In his debut album Withers demonstrates his universal, mature competence as a singer, composer and performer, which was hardly surpassed in his later recordings. ""Harlem"", an unadorned milieu-funk number about the New York slums, ""Grandma's Hands"", with it's obligatory retrospect of his childhood, and the sentimental ballad ""Ain't No Sunshine"" with it's prayer-wheel-like -I know, I know...®, repeated over and over again on the offbeat, are the musical credo of a experienced artist in his mid-thirties who at last is given a hearing. There's simply no alternative to this recording by the great songwriter with the small repertoire.