👉 First groove of 2025! 🎉
📀 As much as I like a great studio track, I love a great live track. When performers manage to nail something live, it conveys its own unique energy. It is a fleeting moment in which everything coincides to create a great experience. If you enjoy live music, you know what I'm talking about. 🔊
🎤 A great live recording can do something similar, repeatedly pulling you into that moment, whenever and wherever you hear it. This is especially true when the live recording conveys the musicians' personalities on stage and the audience's reactions. It succeeds when it helps you feel the vibe in the room.
I've always loved Bill Withers' Use Me. The studio version is great, but the live version from the 1973 album Bill Withers Live At Carnegie Hall is the definitive version in my book. Recorded in October of 1972 on a rainy night in NYC (in case you don't know where Carnegie Hall is), this album is often cited as one of the great live albums of the 70s. And I would agree. A great singer-composer, a fantastic band, and a historic venue combine to make me imagine myself in the room having a transcendent experience. There's plenty already written about this album so I won't go long here. But to preempt any corrective comments, I should note that there are some postproduction overdubs. But who cares? It sounds beautiful and VERY live.
🥁 This track's groove is powered by an excellent rhythm section joining Bill on Guitar and vocals. James Gadson is on drums (one of the greats), playing a great beat right in the pocket. Ms. Bobbye Hall adds percussion🪘, Melvin Dunlap is on bass, and the great Benorce Blackmon is on guitar (gotta love the wah-wah). 🎸 Ray Jackson is credited with piano on the track and string arrangements on the album, but I hear some clavinet on this track like on the studio version). 🎹
When you hear it, don't let the false ending fool you…The groove continues, "One Mo' Time."
Once you hear the track, go check out the entire album. I’ve purchased the album as a gift many times (back in the days of physical media) and have recommended it to many over the years. It never disappoints,
Let me know what you think!
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