Paul Williams: Still Alive, A Film (DVD) by Stephen Kessler

Stephen Kessler in his film Paul Williams: Still Alive (Virgil Films DVD 670836) gives us a kind of cautionary tale that also happens to be a hell of a good yarn.

It's all about how you can do right, have great artistic and commercial success, and in so doing go sky rocketing into disaster. It is the story of singer-songwriter Paul Williams and what he did before and after "the crash" of events put an end to his career.

The premise of the film is that Stephen Kessler discovers that the hero of his youth, who vanished from sight some time in the early '70s, still lives. He finds him singing at a small club in the present day, talks with him, and they agree to make a film about Paul Williams today, his comings and goings. Williams insists that the film will end up being more about the film-maker than it will be about him, and in some ways he is right. But in the process Paul Williams is revealed quite candidly as the man who stepped into an abyss and emerged from it all somehow a better person for it.

This comes about via Kessler's everyday interactions with Paul, following and filming him on tour, making the rounds in dramatically humbler circumstances than during the halcyon days.

At first Williams tends to be standoffish, uncomfortable being back in the spotlight, but there is a dramatic turn of events when he at last invites Kessler to his house. They watch footage of Williams at the height of media fame, pretty well blasted with drugs and alcohol, filled with a kind of overweening pride. Williams confronts that past self at last for the cameras, and he doesn't like what he sees.

In the process the film takes you gradually ever deeper into the Paul Williams who was in a sense a victim of his own success, who had to let go of all of it and start over almost from nothing, who ends up becoming a sympathetic, likable guy whereas you see him in earlier footage increasingly becoming the self-absorbed king of the star-encrusted lounge lizards.

It's a film that gradually pulls you into its slice-of-life orbit to discover along with Steve who this recreated Paul Williams has become and what was left to him after it all went to smash.

A good look at the effects of '60s starmaking, what it made of people...and an absorbing story, well-presented to boot.

Honky, 421

I never heard the power trio Honky before. After digging in with their new release 421 (MVD 5556A) I am no longer a stranger, and glad of it.

The Austin, Texas, outfit plays boogie and riffed metal with fully drenched guitar and bass walls of sound, heavily driving drums and lead vocals that sound a little like Lemmy of Motorhead.

This is the hard stuff with songs that hang together and lots of torque. Metal heads will gravitate, but it's convincing even if you aren't a die-hard of that music. The lead guitar work is quite respectable and the band has a nice togetherness.

Very good stuff if you are in the mood.

Neil C. Young Trio, El Camino

Neil Young? No, Neil C. Young. A different Neil Young but one that plays some interesting electric guitar (and Neil Young the first, so to speak, does that too in his way but it's not time to talk about that). This Mr. Young has gathered together his music, put together a nice trio with Alan Whitham on electric bass and Richard Young on drums, and recorded a CD, his new one, called El Camino (Canadian-American).

We have some nicely electrified guitar-based jazz-rock going on throughout. This is music that owes something to the classic Gary Burton jazz-rock sides and the guitarists who occupied the string chair over the years.

It has some good, progressive "blowing" tunes going on and Neil C. lets loose with improvisations that do distinguish him as original. He can and does come up with some nicely turned single lines but it's his chordal improvising that especially sets him apart. He has unusual voicings and a good percussive feel.

The whole album flows well and it keeps sounding good after a bunch of listens. So that means you probably should get it!! That is, if a new guitarist with his own touch would fit in with your listening plans. . .

Wave Mechanics Union, Further to Fly

Sometimes you get a surprise. Sometimes you get an album that lays out so naturally you don't think how unusual it is until you've listened a couple of times. Then it hits you. The album by Wave Mechanics Union, Further to Fly (HX Music) did that to me.

It's a collaborative big band of talented arrangers, musicians, and singer Lydia McAdams. Jon Anderson of Yes makes a cameo appearance, too. They've taken some prog rock goodies and given them a big-band arranging spin. We've got 30 very good musicians here, including some string players, doing Paul Simon, Ben Folds, Suzanne Vega, Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Tom Waits, Jimi Hendrix, Steely Dan and more.

The arrangements are by Ryan Fraley and Ralph Johnson and they are something else. "Third Stone From the Sun" for big band? Yes! The arrangements pop, the band is pretty hot and Lydia McAdams has a very charming, pretty yet subtle instrument-voice.

This is a hoot! And a great idea that comes off wonderfully well.

Doubt, Mercy, Pity, Peace & Love

Doubt is a crack post-prog-fuse outfit and they are back with a new offering, Mercy, Pity, Peace & Love (Moon June 049). They run the gamut with a set of good vibrations in a neo-psychedelic mode.

The trio is an excellent match: Alex Maguire with right-bright-idea keyboard sounds that go from period rock organ to contemporary cosmos space. Michel Delville is a guitarist of distinction, showing equal portions of chops and taste, spinning lines you might have wished you played yourself. Finally, Tony Bianco is a drummer who does it all right, driving in a blistering way, getting subtle when needed, giving us a kind of clinic on jazz-rock drumming while making up a critical one-third of the band.

There's some riff metal heaviness that sounds great, space music that hearkens back while moving ahead, a bang-up, over-the-top "Purple Haze," down a notch for a lyric interlude, then back at it with hard-hitting space anthems and some electric free playing.

This one has balance and ballsonics. Anyone with the need to take retro-space-age sounds into a new future will find this a good way to begin the journey.

Important and very enjoyable.

David Phillips Freedance, Confluence

Acoustic bassist-composer David Phillips has been leading his unit Freedance off-and-on for a very long time now. He did a very nice album on Naxos some time ago, a few more here and there and now he is back with the original lineup of himself on bass, John O'Gallagher on alto sax, Tony Moreno, drums, and the by now rather well known guitarist Rez Abbasi. They are joined by Glen Fitten, percussion, and Jon Werking on piano as needed. All on the new album Confluence (Innova 837)...

David writes well-conceived compositions and this album bears that out. They are diverse, harmonically-melodically-rhythmically lively vehicles for the sort of sophisticated jazz-with-rock-heft style the band does so well.

There is a strong improvised component to this band as you might expect. Rez Abbasi sounds as stunning as ever on guitar, whether it's developing a line that has its own east-west logic or getting some great chordal ideas in play, he is rapidly becoming a seminal force out there. John O'Gallagher has a fluidly cool-to-hot alto tone and improvisational ideas that work well within the compositional frameworks. There is a post-bop fluidity that he and Rez share and when they solo simultaneously it is quite wonderful for the kinetic excitement they generate together. Dave is an excellent bassist who does much more than standard background duties in this or any other of his albums. His solos are vibrant-toned lyrical gems. And Tony Moreno gets an excellent rapport going with him at the same time as he gives everything a subtle push. Jon Werking comes off sounding good in his solo spots as well. Glen Fitten makes some good sounds when called upon. And so that is the band. . .

It's all about a balance between jazz composition and group presence here. This is jazz-rock with a mind, so to speak. It is a beautiful combination of excellent players and compositions that suit them. Many stars for this one, if I had a star system (which I don't). Give it an earful.

10CC, Live in Concert, DVD

When 10CC were in their heyday, mid-to-later '70s, I was pretty much oblivious to them. I had interests elsewhere at the time, and by the later-'70s top forty radio was a relic in my eyes.

So when 10CC Live in Concert (MVD 5645D) arrived in the mail for possible review, my response was, "OK I'll listen, but..."

Well, turns out that the DVD gives you a nice overview of the group at its best ("I'm Not in Love") and its not-so-best (perky power pop). It's a revival of most of the original band and they certainly sound as good as ever. The good tunes sound better than I remember and there's a mostly unplugged set of songs written by bassist Graham Gouldman before there was a 10CC. It's actually a wonderful jolt of nostalgia to hear them do nice versions of "Bus Stop," "Look Through Any Window," "For Your Love," and even "No Milk Today."

Fans of the band will get all they might hope for. I found myself quite entertained in spite of my initial misgivings. The sound is great. The band has lost nothing, really, with the passage of time. In that way they are a model for oldsters looking to keep musically-vocally trim.

Oh, and the lead guitarist was and is quite respectably decent.

And it reminds you how badly the pop music industry has deteriorated? Or am I just getting too old to care about some of it? I don't know and it doesn't matter I suppose.