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BILL WITHERS - LONDON 1973 [R.I.P. 1938 - 2020]

April 5, 2020 – 6:20 pm

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BILL WITHERS [R.I.P. 1938 - 2020]

Bill Withers, a onetime Navy aircraft mechanic who, after teaching himself to play the guitar, wrote some of the most memorable and often-covered songs of the 1970s, including “Lean on Me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Use Me,” passed away on March 30, 2020 in Los Angeles. He was 81. His death, at a hospital, was announced by his family. His son, Todd, said Withers had had heart problems.

Withers, who had an evocative, gritty R&B voice that could embody loss or hope, was in his 30s when he released his first album, “Just as I Am,” in 1971. It included “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a mournful lament (“Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone/And she’s always gone too long/Anytime she goes away”) that cracked the Billboard Top 10. Other hits followed, perhaps none better known than “Lean on Me,” an anthem of friendship and support that hit No. 1 in 1972 and has been repurposed countless times by a variety of artists. But after the 1985 album “Watching You Watching Me,” frustrated with the music business, Withers stopped recording and performing. - nytimes.com

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BILL WITHERS
London 1973 [no label, 1CD]
BBC In Concert. Live in London; 1973. Very good audio (ripped from TV broadcast/DVD).

Thanks to joefish who compiled and authored the DVD; and to Simmdale for sharing the DVD at The Traders’ Den.

Simmdale noted:

This one is part of the acclaimed BBC ‘In Concert’ series from the early 1970s. A lot of the popular big name musicians of the time did one of these programs through the years. Done on a closed studio set with a audience, these were always very well staged and intimate productions that really showed the artist’s personality and well as his/her craft. This is a wonderful Bill Withers performance done in 1973 where he does several songs in this show that have now become absolute “Classics”. If you are even a casual fan of Bill Withers, this one is really not to be missed.

Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (256 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.

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Track 01. Ain’t No Sunshine 3:19
Track 02. Lonely Town, Lonely Street 5:56
Track 03. Grandma’s Hands 2:26
Track 04. Use Me 4:21
Track 05. Let Me In Your Life 4:19
Track 06. Lean On Me 4:26
Track 07. Harlem 4:37
30 mins

Click here to order Bill Withers releases.