Paul Williams, Classics (1977)
For a long time, I’m sure, it wasn’t cool to say you liked Paul Williams – but I remember the songs from childhood. And then I found out he not only wrote Rainbow Connection but that first Muppet Movie film soundtrack which is one of the totems of my lifetime. And of course all the other songs he wrote that were covered (Carpenters, Three Dog Night) and his own recordings. He was everywhere for a while. A long while. And then he was nowhere for what seemed a lot longer. But there’s something very magical in so many of his songs, a sincerity. He’s like the one-man-band version of the Bacharach/David songwriting team, well somewhere between that and Harry Nilsson. Hell, that ain’t no bad place to be, right? Which is why I’m here. Now. And a little part of me has always been here. With this record. And most of me is staying…for as long as I can…for as long as I must. (And I must!) One of my mates said the other day about this guy, “short on stature, but long on song, bro. Long on song!”

Sample Track: You And Me Against The World  

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown