''Still Bill'' is the second 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 att ...

singer-songwriter and producer

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 spanning 18 years, including " Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), " Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (197 ...

, released in 1972 by Sussex Records. The album was recorded and produced by Withers with musicians from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. The rhythmic music produced for the record features

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

sounds, backing lyrics that explore themes of human nature, emotion, and sex from a middle-class male perspective. It also features some of Withers' most popular songs, including the

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

s " Lean on Me" and " Use Me". A commercial and critical success at the time of its release, ''Still Bill'' has since been regarded by music journalists as a highlight of the singer's recording career and a classic of 1970s R&B.

Reception

''Still Bill'' was met with positive reviews. Writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' 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. "On the whole", Aletti claimed, "it's a tougher, more relaxed, more assured album ... Nothing is thrown away, everything works with an unexpected clarity and strength." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' hailed ''Still Bill'' as justification for the critical hype surrounding his debut and live performances, while observing "plenty of sunshine" in the music, highlighting "Lean on Me", "Who is He (And What Is He to You)", "Kissing My Love", and "Lonely Town, Lonely Street". Reviewing in ''

Creem ''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is a monthly American music magazine, based in Detroit, whose main print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. Influential crit ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the record a B-plus and said, "Withers has created the most credible persona of any of the new middle-class male soul singers, avoiding

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's occasional vapidity,

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger whom ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto", "This Christmas ...

's overkill, and

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

's blackness-mongering. He sounds straight, strong, compassionate. This album moves out rhythmically, too". However, the critic concluded with reservations about its "missing some essential excitement". Commercially, ''Still Bill'' produced two

s: " Lean on Me" (number one on both the ''

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

and R&B charts in mid 1972) and " Use Me" (number two on the same charts later that year). On September 7, 1972, the album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(RIAA), having recorded at least 500,000 copies sold.

Reappraisal and legacy

Retrospective appraisals have also been positive. Reviewing years later in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981), Christgau expressed more enthusiasm about ''Still Bill'', saying that Withers is "also plenty raunchy and he can rock dead out". He went on to write that the "self-production here is adamantly spare, with Ray Jackson furnishing the hook of the year on 'Use Me,' one of the few knowledgeable songs about sex our supposedly sexy music has ever produced". ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television ...

'' critic Andy Hermann wrote a review in anticipation of the album's CD reissue by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

in 2003, calling it "essential listening for any fan of early '70s funk and R&B". Hermann also highlighted the contributions of session musicians from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, crediting them for having helped Withers develop "a unique style of bluesy funk that was the perfect soundtrack to the emotional drama

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

leaked out from around the corners of Withers' laid-back West Virginia drawl". Writing in 2005,

David Wild David Wild (born December 16, 1961) is an American writer and critic in the music and television industries and a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. His published books include ''Friends: The Official Companion'' (1995), ''Seinf ...

of ''Rolling Stone'' found the album "finer and funkier" than ''Just as I Am'' and "still a stone-soul masterpiece", while ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

''s Derek Miller called it "a stone-cold, gold-plated soul classic ... far and away Withers' best", and more than comparable to enduring LPs from the same period, such as

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songw ...

' '' Hot Buttered Soul'' (1969), Mayfield's ''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

'' (1971),

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

's '' Talking Book'' (1972), and

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

's '' Call Me'' (1973). Miller added that ''Still bill'' exemplified Withers' musical daring, having fused soul,

, and "muscular funk" into a sound that finds "form between the lines … bound by the heated muscle of its rhythms and the satin berth of its softer moments". In 2007, ''Still Bill'' was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''s list of "1,000 albums to hear before you die", with an accompanying essay that said the album "contains two of ithers'most epochal and best-loved compositions 'Lean on Me' and 'Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?' but

the blend of patient, understated, insistently funky acoustic playing is just as vital".

Tom Moon Thomas Raphael Moon (born November 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist, author, and music critic. He is known for his book ''1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die''. He has won two Deems Taylor Awards from the American Society of Composers, Auth ...

included it in a similar publication, '' 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die'' (2008), citing the album as "one of the most eloquent records" in rhythm and blues. "These are shades-of-gray stories, full of a mature understanding of human nature", Moon observed, before concluding that, "even when reflecting on weighty matters, Withers cultivates a mood of unflappable calm, making everything sound like a lazy summer evening on the front porch." In 2020, ''Still Bill'' ranked number 333 on ''Rolling Stone''s revised edition of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list."500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Still Bill"
''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved May 19, 2022.

Track listing

Personnel

* Bill Withers – vocals, guitar, acoustic piano (5), acoustic guitar (11, 12) * Ray Jackson – acoustic piano,

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 tens ...

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

, horn and string arrangements * Benorce Blackmon – guitar * Melvin Dunlap – bass guitar * James Gadson – drums, percussion *

Bobbye Hall Bobbye Jean Hall is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 20 songs that reached the top ten in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Early career, work for Motown and move to ...

– percussion (11, 12)

Production

* Bill Withers – producer (1-12) * Ray Jackson – producer (1-12) * Benorce Blackmon – producer (1-10) * Melvin Dunlap – producer (1-10) * James Gadson – producer (1-10) * Bob Hughes – engineer * Phil Schier – engineer, remixing * Michael Mendel – art direction * Maurer Productions – art direction * Milton Sincoff – package design * Hal Wilson – photography 2003 Reissue Credits * Leo Sacks – producer * Steve Berkowitz – A&R * Darren Salmieri – A&R coordinator *

Joseph M. Palmaccio Joseph M. Palmaccio also credited as Joe Palmaccio was an American mastering engineer born in rural South Carolina. Palmaccio has been nominated for six Grammy Awards and has won 4 in the Best Historical Album category for mastering. Those projec ...

– mastering * Lisa Buckler – product manager * Maurice Joshua – product manager * Triana D'Orazio – packaging manager * Howard Fritzon – art direction * Tim Morse – design *

Harry Goodwin Harry Goodwin (21 July 1924 – 23 September 2013) was a British photographer, known for his images of pop musicians and sports personalities. He was the resident photographer of the BBC Television programme ''Top of the Pops'' from its incepti ...

– photography *

Bob Gruen Bob Gruen (born October 23, 1945) is an American author and photographer known for his rock 'n' roll photographs. By the mid 1970s Gruen was already regarded as one of the foremost photographers in music working with major artist such as John Len ...

– photography * Michael Ochs Archive – photography * SMP/Globe Photos – photography * Bill Withers – liner notes ;Studios * Recorded at

The 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, California). * Bonus Tracks recorded live at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

(New York City, New York). * 2003 reissue mastered at Sony Music Studios (New York City, New York).

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1972 albums Bill Withers albums Sussex Records albums