Bill Withers

An excellent live album that powerfully illustrates the diversity of Withers' sophisticated, soulful work. His live rendition of "Grandma's Hands" will give you chills, especially after his hysterically funny, tender intro. The classics "Lean On Me," "Ain't No Sunshine," and "Use Me" mingle with the intense anti-war anthem "I Can't Write Left-Handed."

Hearing Withers urge the audience on, as drummer James Gadson and pianist-arranger Ray Jackson drive their crack combo, really wipes out the man's MOR aura--nobody else in the music combines hard rhythms and warm sensuality so knowingly. A natural shouter who raises his voice judiciously and a deliberate wryly moralistic rapper, his authority comes through even when you can't see him frowning mildly in his unshowy Saturday-night sports clothes. Two of the five new songs lean on friendship themes, and that's one too many, but the old ones are live indeed. Knockout: the encore, "Harlem/Cold Baloney," all 13:07 of it. (Grade - A-)