Sulidae. …an invincible summer.

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Sulidae, the solo project of musician, writer and photographer Bobby Motherwell, impressed all who heard their debut album, Kitchen Sink Dharma, released almost exactly two years ago. That album was warm and engaging and steeped in the human condition (and all that entails). …an invincible summer (all lower case) finds Motherwell still engrossed in the minutiae of life, be it the benefits of communing with nature, the strength of family and friends and traversing the inevitable tragedies which must befall all of us from time to time. It’s both more personal and more open with Motherwell sharing some writing duties with his musicians.

As on Kitchen Sink Dharma Motherwell is supported by an excellent group of musicians. Kirsten Adamson returns on vocals and Andy Lucas and Duncan Lyall are retained from the debut album while another Blue Rose Code alumnus, Lyle Watt adds his guitar skills. In addition, James Grant, Fraser Speirs and Bobby Bluebell all appear and Seonaid Aitken plays violin. They’re well picked as their skills allow the songs to shine throughout the album, be they heroic songs of steadfastness or spoken word tales of couthy behaviour. The album flows wonderfully with sounds of nature often included adding a fine bucolic (and yes, a healing) feel to it.

Motherwell opens the album with the bustle and sounds of wide open spaces on the spoken word The Wild Garlic And Bluebell Way with Lyle Watt’s guitar adding a grand ambient sense of serenity. Motherwell practises “walking meditation,” and here he captures the peace and joy one can experience through the simple act of walking in the wild. There is a sadness to the song as Motherwell’s faithful pal on many of his walks, his canine companion, Dennis, has sadly departed this world. There’s more contemplation on the following song, Wind And White Horses, which is borne aloft by Aitken’s violin and Lucas’s buoyant keyboards as Motherwell hails the western isles with Adamson wonderfully singing along with a breathy whisper. Speaking of whispers, there’s a slight hint of Dylan in both the lyrics and the delivery of Save You All My Blues and Healing Light positively resonates with the most yearning aspects of songwriters ranging from Van Morrison, Jackie Leven and Ross Wilson. This song is the pulsating heart of the album but it’s closely followed by the irresistible heartfelt memories and final farewells which fuel Why Are All The Good Guys Gone? Aside from Motherwell’s canine companion, the album is dedicated to three of his friends who have recently passed on and also to their respective partners. Three Women, a companion song to Why Are All The Good Guys Gone? is a moving tribute to them. Here Adamson and Motherwell’s voices are joined at the hip while Aitken’s emotive violin tugs at the heart.

There’s a nod to local history on Wilson’s Lament, a song inspired by the life of a man considered as the father of American ornithology. Alexander Wilson came from Motherwell’s home town and had to flee Scotland in 1794 after publishing what were considered to be libellous poems about local mill owners. Motherwell brings this story to life with an arrangement which is quite stunning with the ensemble sounding as if The Band had come from Paisley. An absurd claim perhaps, but listen to the song and tell me that claim is not at least half true. Whatever, it’s a glorious performance and it’s followed by another. The words of Ordinary Day are by Liz Kentish who was a participant in a letter writing project for those living with cancer. Motherwell takes her words and weaves them into a gorgeous song which, and we’re running out of superlatives here, deserves to held in the highest regard. Again, the players are exemplary as they gingerly support this fragile song, piano and violin especially so and there’s a sublime moment towards the end, a key shift, a slight flourish as Motherwell repeats the mantra of “What you’ve heard and what you’ve seen, what you’ve done and where you’ve been.” The title track follows, a short instrumental showcase from guitarist Lyle Watt which adds a transcendent shimmer to the previous song.

Dotted throughout the album Motherwell looks back on his past with several spoken word interludes which pitch him firmly in a flinty Scottish hinterland.  Fraser Speirs’ earthy harmonica underpins these narratives while Watt’s spectral guitar allows one to imagine that if Paris Texas was set in the west of Scotland that it would be Motherwell instead of Harry Dean Stanton striding out. Van Morrison once asked “did ye get healed?” Sulidae do their best here to answer in the affirmative.

The release of …an invincible summer will be celebrated at two album launch gigs in Glasgow (October 4th at The Glad Cafe as part of the Glasgow Americana Festival) and Edinburgh (October 7th at The Thistle Bar). Glasgow tickets are available here, Edinburgh tickets here.

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Paul Williams. The Best Of Paul Williams.

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Although he’s rarely mentioned these days, Paul Williams, was one of the most successful singer/songwriters of his era. Like his contemporary, Jimmy Webb, Williams’ songs were best known for being covered by successful chart acts –Webb had Glen Campbell, Williams had The Carpenters. But, unlike Webb, Williams also had a public face, appearing in movies, the best known being his appearance as the villain in Brian De Palma’s Phantom Of The Paradise. The film initially flopped but Williams gained an Oscar nomination (for the music, not his acting) and it went on to become a cult favourite on the late night film circuit.

Aside from writing The Carpenters’ hits, We’ve Only Just Begun and Rainy Days And Mondays, Williams was covered by a host of acts – Three Dog Night, Helen Reddy, The Muppets (!) and Barbra Streisand among others. His song, Evergreen (co-written with Streisand) won an Oscar, A Golden Globe and Grammy Award for Best Song. We should also note his score for the ever popular Alan Parker film, Bugsy Malone.

Williams’ heyday was in the first half of the 1970s when he released a series of albums on the A&M label and these are about to be reissued by East Central One. There are seven in total. his original albums, Just An Old Fashioned Love Song, Life Goes On , Here Comes Inspiration , A Little Bit Of Love and Ordinary Fool, are joined by the soundtrack for  Phantom Of The Paradise along with this compilation, The Best Of Paul Williams. For record fans, The Best Of and Just An Old Fashioned Love Song get a vinyl release alongside their CD twins. While none of these charted high at the time they deserve to be heard again. Although Williams was more in touch with Tin Pan Alley/Brill Building pop than acts such as Harry Nilsson or Randy Newman, he sits quite comfortably alongside them, recording with the cream of LA sessioners of the time.

For this review we have The Best Of Paul Williams to peruse. Originally released in 1974 it collects ten songs gathered from his five preceding albums. To be precise, it’s a gorgeous listen. Williams sings quite wonderfully and the arrangements, some by Tom Scott (of LA Express and Joni Mitchell fame) are exquisite. Those Carpenters’ hits are included with We’ve Only Just Begun a perfectly pared back production, Williams sings over a piano, acoustic guitar and base backing, giving the song a much more melancholic air than the hit version. Meanwhile, Rainy Days And Mondays is much less syrupy than The Carpenters’ version with Art Munson’s guitar packing a punch while the string arrangement at the end is sublime. The other familiar song is An Old Fashioned Love Song, a hit for Ten Dog Night back in the days but Williams’ original delivery knocks Ten Dog Night into the boondocks with its jug band interlude and New Orleans swing.

Of the remaining, lesser known songs, they portray Williams as a master of the easy going, well written and hook laden song, a sure contender to be included in the Great American Songbook. Inspiration resounds with a dizzy mix of vaudeville and New Orleans swing while Nice To Be Around and You And Me Against The World have some of the doomed romanticism of Jacques Brel (who had been popularised in the States via Mort Shuman’s Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, a Broadway hit). That’s Enough For Me is perhaps the ultimate listen here as its delicate arrangement and Williams’ hushed voice transport the listener into a dreamlike status, only to be aroused by the slow crescendo at the end of the song.

The album is a short, but essential, introduction to the genius that is Paul Williams, at least in his heyday. We’re pretty sure that having listened to it, you’ll be tempted to investigate the remainder of the albums in this series of reissues.