BILL WITHERS IN 2012 - THE ARGUMENT

Bill Withers never really seemed to fit into any category - and didn't seem to care - but he was such an incredible songwriter. (I use the past tense, because he is one of the few musicians to retire and stay retired. He's the first to remind you that he's retired if you talk about his career in the present tense.) He is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and I think he should also be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

People may not think of him as rocking because of "Lean On Me" and "Just The Two Of Us," which are incredible songs.  But hell, if "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" didn't keep Neil Diamond out of the Hall of Fame, surely "Lean" and "Two Of Us" shouldn't bother anyone.

His debut album, 1971's Just As I Am, is just classic. Produced by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Booker T.  Jones, (and featuring lead guitar from another hall of famer, Stephen Stills), it is funky and badass as hell (the late, great, Al Jackson Jr. plays drums on many songs - the drummer for Booker T. & The MGs, he played on tons of Stax classics, as well as on many of Al Green's greatest songs). With classics like "Grandma's Hands," "Harlem" and the immortal "Ain't No Sunshine," plus covers of "Everybody's Talkin'" and The Beatles' "Let It Be," it's just amazing.

The follow-up, 1972's Still Bill, was also incredible: it has the ubiquitous  "Lean On Me," but also two really funky badass tunes, "Use Me" and "Who Is He (And What Is He To You?)" And after that is one of the best live albums ever, 1973's Live At Carnegie Hall, which has one of his most powerful songs, "I Can't Write Left Handed," which John Legend & The Roots covered on Wake Up. That's pretty much what you need to know about Bill.  He had some cool songs after that - "Just The Two Of Us," and also "Lovely Day" - but the first three records are the real deal.  Do yourself a favor and pick them up, and then see if you agree with me, I bet you will.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: *MY* PICKS FOR THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2011

Last week, I said that I would be going on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SIRIUS|XM OutQ on Friday instead of Wednesday.  That was the plan until I ended up on the disabled list and missing a few days of work.  Rest assured, I'll be talking about Jimi Hendrix on the show soon enough.

But this week, I'll probably be talking about this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. And also who *I* would vote for in 2011, if I were a voter. On one hand, I feel that with the long awaited induction of The Stooges, they can shut the door on the hall for a few years. On the other hand, there are lots of deserving artists, and here are a few who I would vote for. Please call in at 1-866-305-6887, or tweet @ Larry with your opinions! Below would be my ballot, with the expensive career retro, budget priced best of, and my favorite album by the artist.

First up is KISS. It's really easy to hate on them because of their crass commerciality and their marketing machine (although no one complains about Jay-Z's clothing line, sneakers, nightclubs, etc.). And because of the way Gene Simmons comes off in interviews. But I've said it before, I'll say it again: If you gave Gene and Paul Stanely a buck for every kid who bought a guitar or a drumset because of KISS, they'd double their earnings. Maybe the artists later decided that they didn't like KISS. But it was KISS that got them to start playing. That's influence.
If you have big $: Check out the The Box Set, released in 2001, which pretty much covers their entire career minus last year's surprisingly good Sonic Boom.
The best of: 2002's Greatest KISS, two discs that go through most of the non-makeup years. If you want to stick with makeup era, go with 2005's Gold (also two CDs) .
My favorite album: their self titled debut from 1974. They really had something to prove, and sounded really unified. My second choice would be 1975's Alive!

Actually, I'm not sure Public Enemy will be eligible next year: their debut album, Yo, Bum Rush The Show, came out in January of 1987, but I think a lead single may have come out in '86, which I think would make them eligible. But if anyone deserves to get in early, it's Public Enemy, and yes I know a lot of people don't think hip-hop groups should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To me, Public Enemy is rock and roll played on different instruments. They are punk and they are metal and they are blues and they are rock and roll. In the late '80s and early '90s, everyone was influenced by them, or scared of them, or both. And by the way, they still make great records, but since those records often criticize today's hip-hop culture, hip-hop writes them off as old and out of touch. Sorry, you don't get off that easy.
There's no P.E. box set, nor a career-spanning best of, but a good compilation is 2005's Power To The People and The Beats: The Best Of Public Enemy. It covers their Def Jam years.
My favorite P.E. record? 1988's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. It's one of the best records of all time. But 1990's Fear of A Black Planet is amazing also, and so is Apocolypse '91: The Enemy Strikes Black, but by then hip-hop was already moving on to the next thing.

Alice Cooper. And by "Alice Cooper," I mean Alice Cooper on vocals, guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway on bass and drummer Neal Smith. When they started, it was a band, and it was a great band. People don't take Alice seriously for some of the same reasons they don't take KISS seriously: he started out as a scary badass, and later got more commerical and cartoon-like. He was on Hollywood Squares, The Muppets, and played golf. He embraced showbiz. He was scary, but fun-scary. Still, he influenced all of the early punk bands (especially The Sex Pistols and The Ramones) but also lots of heavy metal artists and rock and rollers as well.
If you have big $: get the 1999 4 CD box set The Life And Crimes Of Alice Cooper.
The Best-of: go for 2001's 2 CD set Mascara and Monsters: The Best Of Alice Cooper.
Best album: tough one, I like 1973's Billion Dollar Babies, but also 1971's Love It To Death, 1971's Killer, 1972's School's Out and the 1975 "solo" album Welcome To My Nightmare.

I've been talking about Bill Withers a bit lately, I just think he is so... maybe not "underrated" but definitely under appreciated. If you only know his big hit singles, trust me on this one. Dude has got lots of great songs, and is a great song interpreter as well. I think if he was on Motown or Stax he would have gotten more props. He's one of the great soul/R&B singers of all time. Trust me.
There's no Bill box set that I know of, but never mind that, we all need to check out the documentary Still Bill The Movie. But for a best-of, go with 1994's Lean On Me: The Best Of Bill Withers.
My favorite album would be his debut, 1971's Just As I Am, followed by the follow-up, 1972's Still Bill. Also 1973's Live At Carnegie Hall.

Tom Waits is weird, and "weird" is important to rock and roll. Not everyone is weird, and not everyone has to be. But when someone can combine "weird" with great songwriting, it's a wondeful thing. Combine that with a great presentation and a unique voice? Well, that's Tom Waits. I was late to get into Waits, and I still don't "get" all of it, but his stuff blows me away. He's the only artist I can think of who keeps getting weirder.
Tom Waits doesn't have a box set, but if you have big $, pick up 2001's Used Songs, which covers his early era on Elektra, 1998's Beautiful Maladies and which covers his middle era on Island. There's no real compilation for his latest, and really great, period on Anti-, the imprint of punk rock label Epitaph Records.
My favorite album however, is his Epitaph debut, 1999's Mule Variations. I know most people choose older albums, but that's the one that really hooked me on him. The fact that he did such an incredible album a quarter century into his career blew me away.

The New York Dolls, I was a latecomer to them as well. I sort of got into them via frontman David Johansen's SIRIUS radio show, The Mansion Of Fun. The Dolls influenced Guns N Roses and they influenced The Smiths. Come on! I like their recent reunion albums. But all you really need to have is their 1973 self-titled debut album.

Of course, there are so many other bands who I think should get in: The Cure, The Beastie Boys, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, LL Cool J, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Peter Tosh, Motorhead and The MC5 to name a few. But as of this moment, the above are the artists I would vote for if I could vote tomorrow.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: PETER GABRIEL'S "SCRATCH MY BACK"

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. We talk about - surprise! - music.

Tomorrow the main topic will be Peter Gabriel's new album, Scratch My Back. It is an orchestral album of covers.  I am a huge, huge Peter Gabriel fan, but I have to say, so far I don't like it. What I like better - so far - is the companion piece he has been curating, I'll Scratch Yours, where the bands that he covers on the album return the favor. iTunes has Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields' cover of "Not One Of Us" (recorded right after California voted down gay marraige), and also Paul Simon's cover of "Biko." I hate to be negative about Peter Gabriel, but I can't help it, I don't like this album. It may actually be the first thing he ever did that I don't like. But I'm also kind of annoyed at him: I can't believe that he won't even show up at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction as a member of Genesis. I bet he wouldn't miss it if he was being inducted as a solo artist.

I suggested lots of other songs, I don't know what Larry will pick: there's a long out-of-print Bill Withers album 'Justments, which just was reissued, a song from Peter Wolf's next album, songs from a new live album by The Pretenders, Live in London, a song from Ringo Starr's new album and stuff from Santana's Supernatural.

STILL BILL: THE BILL WITHERS DOCUMENTARY

Every year when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces their inductees, I complain pretty loudly about The Stooges getting stiffed. But I also have a beef with them about Bill Withers not getting in. He is truly one of the greats.

He wasn't part of a big "scene" like Motown, Philadelphia International, Stax (even though Booker T. Jones produced his debut), and his career as a hitmaker didn't last super long. Unlike many of his peers, when the music industry seemed to lose interest in him, he was content to go away. That's probably because he was a bit older when he started his musical career: he had spent nine years in the Navy by then. He makes tons of money on his royalties, and doesn't need to stick around if he doesn't feel like it. He also hates interviews. If you watch the interview included on the "dualdisc" reissue of his classic debut, Just As I Am, you'll see that. Somehow, though, the directors of the upcoming film Still Bill spent LOTS of time with him and this film is the result. There are no screenings in my area, but I can't wait to see it.

So, anyway, do yourself a favor: get a copy of Just As I Am, Still Bill and Live At Carnegie Hall. You will thank me.

"RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE" - THE FILM

A few years ago, a documentary about Muhammed Ali 's famous "Rumble In The Jungle" match against George Foreman in Zaire in 1974 came out: it was called When We Were Kings. The film touched on the concerts that took place around the fight, but now a documentary on those performances, Rumble In The Jungle, will be coming out. James Brown performed, as did Bill Withers, B.B. King and many others. I recently raved about the James Brown DVD box set I Got The Feelin' - the footage of James back in the day is pretty awesome - and this should be similarly great.

Another great soul/R&B doc from that era is Wattstax: it was a 1972 concert billed as the "Black Woodstock," featuring Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, Kim Weston and The Bar-Kays, among others . I had the privlege to interview Chuck D. about it when it came out (Public Enemy used the in-between-song-banter on It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, and Chuck did a commentary track for the DVD), which was really cool experience. I was surprised that I hadn't really heard of the concert before the release of the DVD, despite having listened to It Takes A Nation thousands of times.