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.