Bill Withers, one of the finest singers and songwriters in music history, debuted his studio career with the album Just As I Am<\/i> in 1971. The album blends a classic southern soul mix of blues, funk, and gospel. Just As I Am<\/i> features performances from some of the greatest musicians of the genre, including Al Jackson Jr., Donald \u201cDuck\u201d Dunn, Stephen Stills, and Booker T. Jones who produced the record. The Booker T. & The M.G.\u2019s rhythm section along with Withers\u2019 creative songwriting and rich baritone makes for a strong and timeless combination. <\/p>\n
The album is host to some of Wither\u2019s biggest hits. The most prominent tune, \u201cAin\u2019t No Sunshine,\u201d is a genre-defining standard that quickly rose to number six on the U.S. R&B\u00a0Chart\u00a0and number three on the\u00a0Billboard\u00a0Hot 100\u00a0chart. Al Jackson Jr.\u2019s drumming pairs perfectly with Withers as he chants the now famous lyric \u201cI Know\u201d in a repetitious pattern that serves as a bridge on the track. \u201cGrandma\u2019s Hands,\u201d a loving remembrance of a cherished grandmother, features the brilliant arrangements of Booker. T Jones\u2019 production. <\/p>\n
Side two begins with the heart-wrenching \u201cHope She\u2019ll Be Happier.\u201d Here Withers paints an honest and dark picture of someone who\u2019s just lost their love to another. Withers\u2019 voice excels as he belts over light instrumentation. \u201cSweet Wanomi\u201d and \u201cBetter Off Dead,\u201d two songs often overlooked on the album in favor of the bigger hits, showcase Withers capabilities to create two memorable songs. Though the songs are vastly different in subject matter and harmonics, they both leave the listener craving a second listen. With \u201cLet It Be\u201d and \u201cEverybody\u2019s Talkin\u2019,\u201d Withers takes two standards in the pop music realm of the time and transforms them into soul expositions. <\/p>\n
Just As I Am<\/i> is a fitting title for the album since Withers himself could stand as a sole representative of the soul songwriting field. Any devoted Bill Withers fan already has Just As I Am in their collection, but for those new to Withers or to the world of \u201970s soul, this is the album necessary to complete any collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":34262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5810],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46096","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bill-withers","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46096"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46096"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}