. +'Justments, Withers' last album for Sussex, was released in 1974 and spawned three singles, none of which charted higher than 50 on the pop chart. In a moment in which Withers was poised - along with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Carly Simon - to become a generationally transcendent pop star, Withers went with his heart and his desire to write and record great songs, whether they would be pop hits or not. For years the song would be cited as a musical reference to Withers' volatile relationship with actress Denise Nicholas, which ended in divorce and at least one reported incident of domestic violence. 1s that year if not for Michael Jackson's "Ben" (Jackson had covered "Ain't No Sunshine" on his debut solo album earlier in 1972) and Chuck Berry's "My-Ding-a-Ling." Both of Withers' hits were on the nearly perfect side-one of Still Bill, which also included the funk classic " Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?," co-written with Stanley McKenny, more from the perspective of a stalker than a jealous lover. 2 and featured an iconic drum break from James Gadson. "I'm Her Daddy" and "Better Off Dead" were not the stuff of pop stardom, yet a year later, Bill Withers found himself on the top of the pop charts courtesy of the generation-defining "Lean on Me." His next single, " Use Me," peaked at No. That darkness comes ringing through on songs like " I'm Her Daddy" and the album closer " Better Off Dead" - "Now I must die by my own hand / 'Cause I'm not man enough to live alone" - which ends with a self-inflicted gunshot. #Bill withers how to#It wasn't the only way I knew how to live." " Hope that She'll be Happier" revealed what would become a common theme in his music, the reservation that love will always be lost, and there would always be a dark side that few wanted to acknowledge. As he told NPR in a 2015 interview, "I wasn't socialized as a musician. Yet Withers established early on in his career that there would be no filler on his albums he was going to use every bar and every groove of those albums to their fullest. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |