''+'Justments'' (pronounced: ''add justments'') is the third studio album by American
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
singer-songwriter and producer
Bill Withers, released in 1974 by
Sussex Records
Sussex Records, Inc. was a Los Angeles-based record label, founded by music executive and businessman Clarence Avant, that existed from 1969 through 1975.
History
Sussex Records was launched in December 1969 by Avant, who had previously set up a ...
. It contains the hit single, "
The Same Love That Made Me Laugh
"The Same Love That Made Me Laugh" is a song, composed and originally recorded by Bill Withers
William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career sp ...
" (US #50, Canada #39), which charted during the spring of 1974.
Reception
The album cover shows Withers writing the following explanation of the title:
Life like most precious gifts gives us the responsibility of upkeep. We are given the responsibility of arranging our own spaces to best benefit our survival. We have the choice of believing or not believing in things like God, friendship, marriage, love, lust or any number of simple but complicated things. We will make some mistakes both in judgement and in fact. We will help some situations and hurt some situations. We will help some people and hurt some people and be left to live with it either way. We must then make some adjustments, or as the old people back home would call them, + 'JUSTMENTS.
The album features
José Feliciano playing guitar on "Can We Pretend" and congas on "Railroad Man". Withers was a guest musician and composer on the 1973 Feliciano album ''Compartments''.
Legal tussles between Withers and Sussex prevented further recording sessions until
Columbia signed the singer a year later. Columbia bought Withers' back catalog, re-releasing his earlier hit records, but ''+'Justments'' was not reissued on CD until 2010.
Track listing
Personnel
*
Bill Withers – lead and backing vocals, guitar (2, 9), acoustic piano (4), electric piano (5, 6, 9)
* Benorce Blackmon – guitar (1)
*
José Feliciano – guitar (7), congas (10)
* Ray Jackson – electric piano (1, 2)
* John Barnes – acoustic piano (1, 3), electric piano (4)
* John Myles – electric piano (7, 8, 10),
clavinet
The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
(10), string arrangements
*
Melvin Dunlap
Melvin Carl Dunlap (June 9, 1945 - September 12, 2021) was an American bass player, noted for his work with Charles Wright and Bill Withers.
Dunlap was born in Cleveland, Ohio. While suffering from an extended childhood illness, he began practic ...
– bass (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10)
*
James Gadson
James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...
– drums (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10)
* Chip Steen – congas (5, 10)
*
Dorothy Ashby – harp (2, 3, 4, 7)
Production
* Bill Withers – producer
* Melvin Dunlap – producer
* James Gadson – producer
* Phil Schier – engineer
* Bobby Thomas – engineer
* Carl Overr – art direction
* John Van Hamersveld – design
*
Norman Seeff
Norman Seeff (born March 5, 1939, in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a photographer and filmmaker. Since moving to the United States in 1969, his work has been focused on the exploration of human creativity and the inner dynamics of the creative ...
– photography
;Studios
* Recorded at
Record Plant
The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...
(Los Angeles, CA) and Dijobe Sound (Orange, CA).
* Mastered at
Artisan Sound Recorders
Artisan Sound Recorders was one of Southern California's premier disk mastering facilities. It was founded by Robert M. MacLeod Jr. in the 1960s, and acquired by Kent Duncan in 1979 when MacLeod retired. In the early 1990s, it was sold to Jon Lo ...
(Hollywood, CA).
Charts
Singles
External links
Bill Withers - + 'Justments at Discogs
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Justments
1974 albums
Bill Withers albums
Sussex Records albums