There is no thread for Paul Williams

I must rectify this injustice

http://www.jimmccrary.com/pages/page75/images/paul.jpg

come on, he wrote "We've Only Just Begun" AND "The Rainbow Connection"!

and he was Virgil the genius orangutan in Battle for the Planet of the Apes!

he's Crispin Glover/Andy Warhol's flunky in the Doors

The album this is from is rather great:

And the greatness of this (and pretty much every other song in the movie) goes without saying:

he used to get high with Wallace Shawn and Billy Barty back in the day

More Paul Williams genius- the satanic record executive in Phantom of the Paradise. Love that scene where you see him with short hair, back in the fifties, as he strikes his Dorian Gray-type deal with the devil.

Best bangs after Lu Lu, I say.

chaki: ask for a ysi of the "someday Man" album on the paul williams thread?
chaki:pllllleeaseeeee

Had pretty much forgotten about this guy until I chanced across his personal appearance in an episode of "Dexter's Lab"

he used to get high with Wallace Shawn and Billy Barty back in the day

haha waht

Looks like Amazon has the Someday Man mp3's for $9.90, so no more need to pay a bizillion yen to the Japanese.

Paul Williams on Yo Gabba Gabba, 2008:

chaki: ask for a ysi of the "someday Man" album on the paul williams thread?

i only know the monkees version of this song, but A++

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/nowsounds/sleeves/crnow21.jpg

i'm on a soft pop groove this week and so been loving the recent Holy Mackerel reissue.
so, i've thinking about picking up Pauls solo album (both have been reissued by now sounds), but concerned it may be a bit too c+w for my tastes.
am i right to be concerned, or, is his solo album also worthy of my pocket money ?

also, whats the deal with the cover?
did they do something with the original vinyl edition that explains the unusual looking split cover (e.g. foldouts/gatefolds) that doesn't translate well on the cd ?

Wasn't he a semi-regular on Hollywood Squares, and Match Game, and shows like that for a time in the '70s? Before trolling...he was an actual troll!

xpost to Mark E: it's not very c&w at all, at least not to my ears.

hurray. consider it purchased (that HM album is very addictive listening).

Wasn't he a semi-regular on Hollywood Squares, and Match Game, and shows like that for a time in the '70s?

he was definitely on the Gong Show

never known him to be particularly country-sounding, but not sure which solo album is being ref'd upthread

solo album detail : http://www.cherryred.co.uk/nowsounds/artists/paulwilliams.php

ooh yeah I've been wanting that one for awhile, never heard it

The Gong Show, right...I'm off to start a Gene-Gene thread.

The original LP isn't a die-cut or gatefold or anything, that's just what the cover looks like.

If you like the Holy Mackerel then I think you'd like Someday Man an awful lot. But beyond those two and the Phantom Of The Paradise soundtrack there's not a whole lot else worth getting IMO.

If you like the Holy Mackerel then I think you'd like Someday Man an awful lot.

god bless short albums (extra tracks of instrumentals notwithstanding).
bought today during lunch hour, 3 listens in already.
love it. ta for the nudge.

someday man version by paul williams >>>> the monkees version.

sample spot.
somewhere amongst my sample filled collection is a track that takes a 2 second slice (1 min 50 -> 1 min 52) of paul williams singing 'cos i need you' from i know you
i just know going to bug me for months now until i crack it.

cracked it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0kNW_tsSoM

tis the repeated vocal snippet @ 3 min 30

may not be actual sample, but the connection is very close.

Surely his masterpiece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPmbT5XC-q0

Second place, although I've never met anyone who loves this as much as I do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GZ10s84X-8

Oops--missed that "We've Only Just Begun" is his too. Bump that to #1.

^^^bank commercial fwiw

still a great tune

He only wrote the lyrics; the music was by Roger Nichols (who deserves a thread of his own - he made a really good album in 1968 or thereabouts called "Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends" that over the years has earned him, well, an increasingly large circle of friends)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VJ0DBRWRL._SS500_.jpg

Has anyone else seen this direct to VHS movie, featuring Paul Williams as an a-Italian-a frog-a?

Shelley Duvall is a mom just trying to deal with onion-induced tears.

He only wrote the lyrics; the music was by Roger Nichols (who deserves a thread of his own - he made a really good album in 1968 or thereabouts called "Roger Nichols And The Small Circle Of Friends" that over the years has earned him, well, an increasingly large circle of friends)

Same with Someday Man; Roger Nichols is a very big part of why that record is so great, and why everything Paul Williams did afterward is so lackluster in comparison.

But enough about that, I'd much rather talk about Frog right now! "Have the popcorn ready"!!!

Speaking of Roger Nichols, ever heard The Love Parade by Cornelius? It IS Don't Take Your Time by Roger Nichols.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azjW7UTu6ac

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiaA14nLgB0

to somewhat counter what was remarked upon upthread, i'm of the opinion there is some legitimately good post-Nichols stuff by him, but of course ymmv

i read some anecdote once involving him being on a studio lot and spotting bing crosby, who had recorded one of williams' songs. pw was about to go up and greet this living legend and introduce himself, but at the last moment, he freaked out remembering that he was dressed in typical la flower child garb of the times and imagined that square crosby would probably look upon him with disdain as being just another dirty hippie

I agree, there really are a lot of good songs on the post-Nichols albums! I didn't mean to make it seem like they weren't that good. I probably should have picked a better word than "lackluster", though; even with "in comparison" after it, it's got negative connotation to spare.

nah, i think your word choice was just fine...i guess i was responding more to posts upthread suggesting that his later recordings were exclusively dud.

also, it's probably more a reflection of my personal tastes at this point-- someday man and holy mackeral stuff are great sixties-ish soft pop records certainly, but these days i'd rather listen to his schmaltzy singer-songwritery stuff. it's definitely not going to qualify as everyone who enjoys 'someday man''s cup of tea

in any case, i was thinking of stuff like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv9mbLR8m2c

Gah, why is Someday Man the only one of his 70s albums that's in print (domestically)?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE2m355-JRo&feature=share

Documentary!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYRD4nrgVME&feature=youtu.be

ooh!

he's working with Daft Punk on their new album, it's been reported.

Bob Stanley's Croydon Municipal blog has updated today with an interview with Paul Williams with an emphasis on "Someday man"

DIg the nice tantrum from PW in the first scene here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWRoml1m0qk

re : someday man

a genuine shivers-up-spine track.

v.v.v glad i picked up the now sounds reissue a while back (along with the holy mackeral reissue - what a fantastic double whammy).

is that a link to tha actual documentary? for some reason i can't see the link.

yeah i'm getting either a blank space or a dark blue rectangle that doesn't respond to clicking, but by right-clicking and using "view source" found it. Let's try this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/VYRD4nrgVME

or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Gc-fW_aSU

I can't make out what he said answering Johnny Carson

"A lot of Holiday Inns have heard those lines."

holy shit that looks incredible!

Can't wait to see this.

It made me realize that Paul Williams was like a variety show era version of the meme celebrity; let's take someone we can laugh at and elevate them like they're one of the beautiful people, until we're bored. It must have been exhausting to capitalize on a break like that; knowing your being laughed at, and trying to convert it to being laughed with.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/the-good-guys-and-bad-guys-that-ive-been-paul-williams-on-paul-williams-still-alive/?hpw

He's also appearing at the CinemaFamily events in LA this month. Wish I could go, but I'll be on the wrong end of the continent for that.

I've recently been listening to this collection alot - it's actually a comp of their demos, although it's polished enough to pass for a proper studio album. This includes the first full recording of "We've Only Just Begun"; neither of them had any idea their creation would be played at millions of weddings over the next few decades - as well as impressive early takes of "Someday Man", "Let Me Be The One", and others. Essential for any fans of early-'70s pop IMO.

http://www.paulwilliamscouk.plus.com/justbegunfront340.jpg

arggh WANT

An interview in the NY homo weekly... on his meeting with Mae West, Streisand's instincts, etc:

http://gaycitynews.com/evergreen-songwriter/

that docu better talk about FROG

arggh WANT

from the Times piece:
If I could tell you the things I’ve announced that didn’t get done — I sat down and wrote one of the funniest screenplays, I think, in my life, with Johnny Hart, who created “B.C.” and “The Wizard of Id.” We wrote “The Wizard of Id” as a screenplay.

!!

I write “Ouch, mommy” songs. Pick me up and love me. Think about it. “I Won’t Last a Day Without You” is not really a healthy thought.

Went to a screening of The Rules of Attraction yesterday, and lo and behold, there he was playing a wiseguy doctor.

jesus christ the chorus of Someday Man...

I saw the documentary tonight. Williams is quite good--very sane about his past ordeals, never cloying, a little cagey the whole way through. He seems at once to have genuine doubts about the feasibility of the film, and also to realize it would be crazy to pass the invitation up. Lots of great clips, needless to say; Horshack from Welcome Back, Kotter even turns up, and he just died today. I don't what people say on this thread, but as great a songwriter as Williams sometimes was, he's no singer--not then, not now.

The one thing that gets in the way is the director. I can understand to an extent why he interjects himself as a framing device, but I've reached a point with this kind of documentary where I've got to say enough. Even more clips, please, and fewer whimsical intrusions.

Agreed. The documentary was depressing, mainly because of the director's shallow and condescending viewpoint. He was too fixated on the "once was / where are they now" characterization of Williams, and completely missed the opportunity to gain insight into the music. Not to mention all the insane celebrity party anecdotes he surely has. The guys life was like a who's who of the 1970's, and he knows how to spin a yarn. The film was not a proper tribute.

Not to mention all the insane celebrity party anecdotes he surely has.

I haven't seen the movie yet but now I'm sad because I was hoping for less clever intrusive director and more

he used to get high with Wallace Shawn and Billy Barty back in the day

― ambient bangers (gnarly sceptre), Monday, March 30, 2009 1:47 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

paul williams monkey needs his glasses back

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8492/8338412166_c8af08618d_c.jpg

will be present at his NYC film retro this weekend

http://www.movingimage.us/films/2013/01/25/detail/paul-williams/

Picked up "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song" in a dollar bin yesterday and it is treating me so right on this Sunday morning.
http://image.musicimport.biz/sdimages/disk19/813128.jpg

Such a fantastic album. My favorite one.

so is this guy a "little person" or just a little person?

I imagine there's some physiological element at play in his stature, but he's not a dwarf.

he's about as tall as prince actually

i'm 5'2" and i'm not a "little person"
i wish i could try on prince's clothes

halfway through the doc = yeh this director is not good at this

Man this is really grim, practically an injustice, the director is such a hack

Williams sharpneds and the clips are its only redeeming facets

Where do I start with Paul Williams? All the YouTube links are dead.

The Someday Man album is his peak. Right up there with Jimmy Webb/Bacharach/etc.

yeah Someday Man is very good. I also dig the Bugsy Malone soundtrack (particularly the title track, "So You Wanna Be a Boxer", and "You Give a Little Love"). "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song" is a great single.

"Where Do I Go From Here" (from "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot") is a good tune

Go watch Phantom of the Paradise NOW. And then The Muppet Movie NEXT.

...and The Smokey & The Bandit Trilogy AFTER THAT!

"Someday Man" the song is, in fact, the best song ever. Sometimes I just want to listen to that track of isolated instrumental takes from the CD issue + the final mix, in a loop, all day. (And I generally hate repetition!)