L to R: William Bell, PG, Nicole Cooke, Julian Bond, Atlanta 2005
William Bell has always been among the most thoughtful of soul singers and songwriters – and one of the most eloquent, too. Originator of the timeless soul classic, “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” co-writer with Booker T. Jones (of Booker T and the MGs, of course) of Albert King’s equally classic “Born Under a Bad Sign,” William has never been out of the public eye since first joining the Phineas Newborn Sr. band in his mid-teens (you can hear a little bit about this in the title song of his new album, “This Is Where I Live”). He arrived at Stax pre-Otis Redding several years later, where “You Don’t Miss Your Water” was not only his first solo record but the Stax label’s first solo-artist hit. He has written and sung any number of soul classics (“Everybody Loves a Winner,” “Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday,” “Share What You Got,” “I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” “Tribute to a King”), which have been covered and sampled by artists ranging from Carole King to Kanye West. He studied acting for a couple of years after moving to Atlanta, and following the example of his mentor, Sam Cooke, started his first record company, Peachtree Records, in 1968, while continuing to maintain its successor, Wilbe Records, to this day. Throughout it all, he has remained grounded in a way that has eluded many of his peers. “I believe it takes a lot of sorting out,” he says, “a lot of soul-searching, to keep your head screwed on right in this business. A lot of people get caught up in being a star all the time, but I think in order to be creative, to be effectively creative, you’ve got to keep a pulse on the everyday person – that’s who’s got to relate to whatever you’re writing about.” Clarity in both message and diction, a melody that can be easily grasped, and a story line that may very well include personal details but will always suggest universal themes – these are lessons learned from Sam. “When I write, I try to write about things in my life that other people can relate to. Structure it so they don’t have to guess.” This combination of introspection and universality is what has always given William’s music its unique feel, and This Is Where I Live, as the title alone would suggest, puts that singularity on full display. But I think it can safely be said that neither William nor any other soul singer has ever recorded an album quite like this before.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s just as passionate as any of William’s soul classics, and just as personal, too. But William has really – I was going to say outdone himself, but he couldn’t do that. He has really extended himself here with a range of songs that, far from recapitulating the past, look at things from a very different angle, convey home truths from a perspective of age and experience that would not necessarily be available to a younger man.
There’s every kind of mood here – love gained, love lost, bittersweet moments of both passion and regret – pretty much as you could expect from any true celebration of the heart. And, like all of William’s work over the years (William has never been one for nostalgia), there’s a contemporary feel to it all, strongly bolstered by his collaboration with producer John Leventhal. For William this partnership has permitted him to venture into new territory without ever abandoning the old. “It’s the first time other than Booker that I really clicked with a writer that felt the same mood thing that I did.”
Every one of the songs here means something (“You look back on your life, at things that are happening now and things that have happened – I wanted to have substance to the songs”) –each has a depth and directness of its own. There are any number of high points, including “outside” songs by Jesse Winchester (a beautifully rendered “All Your Stories”) and John Leventhal and Rosanne Cash’s “Walking on a Tightrope.” But the two songs that continue to resonate the most for me, in addition to the title track, are the touchingly tender “I Will Take Care of You” and the song that closes the album, the closest William has ever come to a spiritual composition (although all of his music, certainly, is spiritual in its own way), “People Want to Go Home.” It started out with an idea that William had about a train ride, “but then we switched it around so it was more about the person than the ride itself – because I realized that as you get older (and I’m getting there), you want to know that there’s something there for you. People want to go home when they’re tired, they want to go home and rest.” It’s a quietly eloquent, almost folk-styled hymn, reminiscent in a way of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” but with a strong voice of its own. When I ask William if he might ever think about actually recording a gospel album, there is a momentary pause. “Well, you know,” he says, “that’s kind of close. Of course that’s where I started. My mother, before she passed, wanted me to do a gospel record for her, but I never did. Who knows, maybe I will get around to it someday.”
About
this deeply soulful, deeply introspective album, though, there is no question. “We
took our time on it,” William says, “and I’m glad we did. We accomplished what
we set out to do.”
William Bell’s new Album “This Is Where I Live” will be released June 3 on Stax/Concord. This post is adapted from the liner notes by PG.