The Best of Bill Withers

by Bill Withers

Product Description:

Personnel: Bill Withers (vocals, guitar, piano, Clavinet); Booker T. Jones (guitar, keyboards); Ray Parker, Joe Kelly, Eric Gale, David T. Walker, Melvin "Wah Wah" Ragin, George Johnson, Stephen Stills, Benorce Blackman (guitar); Dorothy Ashby (harp); Ray Jackson (piano, electric piano, Clavinet); Larry Nash (electric piano); Paul Smith (keyboards, synthesizer).

Producers: Bill Wither, Clarence McDonald, Keni Burke, Larry Nash, Booker T. Jones.

Compilation producers: Bill Withers, Leo Sacks.

Engineers: Bob Merritt, Phil Schier, Bill Halverson.

Includes liner notes by David Ritz.

All tracks have been digitall remastered.

This is part of the Legacy Rhythm And Soul series.

Although Bill Withers went into a self-imposed musical exile following the release of 1985's WATCHING YOU WATCHING ME, his influence has quietly lived on. He's been covered by Club Nouveau ("Lean on Me"), Me'Shell NdegeOcello with "Who Is He (And What Is He to You)," by Paul McCartney with "Ain't No Sunshine" and has been the beneficiary of a Mick Jagger and Lenny Kravitz duet ("Use Me"). Will Smith and Austin Powers have both referenced him ("Just the Two of Us"), while the Gap has based a highly successful commercial around 1977's "Lovely Day."

This compilation contains the originals of these classics along with a number of lesser-known nuggets that meld R&B, funk, jazz and folk elements around highly sensitive lyrics honed by listening to gospel while growing up in a rural West Virginia coal mining town. Highlights include "Harlem," with its instrumental build-up and aggressive string arrangements, the bossa-nova elegance of "I Want to Spend the Night" and the brassy soul of "I Wish You Well."