Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Bill Withers (2020)

William Harrison Withers Jr. was born on 4 July 1938 in the small coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, and following his parent's divorce when he was three, he was raised by his mother's family in nearby Beckley, West Virginia. At 17 he enlisted in the United States Navy and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs. He left the Navy in 1965, relocating to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career, releasing his first single 'Three Nights And A Morning' later that year, and although the song went unnoticed at the time, he later reworked it as the track 'Harlem'. He worked as a mechanical assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, IBM and Ford during the day, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around, and performing in clubs at night. When he hit with the song 'Ain't No Sunshine' in 1971, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. In early 1970, Withers' demo tape was auditioned favourably by Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records, who signed him to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce his first album. 'Just As I Am' was released in 1971 with the tracks 'Ain't No Sunshine' and 'Grandma's Hands' as singles, and with the album being a success he began touring with a band assembled from members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. 'Ain't No Sunshine' won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards in 1972, with the track selling over one million copies, and being awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in September 1971. During a hiatus from touring, Withers recorded his second album, 'Still Bill', and the lead single 'Lean On Me' went to number one the week of 8 July 1972, being his second gold single, with confirmed sales in excess of three million. His follow-up record, 'Use Me' was released in August 1972, and it became his third million-seller, with the R.I.A.A. gold disc award taking place on 12 October 1972. With three million-sellers under his belt, other artists began coming to him to write for them, and he contributed two songs to Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1974 album 'I Feel A Song', but other artists were happy just to cover tracks from his first two records, with most of the songs from 'Still Bill' receiving this treatment by 1973. The final two tracks were covered in 2019 and 2020 and so we can now enjoy this alternate look at Bill Withers' second studio album in full. 

Track listing

01 Lonely Town, Lonely Street (Denny Greene 1973)
02 Let Me In Your Life (Barbara Mason 1972) 
03 Who Is He (And What Is He To You)? (Gladys Knight & The Pips 1973)
04 Use Me (Scott Walker 1973)
05 Lean On Me (Tom Jones 1973) 
06 Kissing My Love (Cold Blood 1973)  
07 I Don't Know (Caitlin Krisko And The Broadcast 2020)
08 Another Day To Run (Carla Hassett 2011)
09 I Don't Want You On My Mind (Carol Grimes 1974)
10 Take It All In And Check It All Out (Joseph Malik 2019)

Mark Knopfler - ...and on guitar (1985)

Mark Freuder Knopfler was born on 12 August 1949 in Glasgow, the middle child of three, with an older sister Ruth, and a younger brother David, who is also a musician. During the 60's he formed and joined several bands and listened to singers like Elvis Presley and guitarists Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, B.B King, and Hank Marvin, and at sixteen years of age he made a local television appearance as part of a harmony duo, with his classmate Sue Hercombe. In 1968, after studying journalism for a year at Harlow College, Knopfler was hired as a junior reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post, and during this time he made the acquaintance of local furniture restorer, country blues enthusiast and part-time performer Steve Phillips, from whose record collection and guitar style Knopfler acquired a good knowledge of early blues artists. The pair subsequently formed a duo called The Duolian String Pickers, and performed in local folk and acoustic blues venues, but two years later he decided to further his education, later graduating with a degree in English at the University of Leeds. In April 1970 he recorded a demo of an original song he'd written called 'Summer's Coming My Way'. enlisting Steve Phillips to help out on second guitar, along with Dave Johnson on bass, and Paul Granger on percussion. In 1973, Knopfler moved to London and joined a band based in High Wycombe called Brewers Droop, appearing on their 'The Booze Brothers' album, after which he took a job as a lecturer at Loughton College in Essex, and stayed there for three years while continuing to perform with local pub bands, including the Café Racers. 
By the mid-70's his brother David had moved to London, where he shared a flat with bass guitarist John Illsley, and in 1977, Mark moved in with David and John and all three began playing music together, forming a new band called Dire Straits. The group's first demos were recorded in three sessions in 1977, with David Knopfler as rhythm guitarist, John Illsley as bass guitarist, and Pick Withers as drummer. After signing to Vertigo Records, their debut album was released in 1977 to little fanfare in the UK, but when 'Sultans Of Swing' was released as a single, it became a chart hit in the Netherlands and album sales took off – first across Europe, and then in the United States and Canada, and finally in the UK. The group's second album 'Communiqué' was produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett and was issued in 1979, reaching number one in France, and 'Making Movies' quickly followed the next year. This album moved towards more complex arrangements and production, which continued for the remainder of the group's career, resulting in my favourite of their albums, 1982's 'Love Over Gold'. By the time 'Brothers In Arms' came out in 1985, the band were a world-wide phenomenon, with Knopfler also making a name for himself composing film music scores, and writing songs for other artists, including 'Private Dancer' for Tina Turner's comeback album of the same name. 
After his guitar style became noticed following the 'Sultans Of Swing' single, he was often asked to play on other artist's records, including such global superstars as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Steely Dan. He played on Phil Lynott's first solo album 'Solo In Soho' in 1980, and was invited back to help out on the follow-up 'The Philip Lynott Album' two years later. After helping out on Kate & Anna McGarrigle's first album in 1983, he joined family and friends by appearing on albums by his bother David and former band-mate John Illsley. In 1985 he got to play with one of his earliest heroes Chet Atkins, contributing some superb guitar to 'Cosmic Square Dance'. Although this album ends in 1985, Knopfler continued to play on records from artists such as Sting, Randy Newman, Joan Armatrading, Jeff Healey and Hank Marvin up to 1997, adding his instantly recognisable guitar-playing to over 40 releases during that time. For this album, though, enjoy his earliest appearances on some classic albums of the 80's.    

Track listing

01 Gotta Serve Somebody (from 'Slow Train Coming' by Bob Dylan 1979)
02 Loving You (from 'Oh! What A Feeling' by Mavis Staples 1979)
03 Time Out Of Mind (from 'Gaucho' by Steely Dan 1980)
04 Ode To Liberty (The Protest Song) (from 'The Philip Lynott Album' by Phil Lynott 1982)
05 Cleaning Windows (from 'Beautiful Vision' by Van Morrison 1982)
06 Love Over And Over (from 'Love Over And Over' by Kate & Anna McGarrigle 1982)
07 Blanket Roll Blues (from 'Climate Of Hunter' by Scott Walker 1983)
08 Madonna's Daughter (from 'Release' by David Knopfler 1983)
09 Never Told A Soul (from 'Never Told A Soul' by John Illsley 1984)
10 Cosmic Square Dance (from 'Stay Tuned' by Chet Atkins 1985)

Scott Walker - Sings Songs From The Movies (1972)

Scott Walker was the master of the majestic ballad...and where better to find these songs than at the movies. It was such an obvious place to source the sort of songs that he loved that he released an album very much along these lines in 1972, with his 'The Moviegoer' record, collecting a dozen songs from movies old and new, and giving them the distinctive Walker treatment. This album is a sort of follow-up to that one, as although it does include a few songs from 'The Moviegoer', it also has themes from other films which never made it to that release. People might have forgotten that songs like 'The Look Of Love' actually featured in 1967's 'Casino Royale', or that 'I Will Wait For You' came from 1964's 'The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg', as they have since become classic songs in their own right. I didn't even realise that the theme from 'The Godfather' had lyrics until I heard this version, as I'd only ever heard instrumental takes before. I would have loved to include 'The Impossible Dream' from 1972's 'The Man Of La Mancha', but it just didn't seem to fit with the general vibe of the album, which is also why songs like 'Joe Hill' and 'All His Children' had to go. We are therefore left with a beautiful collection of ballads which can only go some way to consolidating the 'godlike genius' epithet which was bestowed upon him before his sad death a few weeks ago at the age of 76.  

Track listing

01 I Will Wait For You (from 'The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg')
02 I Have Dreamed (from 'The King And I')
03 Come Saturday Morning (theme from 'Pookie')
04 The Look Of Love (from 'Casino Royale')
05 The Gentle Rain (theme from 'The Gentle Rain')
06 That Night (theme from 'The Fox')
07 I Still See You (love theme from 'The Go-Between')
08 The Summer Knows (theme from 'Summer of '42')
09 If She Walked Into My Life (from 'Mame')
10 Loss Of Love (theme from 'Sunflower')
11 Glory Road (theme from 'W.U.S.A.')
12 Easy Come, Easy Go (theme from 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?')
13 Speak Softly Love (theme from 'The Godfather')
14 The Ballad Of Sacco And Vanzetti (theme from 'Sacco And Vanzetti')