Greatest Hits: Bill Withers vs James Tailor

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Which "Best of" is mo' lovely? Bill or James?

― Octavio Coleman (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Taylor, that is.

― Octavio Coleman (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.acerecords.co.uk/gotrt/2003/oct03/graphics/bill-withers.jpg

easiest "taking sides" ever

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 25 March 2005 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Amateurist OTM.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 25 March 2005 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

"Use Me" >>>>>>>>> anything James Taylor ever recorded

― Jeff Reguilon (Talent Explosion), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

apart from "Mexico" I don't like JT. Withers can be pretty unexciting, but at his best, on "Use Me" and "Who Is He to You" he's pretty great.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ain't no Sunshine" >>>>>>>>> almost anything anybody ever recorded

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 25 March 2005 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Almost everything by Withers >>>>> almost anything by Taylor.

Grandma's Hands
Used to bitch-slap Jimmy Taylor

― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

In full agreement. I just figured someone was gonna stick their neck out and defend the easy sounds of JT for a moment. Softspot, anybody?

― Octavio Coleman (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i LIKE james taylor (within reason). he's just not in bill withers's league, that's all.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

in case this thread needs more nails:
Lovely Day >>>>>>>>> anything James Taylor ever recorded

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

+ I like JT, etc.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

How do you turn a duck into a folk singer?
You put it in a microwave until it's James Taylor.

Um. Fuck, wait.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm in with the in-crowd on this thread. Maybe "Fire and Rain" the song is OK but other than that... To top it off, I always thought "Handyman" was a terrible song until I heard the bizarre original, where the lyric is undercut but the fast tempo and the high voice. There are times when Jimmy Jones sounds like the Cocoa-Puffs bird.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 25 March 2005 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

James Taylor = music to get blueballed to.

― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Under duress, I don't mind, for my sentimental moments in front of a three-alarm fire, "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" by JT. And I recall kind of liking that album of his that came out around '90, "That's Why I'm Here" maybe? I sort of liked that title track, as I recall. I mean, he can sing and every time I watch him, I like it, I see the appeal, for about ten minutes, and then the horrible self-involvement kicks in and no matter how well he phrases and so forth, I become sickened...blueballed indeed!

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeh... if you're tryin' to get laid, go with Withers everytime

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

possibly not "lean on me" though

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

good point.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm gonna do a little standing up for JT, in his prime, he was one of the hottest men around

http://www.raspberryworld.com/thoughts/tlbt1.jpg

http://www.drivepast.com/posters/twolanejap.jpg

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

JT was a looker. But once he got off the horse he had nothing musically to offer. "Whenever I See Your Smiling Face," "Shower the People," and "Mockingbird" all make my 100 Worst Songs Of All Time.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000025LU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I can't believe no one has yet posted this fine album sleeve, which reminds me one of those pseudo-columns in The Onion by Smoove B. It is a snapshot from Bill's hyper-accelerated sex life: An initial setting, flush with impossible luxury. A rose was given. Coffee and repast were sampled, wine and brandy poured and, finally, an expenive-looking cigarette was lit. Before any of it was actually consumed, though, the record Bill had put set the mood had grown so intoxicating that his lady could scarcely postpone her urges past the typical pre-coitus social routine. Thus, they are not pictured here. Was that record Bill's own greatest hits collection? We may never know, but we can be fairly certain that it was not a record by James Taylor.

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm getting kinda horny...

― Octavio Coleman (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

JT did cohabit with Carly Simon, who sings like a horse, to quote one of Christgau's more memorable mots, but who was certainly foxy in her prime. But I'd like to think Bill Withers's women were even foxier...

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Kinda looks like a horse too.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

horses can be hot!

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

hot to trot

― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

horsemouth love. new thread!

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

filly dog and boogaloo!

I have a preakness stake for ya!

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Pictures of Filly!

― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:21 (twenty-one years ago)

ba-dum-BUMP!

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

This is what slooooow work days reduce me to...

― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 25 March 2005 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

"JT did cohabit with Carly Simon, who sings like a horse, to quote one of Christgau's more memorable mots, but who was certainly foxy in her prime. But I'd like to think Bill Withers's women were even foxier..."

Withers was briefly married to Denise Nicholas (a popular 1970's actress), so he was doing all right in the female department. Judge for yourself - Carly...
http://www.bobgruen.com/files/asst/R.083%20CARLY%20SIMON%2073.jpg

and Denise...
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPH/175150~Denise-Nicholas-Posters.jpg

― Rev. Hoodoo, Thursday, 24 January 2008 22:24 (eighteen years ago)

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