🎵 AotW AOTW: Paul Williams JUST AN OLD FASHIONED LOVE SONG (4327)

[LPJim]

Paul Williams
JUST AN OLD FASHIONED LOVE SONG
A&M SP 4327

Side One: Waking Up Alone 3:39/ I Never Had it So Good 4:32/ *We've Only Just Begun 3:19/ That's Enough For Me 5:14/ A Perfect Love 2:20.

Side Two: Just An Old Fashioned Love Song 3:10/ *Let Me Be the One 2:58/ Simple Man (Graham Nash - Giving Room Music Inc. BMI) 2:10/ When I Was All Alone 3:49/ My Love & I 3:31/ Gone Forever 4:09.

All songs, except where indicated, by Paul Williams, Almo Music Corp. ASCAP
* by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols

Produced by Michael Jackson

"There are those who listen and those who wait to talk. This album is dedicated to the listeners."

Reissued on import CD.

Please visit this site:

www.paulwilliams.co.uk/


JB

 

[Mike Blakesley]

A good album with a few reservations. The opening tune is one of the best tearjerkers of all time. I think with the proper promotion, this could've been a hit with the same people who loved "This Guy's in Love With You," for the same reason...Williams doesn't have the vocal quality, but he DOES have the emotion and feelings.

The only serious misstep on this album is that it contains two songs done in far superior versions by the Carpenters (not sure about "Let Me Be The One," but "WOJB" was for sure done by them first). Should have left those off and put in a couple more uptempo tunes.

The next Paul Williams album, LIFE GOES ON, is a much more balanced and enjoyable effort than this one.

 

[Dave]

I have the copy with the Book inside containing all the musician info otherwise on the back cover, as well as all the song lyrics. And have a couple lyrics sheets with the musician info, as well. And my vinyl is the silver/tan label, too! There are different versions of this LP out there--Talk about "Collector Obsessed"!! :twitchy:

Yes, "We've Only Just Begun" has been done more upbeat by The Carpenters, and real, Real, REAL Upbeat by Bill Medley, Mark Lindsey, Claudine Longet and Andy Williams, among many others. But, I like Paul's own fairly acoustic and low-key version--sort of how I would do it, myself. I had an 8-Track of real TINNY Piano Music that had a version of it played like this, too. It also contained "MacArthur Park" and a few others, I've long forgotten.

"Let Me Be The One" comes off rather urgent sounding--I have versions by Vikki Carr and a few others that sound a little more "in form". And yes, The Carpenters should have had a hit with it; Yes!!

And who's idea was it to have Paul do "someone else's" song?--Graham Nash's "Simple Man", which may be a "self-description", but "I Never Had It So Good" (which we'll later hear Rita Coolidge & Kris Kristofferson do), I thought pretty much covered that ground.

"My Love And I", I think, is a pretty good Signature Tune; Mary Travers of Peter, Paul & Mary did it on her own, after her group broke up. I don't know if there are any Paul Williiams compilations IT appears on, but it should fit...as well as "When I Was All Alone".

My favorite lines in the sometimes-covered-by-other-artists "That's Enough For Me" are "I may look sad and I may frown..."--that's real Champion Songwriting there! Dianne Carroll and Gladys Knight & The Pips shook some real Soul from "A Perfect Love", that I wish had been included on Paul's CLASSICS compilation.

The highlight is of course, "An Old Fashioned Love Song", done in a rather "Ragtime" fashion here--The Sandpipers and Andy Williams have done it in this manner and I have versions by them. Whereas, other versions I also have, by groups like The Lettermen, The Ray Conniff Singers and of course, Three Dog Night have done more Rock 'N' Roll versions of it--Organ, Phased Guitar, Electric Piano--so it works Both Ways!

The "Magicians"--Craig Doerge, Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel, as well as David Spinozza (flown in from New York--guess they couldn't have found anyone as Suitable on guitar, out West) were from the Jim Carroll session, earlier; More players like Mike Utley, Jack Conrad and Tom Scott were added, as well as another from the East Coast, Rick Marotta.

Dave

...also looking forward to Paul Williams' Next, but equally enjoying This One...!

 

[Harry]

I've ended up with three copies of this album, all very different. My first copy, a radio station throwaway, has a pretty scratched-up rendition of "Waking Up Alone", probably the ONE track on this album that I treasured. As I also had a copy of the song on 45 and it was listed on a Pauk Williams greatest hits album that was in good shape, I didn't give it much thought for years - kind of a forgotten treasure.

After discovering the A&M Corner, I reviewed much of my collection, and to my horror, realized that I didn't own a really good copy of "Waking Up Alone." It seems that in an effort to generate that "hit record" that Mike talks about above, Mr. Williams re-recorded the song. And it was THAT version that I had a single of, and also appeared on the hits album.

So the search began. First I found a better, but not perfect version of the LP. Finally I bit the bullet and grabbed the Japanese CD, POCM-2023.

The first LP I have is a plain jacket with photo, somewhat glossy-looking. The LP is the silver & tan label, and the innersleeve is one of the multi-rainbow ones. It's a pretty beat-up package, having been used on-air at the radio station. There's stickers and labels all over it, and it's been re-bound with Scotch tape.

The second LP looks like an original issue. It's got a square die-cut cut out in the front cover, revealing the photo underneath, looking like a picture frame. The outer cover has a glossy texture, but the photo underneath has a rough finish. There are two slits where the record is housed. One holds the ochre-labeled LP, and the other contains a booklet. When you remove the booklet, the front-cover picture can be found underneath - this time printed on the glossier jacket material. It's a sixteen-page booklet with the lyrics to each song printed on one page each. The last inner page has the musician credits. None of this is contained on the later issued package above.

The Japanese CD is a straightforward package with not much of a booklet. As is typical, there's a fold-out with lyrics and Japanese liner notes. This disc looks like it was issued in around 1995 or so. Sounds great.

As mentioned above, the album was used on-air. The soft AC station used to play LPs live on the air, and "Waking Up Alone" was a frequent tune. It wasn't a hit-driven station, but rather one that would actually play whatever fit sonically. This and Lani's "We Could Be Flying" were good examples of songs that got a lot of airplay on that station that weren't really big 'hits'. But as a listener, hearing the songs often, I got the impression that these records were much bigger than they actually were.

As a result, "Waking Up Alone" sounds to me like a great old hit record from the past. In reality, I don't even know if it ever actually charted.

I'm assuming that this album came after a break-up of sorts of the Roger Nichols/Paul Williams songwriting team. Most of the songs on this album are credited to just Paul Williams, with only two mentioning Roger Nichols ("We've Only Just Begun" and "Let Me Be The One").

Harry
NP: "Waking Up Alone" Paul Williams.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Harry - is your jacket with "two slits" a gatefold type? Mine has the picture printed on the front cover (no cutout) and there is an embossed "frame" around the picture. The book is included and sounds like the same book as yours, but my cover is just a single-sleeve. I have the rainbow innersleeve and the silver/gray label.

I got this on CD not long after discovering Thoughtscape Sounds. I about fell over myself rushing to get an order in for this album and the followup, LIFE GOES ON on Japan import. These are two records that I would've bet anybody would NEVER make it to CD (along with Lani Hall's SUN DOWN LADY...was proved wrong there too! ).

 

[Harry]

Harry - is your jacket with "two slits" a gatefold type? Mine has the picture printed on the front cover (no cutout) and there is an embossed "frame" around the picture. The book is included and sounds like the same book as yours, but my cover is just a single-sleeve. I have the rainbow innersleeve and the silver/gray label.

No, I wouldn't call it a gatefold, but rather an 'extra' fold, if you will. It's mostly like a standard album jacket with a front and fack, but there's this extra layer on the front with a cut-out in a square shape, designed to reveal the matte-finish photo on the cover of the booklet. The booklet slides in and out of this front pocket, while the record is housed one layer beneath. It's likely original, since it's got the ochre label. I bought it used over the net, probably eBay, looking to upgrade my scratched 'on-air' copy, and particularly to get the song "Waking Up Alone" in its original form that I heard on radio.

Harry
...waking up in a bit of a fog, online...

 

[LPJim]

I've got the same LP cover - square cut out to show front of booklet. I'm pretty sure it's originial because it's a white label promo.
JB

 

[Mr Bill]

Mine has the cut out square. Reminds me very much of Colombier's first version of Wings as far as packaging goes...

--Mr Bill

 

[JMK]

We were in LA a few years ago visiting my wife's family and I was given a day to hit various record stores around the city and stumbled upon all of Paul's import A&M's mispriced at $9.99 at either a Tower or Virgin in Sherman Oaks. Needless to say, I snapped them all up! I think this was the same trip that I found Jobim's unmatched "Inedito", though that, unfortunately, was "correctly" priced at about $50.00!!