By Ken Paulson
The 2011 documentary “Still Alive” purported to “find” the lost Paul Williams, the highly successful composer who was also a mainstay on talk shows of the ‘70s. It’s an odd premise.
Paul Williams lost? The same Paul Williams who in 2009 was elected president and chairman of ASCAP? The same Paul Williams who was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001?
No, the man who wrote “Rainy Days and Mondays,””We’ve Only Just Begun” and many more pop classics wasn’t missing, but some of his music was. His ninth album – A Little on The Windy Side – was so scarce that the asking price on Amazon was in excess of $100.
That’s been remedied with the release of the 1979 recording by Real Gone Music and Second Disc. The album, produced in Nashville with Williams’ brother Mentor, featured some of the era’s finest session players including guitarists Reggie Young and Troy Seals and keyboardist David Briggs. Despite the Music City origin, it’s not a country album. Instead, it has some very gentle funk underpinnings to make it sound contemporary in the late disco era.
The material here is solid and showcases Williams’ strengths, most notably on “A Brand New Song” and “Here’s Another Fine Mess.”
The real treats are two songs that Williams wrote for the film “One on One” in 1977.
“My Fair Share” and bonus cut “Love Conquers All” were performed by Seals and Crofts on the soundtrack, and propelled the film in joyous fashion. It’s great to have the songwriter’s renditions on this long-overlooked collection.