Self-Titled LP

Hathaway didn't need his own songs to make this one his; he took Leon Russell's 'A Song for You' and turned Gladys Knight's 'Giving Up' into something closer to church, with only 'Take a Love Song' as his own writing credit. Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin produced the sessions, cut through 1970 and '71 ahead of the record's April 1971 release on Atco, stacked with King Curtis on sax, Al Jackson Jr. on drums, Chuck Rainey on bass, and Cissy Houston singing behind him. This pressing is the 180-gram Speakers Corner cut.