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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Paul Williams: An Excellent Artist, July 9, 2000
There is only one word to describe Paul William's music: extraordinary. It's no wonder why many recording artists of the late 1960's and early 1970's - The Carpenters, Three Dog Night, Helen Reddy, Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, just to name a few - had chosen to record some of his songs.Aside from his mastery of his musical medium, the piano, what sets Paul Williams's work apart is its uniqueness. Somewhat akin to Burt Bacharach's songs before him, many of Paul William's songs do not follow the usual three-chord patterns that are so common in popular songs. Listen to his songs for the first time and chances are you won't find it easy to predict which direction his songs will take you next. Just when the listener begins to relax to the first few mellow bars of `You And Me Against The World', the music suddenly picks up in cadence and intensity without warning, beginning with "Remember when the circus came to town..." which is later repeated with "Life can be a circus, they underpay and overwork us..." It is this impulsive, neurotic unpredictability that makes some of Paul's songs so unique. One would be at a loss to cite a better example to accurately describe the hopes and optimism experienced by many people just starting out life-shaping relationships, say a marriage. Paul William's "Sharing horizons that are new to us, watching the signs along the way..." in `We've Only Just Begun' is a good start. It is a song for people and couples looking forward to lasting and meaningful relationships. `That's Enough For Me' is a masterpiece with its haunting lyrical and melodic quality, not to mention the superb guitar work. It is Paul revealing his soul in his most tender and vulnerable moment, finding solace in what love has to offer. One can't help but wish being in his shoes, content and serene, finding simple domestic pleasure and comfort just being with the loved one. `Rainy Days and Mondays' perfectly describes the rut that modern man finds himself in while coping with the pressure of everyday life. `Waking Up Alone' is a tale of a wandering man who finally decides to come back to his hometown, only to discover how much he had missed and will be missing when he finds his old flame now happily married with a child of her own. And that is when cold reality strikes him: he is all alone. Graham Nash' `Simple Man' is a pleasant surprise, the only non-Paul Williams tune in this compilation. This tells us that even a sophisticated artist like Paul Williams can once in a while interpret another writer's piece - a very simple piece at that! - and make it sound his own. `I Won't Last A Day Without You' tells us of Paul Wiiliam's willingness to "take all the madness the world has to give" as long as he has love. A pseudo critic friend of mine once told me that this kind of attitude - that is, the desire to exist only when in the company of one's object of affection - is itself a form of madness. Well, perhaps. But who says that love isn't blind? This CD's liner has Paul Williams dedicating this body of work to the serious listener. Well, he proves once again that he is worth listening to. Paul Williams has caught my ears and hopefully, yours too!
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