Skip to main content

Bill Withers

Live at Carnegie Hall

  • Label Mobile Fidelity
  • Format LP
  • Mix Stereo
  • Release Date 2014
  • Country USA
  • Catalogue Number MFSL 2-446

Seller information

Cover Condition

NEW
New

The cover is in perfect, factory-fresh condition.

Disc Condition

NEW
New

The disc is in perfect, unplayed condition.

Description

On par with the most treasured concert albums of the 60s and 70s, Bill Withers’ transformative Live at Carnegie Hall is a forgotten classic – an easygoing portrait of a down-home soul artist coming into his own in front of an audience eager to share every moment of his brilliance. Soothing with subtlety, charming with calmness, and healing with a vocal timbre as relaxing as his grooves, Withers uses the stage to expand the range of favorites and engage in dialog with the crowd. Distinguished with sonics that restore the performances’ balance and improve the soundstaging, this reissue takes you inside the venue.

Moreover, aspects that really make this concert document unique – the energetic crowd, Withers and his band’s willingness to extend arrangements, and the undeniable communicative bond between the performer and his fans – are brought into fuller relief. While most live albums give you the sense of what transpired, our reissue allows it to seem that what you’re hearing and sensing is happening right now, in the moment. You are as much a participant as listener. For this reason and more, Live at Carnegie Hallranks with James Brown’s Live at the Apollo and B.B. King’s Live at the Regal. No small claims, but the proof is in the grooves.

The antithesis of the sweaty R&B shouter that prowls the edge of stages, Withers deals in mellowness and vulnerability, qualities that come to fore. The songs here span soul, blues, and folk and often times, contain elements of all three styles. Live at Carnegie Hall also deals with serious subject matter with unflinching honesty and simple directness. Companionship, poverty, war, maturity, family, and love all crop up within Withers’ tunes, yet the messages are never overly cumbersome or preachy. Credit goes to his easygoing style and relatable lyrics, not to mention a tight-as-a-vice band that on this night is simply “on.”

“One more time?” Withers asks in response to a request for another stanza during “Use Me,” and like the snap of fingers, his musicians are right back on cue, the crowd clapping along on every beat. This classic, as well as the instantly familiar “Ain’t No Sunshine,” poignant “Grandma’s Hands,” and all-time favorite “Lean On Me” are delivered with utmost soulfulness, passion, and electricity. Few, if any, live albums demonstrate such a bond between the crowd and artist as Live at Carnegie Hall. You’ll definitely want to be there.

Track Listing

Use Me
Friend of Mine
Ain’t No Sunshine
Grandma’s Hands
World Keeps Going Around
Let Me In Your Life
Better Off Dead
For My Friend
I Can’t Write Left Handed
Lean on Me
Lonely Town, Lonely Street
Hope She’ll Be Happier
Let Us Love
Harlem/Cold Baloney


Recommendations

20 Best Of Bill Withers

Bill Withers

20 Best Of Bill Withers

£18.00

Cover: VG

Disc: VG+

Breathe Awhile

Arcadium

Breathe Awhile - 2021

£20.00

Cover: NEW

Disc: NEW

Slaughter's Big Rip-Off

James Brown

Slaughter's Big Rip-Off - 1973

£20.00

Cover: VG+

Disc: VG+

Trouble Man

Marvin Gaye

Trouble Man - 1972

£75.00

Cover: EX

Disc: NEW

Hey Jude

The Beatles

Hey Jude - 1970

£100.00

Cover: EX

Disc: EX

Live At Leeds

The Who

Live At Leeds - 1970

£30.00

Cover: VG+

Disc: NM

Let It Be / You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

The Beatles

Let It Be / You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) - 1970

£10.00

Cover: VG

Disc: EX

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 1979

£20.00

Cover: GE

Disc: VG+

Kaya

Bob Marley And The Wailers

Kaya - 1978

£10.00

Cover: VG+

Disc: EX

Tommy

The Who

Tommy - 1973

£20.00

Cover: VG+

Disc: EX