Like those landmarks, Still Bill plays with a mix of consistency, effortlessness, and complexity that rewards repeat listening and transcends categorization. On the social intelligence side you got the existentialist thinking of Lonely Town, Lonely Street and the Lennon-esque political satire in Take It All In and Check It All Out. On Still Bill, his second album, Withers holds forth on all aspects of love, on its wonders; on Kissing My Love, he talks of closing his eyes and seeing a pretty city with a million flowers. With regards to "Still Bill", the credits for the Sussex/Columbia box states "mastered from the original analog tapes by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios in NYC except for Just As I Am, Still Bill and Menagerie mastered by Joseph M. Side A is crammed full of great material and hit songs like the clarinet driven 'use me' and the gospel pop classic 'lean on me'.

Looking back on "Lean on Me" years later, Withers said it seemed like "something that was there before I got here" – the kind of song that could be 100 or 10 years old, or one we encounter anew 10 years into the future. At least that's the way it seems, but reading the liner notes really made it clear that the path for the 30 y/o aircraft fitter was anything but easy, even after the success of the first BW album. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

In 2020, Still Bill ranked number 333 on Rolling Stone 's revised edition of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. Withers’ balanced outlook on human desires, needs, and situations stem from his own existence as a former blue-collar employee who believed his time as a musician would soon end. Then there's the quality of the songwriting, which is as assured on the grooving "Lonely Town, Lonely Street" as it is on the suspicious, paranoid "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)? It's rich, subtly layered music, but its best attribute is that it comes on easy, never sounding labored or overworked. Withers’ calm, self-assured voice hovers above it all, doubling as a warm blanket that adds comfort and grace to lyrics steeped in maturity, perspective, and compassion.

The soul-gospel hymn Lean on Me was inspired by the friendships Withers forged while working at the aircraft factory. Withers approaches the plainspoken insight on “Lonely Town, Lonely Street” and heartbreaking vulnerability of “I Don’t Want You on My Mind” with similar sincerity and straightforwardness. It comes as little surprise that Kevin Rowland made this record one of his key texts during one of the most intense phases of Dexys Midnight Runners.We will introduce you exclusively to Duologi finance products provided by Specialist Lending Ltd t/a Duologi through the Deko platform. Another good one from Bill, recorded and produced with his band and with more of an emphasis on funk and soul this time round. I've decided that the 2012 that was taken directly from the masters (not a copy tape) and released in the EU only is pretty hard to beat.

Because he's still got it; Mobile Fidelity here reissue the album on its 50th Anniversary, doing thorough justice to the soul crooner's original album first released on the landmark Sussex Records in 1972. and "Take it All in and Check it All Out" have lyrics that grabbed my attention the first time I heard them. Replete with intoxicating detail and depth, the collectible reissue zeroes in on the music's crux – Withers' unique, rich, West Virginia-accented voice – while clearing a true-to-the-source path to the extraordinary backing he receives from members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Reunion, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U.

Its accessibility notwithstanding, "Still Bill" has a depth and complexity that may take several spins before the listener picks up on it. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has been the undisputed pioneer and leader in audiophile recordings since the company's inception in 1977.

Writing for Rolling Stone in 1972, Vince Aletti regarded it as an improvement over Withers' debut album Just as I Am, particularly because of the singer's production, which sustains even the less exceptional songs here. The rhythmic music produced for the record features soul, funk, and blues sounds, backing lyrics that explore themes of human nature, emotion, and sex from a middle-class male perspective.