Bill Withers ~ Lovely Day 1977 Disco Purrfection Version #2

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For every "Lovely Day", there is a "Lovely Night For Dancing". When Bill recorded "Menagerie", his sixth studio LP, he had written and recorded the perennial favorite "Lovely Day" and then snapped up a #30 Hot100 hit in January of 1978.

The breezy and uptempo atmosphere of "Menagerie" was a departure from the darker and mournful sounds of his previous hits "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Use Me", being closer in tone to "Lean On Me" a not unsuccessful move on his part. Introducing latin and disco influences to his music brought out the inherent funkiness of his music.

Withers wrote his own music and out of all his solo chart hits, only "Lovely Day" had co-writer Skip Scarborough who had also lent his writing/producing talents to LTD, The Emotions, Earth, Wind & Fire, George Benson, Patti Labelle and Anita Baker. For "Menagerie", Bill was set up to work with Ray Parker Jr (guitars), Clarence McDonald (keyboards), Russ Kunkel (drums), Ralph McDonald (percussion) and Jerry Knight (bass) who was part of Raydio with Parker Jr.

The LP peaked at #16 on the R&B Album Chart and #39 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. You can check out my first remix of "Lovely Day" here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-7f05hBNfs