Bill Withers: Just As I Am [MUSIC ON VINYL]

Why you'll love it

This Music On Vinyl reissue is a remastered 180g pressing. "Ain't No Sunshine" made Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs, "Grandma's Hands" reached No. 18 on the soul chart, and Rolling Stone ranked the album No. 304 among the 500 Greatest Albums in 2020.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Remastered

About the album

Look closely at the cover: that's Bill Withers outside a factory with his lunchbox. He was still holding down a day job installing toilets in aeroplanes when this record came out, and he was in no hurry to quit until the songs had proved themselves.

Booker T. Jones produced, arranged and played keyboards and guitar, and he brought serious company. Stephen Stills is on guitar, Donald Dunn and Chris Ethridge share bass, Al Jackson Jr. and Jim Keltner split the drums, and Bobbye Hall adds percussion. The sound is spare and warm, acoustic guitar out front and the strings kept taut. "Harlem" opens with a slow build, "Ain't No Sunshine" says everything it needs to in about two minutes, and "Grandma's Hands" is a tender portrait. Withers also covers "Let It Be" and "Everybody's Talkin'," and "I'm Her Daddy" and "Better Off Dead" show how much weight he could carry in a plain-spoken line.

Robert Christgau praised Booker T.'s faultless production and heard folk seriousness married to gospel fervour. Withers did eventually give up the day job, and the airline industry has had to muddle through without him.

Also at Kops: more Bill Withers on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On Sussex / Music On Vinyl (cat# MOVLP378), a reissue of the 1971 album.