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'Live at Carnegie Hall' Captures Bill Withers at His Grittiest and Most Introspective

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Of all the album's tracks, "Grandma's Hands"Grandma's Hands", famously covered by the Staple Singers and sampled in Blackstreet's '90s hit, "No Diggity", best exemplifies what this album is about: warmth, maturity, humor, laid-back and funky grooves, pathos, sensitivity, audience rapport, and an improved arrangement over Withers's studio version. After a hilarious extended introduction. Withers further slows down "Grandma's Hands" and adds understated strings to what has proven one of Withers's most durable songs to make it still more emotionally resonant. "Grandma never went nowhere but the church, and it wasn't one of them sad churches where they sing them songs that make you wish you could just hurry up and die and get it over with."

With all of the wisdom in this song and others, it would be easy to forget how funky this album is, especially at the end, with "Harlem/Cold Baloney". The song incorporates both the maturity of Withers' lyrics about poverty and a wah-wah guitar and gospel-influenced piano-driven groove that spellbinds the audience for nearly 14 minutes.

If that sounds like a chore, especially at the end of a 77-minute album, it doesn't feel like it at all, and it's a testament to the strengths of this album as a live document and as a listening experience that this music sounds fresh and relevant nearly 50 years after its recording and release. As critics like Greg Kot argued after Withers's death, this album may be the ultimate example of Bill Withers at his best.


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