Customer Reviews

Bill Withers: Just as I Am

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the first time i got into bill withers was in 1985, my first year away from home in school. my cousin told me to listen to something,and it was a bill withers alb (+justments) and i have been hooked since then. my cousin grew up in the 50s, 60s and 70s and he was hip to all of the (real) music.this dual disc is a treasure if you are a bill withers fan,the interview on the dvd deep and educational.the 5.1 surround is excellent considering it was first recorded in the mid 70s.if you love good music and lyrics that mean something,this is a treasure to own.

He's hip, he's hop and he's all heart. If I could sing like any human ever it would be Billy. Where did he get that voice - the highs, the lows, the mids, the truthfulness? That manner of expression, the sly, but modest knowing? I swear I adore this man. How the hell he ever got a record contract still baffles me. How did some A&R ear hear it...get it? He shouldn't have happened, but he did. Nevermind his influentialness given the fact that you hear his songs covered or sequenced constantly on TV, radio and film. But Bill Withers is a songwriter first and a hitmaker second. Still Bill and Just As I Am are proof. The DVD documentary on the 'B' side, which was made about four years ago, displays our present Bill as aged to perfection, funny, vulnerable, unfooled, pointed and not a drop less Billy then he ever was. All the same characteristics you'll find in this collection. Please know that anyone who can steal, Let It Be off the Beatles..is one humdinger of a raw talent. And further note, I have never heard anyone cover his work and be dead on. Not one is there. Some sincere efforts, but no one can capture whatever is it that Bill Withers puts out. Whadda beauty!

Very good cd, the dvd side is a nice bonus. This dualdisc play's not on my Marantz cd-player SA8400 but on my blu-ray BD7004 it is no problem. His second album is better than this one in my opinion.