Review Text
Keeping It Real for More Than 50 Years: Bill Withers' Still Bill Is an Understated Soul Masterwork Distinguished by Unstinting Consistency, Universal Emotions, and Smooth Singing. Mastered on Mobile Fidelity's Renowned Mastering System: Numbered-Edition Hybrid SACD Plays with Lifelike Richness, Detail, Texture, and Transparency. Named One of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone: 1972 Benchmark Includes the Hits 'Lean on Me' and 'Use Me'. As it turns the corner on it's 50th anniversary, Bill Withers' Still Bill remains true to it's title - and stands as the greatest malefronted soul album not made by a singer named Marvin, Al, Sam, James, or Ray. Though the saying 'keeping it real' did not exist in popular parlance when Withers released his sophomore effort, no words better capture the music's approach, mindset, and value. Every facet of Still Bill radiates honesty, truth, and emotion. These characteristics - along with hybrid folk-funk-R&B arrangements, deceptively simple songwriting, and invigorating rhythms - have allowed the album to endure to the point where it sounds as fresh today as in 1972. Withers' calm, self-assured voice hovers above everything, doubling as a warm blanket that adds comfort and grace to lyrics steeped in maturity, perspective, and compassion. Mastered on Mobile Fidelity's renowned mastering system, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition hybrid SACD of Still Bill gives this lush classic the luxe treatment it has always deserved. Replete with intoxicating detail and depth, the reissue zeroes in on the music's crux - Withers' unique, rich, West Virginia-accented voice - while clearing a true-to-the-source path to the extraordinary backing he receives from members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. The colors, textures, and tones Withers captured at the Record Plant can now be faithfully experienced for the first time outside the L.A. studio. On the same hallowed ground as What's Going On, Call Me, and Genius + Soul = Jazz, Still Bill plays with a mix of consistency, warmth, effortlessness, and complexity that rewards repeat listening and transcends categorization. Authenticity, approachability, and sincerity have rarely sounded so good.
