Albums That Time Forgot (2).

Paul Williams/"Someday Man" (1970)

 



Paul Williams.  My relationship with the man is complicated.
On one hand he has penned immaculate pop hits for the Monkees and Three Dog Night among others, while on the other his dreaded early '70s Carpenters-phase leaves me completely cold.  Not to mention Barbra Streisand.  Sorry.



However, towering above all that is his seminal debut solo album "Someday Man" from 1970.  This Soft Rock/Sunshine Pop classic has few equals in the genre.
In the mid-'60s Paul Williams was, by his own account, "An out of work actor who started writing songs for his own amusement."

 

By 1968, though, he had started writing songs with one Roger Nichols, who had the previous year recorded the "Roger Nichols & The Small Circle of Friends" album for A&M Records (Another Sunshine Pop classic, according to many).  But also by then Williams had formed the group The Holy Mackerel with his brother Mentor Williams - himself later a composer of Dobie Gray's fantastic 1973 Soul/Country hit "Drift Away" - and others, and they recorded their sole self-titled LP for Reprise in '68. 
Mixed male/female singing groups like Mamas & the Papas, The Sunshine Company and Spanky & Our Gang were all the rage during this era and The Holy Mackerel proudly placed themselves in that line.

 

But as far as The Holy Mackerel LP goes, it's an almost too eclectic effort mixing C&W with Psychedelic Soft Rock and the then-burgeoning Bubblegum sound.  So it's an understandably uneven album which sounds at times either frustrating and/or fascinating, but definitely not without its charms.

Mostly it's written by Williams alone, although one of it's stronger cuts "Bitter Honey" is a Nichols/Williams composition.

 



 

In the wake of the album's commercial failure there were a couple of non-LP 45s issued.  Among them was the Nichols/Williams penned "I Just Haven't Got What it Takes", which later resurfaced as "To Put Up With You" by American Breed and several others before Williams himself at long last recorded the definitive version for the "Someday Man" album.

 



 

After the inevitable break-up of The Holy Mackerel Nichols and Williams really hit their stride - although they merely enjoyed an "artistic success" to begin with.  Dobie Gray recorded a great version of "Do You Really Have a Heart" - later also to appear on the "Someday Man" album - while The Monkees had the first crack at "Someday Man" itself (both were issued in 1969).

 



 

But it wasn't until spring 1970 when the absolute Nichols/Williams artistic pinnacle appeared in the form of that first Paul Williams solo album, "Someday Man". 

Today, though, both Williams and Nichols claim it was much  more of a collaborative effort than that.  Perhaps, then, the credits say it all: Lyrics by Paul Williams; music by Roger Nichols; produced by Roger Nichols.

Basically, the record consisted of properly recorded versions of what had been their best publishing demos of the previous two years.

Although initially this record, as they say, disappeared without a trace, it's just incredible how many of its songs have been covered by other artists.  For instance, "So Many People" - a personal favourite of both of its writers - has no less than seven different versions listed on YouTube - but the original betters them all!



   



The title track has "only" five notable covers listed on YouTube, and again it's Williams very own version which tops the list...

 



 

Similarly, the aforementioned "Do You Really Have a Heart" inspired at least seven covers, none of which is quite worthy apart from Dobie Gray's original recording and Paul Williams' very own "interpretation".

All of which just goes to show how far and wide aforementioned publishing demos travelled.

Backed by bits of "The Wrecking Crew" (Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel), "Someday Man" sounds superbly timeless and classic today, and it just beggars belief it was so overlooked at the time.

In the past decade people have awoken up to its charms though, most notably with Mojo magazine rightly claiming it to be a "lost classic" a few years back.

In the aftermath of that long overdue recognition a lovingly compiled "Deluxe Expanded Edition" CD re-issue was released in the U.K. by Now Sounds/Cherry Red a couple of years ago.  Needless to say it's an essential purchase.

By pure curiosity (I'd always loved the Monkees' version of the title cut, while also viewing Paul Williams merely as "the guy who wrote some songs for the Carpenters"), I was just lucky enough to stumble upon a nearly unplayed original vinyl copy of "Someday Man" some years ago and was I ever in for a revelation!

Since then it's been a constant companion, both enjoyed and admired regularly...   



 

Nov. 9th, 2012:  And they just made a movie about this guy.  Hooray for Hollywood!  Or something.



 

Davy Jones

DAVY JONES

(1945 - 2012)

Remembered.

It is always sad to hear of one of your musical heroes' passing.  After all, in many cases you've grown up with their music; it has been a constant presence throughout your life. 
Thus today, upon learning about Davy Jones' untimely death at 66 from a heart attack, one's thoughts inevitably turn to the past: to one's youth specifically.  Music having been such a big part of my life for as long as I can recall, The Monkees' music has been there longer than most other.
I can very vaguely remember The Monkees' T.V. series being on in the late '60s, but being born in 1964, I was certainly way too young to acknowledge and appreciate them at the time.

As a teenager I dug feverishly into my older sisters' record collections when they weren't around...and usually without their knowledge.  And I seem to recall a snowy winter's day in '77 or '78 when I came across The Monkees "Greatest Hits".  And to make a long story short, I've been a fan ever since...

The Monkees were controversial from the very beginning - to say the least.  People either loathed or loved them.  Sure, they were "manufactured", but still recorded some of the most memorable pop songs of the '60s - many of which were written by some of the best songwriters of ANY era.  Goffin/King, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, Boyce/Hart, Paul Williams, etc. and so on.

Davy being the only Brit in the band, having been a star of stage and screen in his homeland from a very young age (he appeared on the same Ed Sullivan Show as The Beatles in 1964, as a member of the Broadway cast from "Oliver!" - he received a Tony nomination for his performance - which he had previously performed in London), he became instantly recognizable to American T.V. audiences due to his accent first and foremost, as well as his physical stature (He was short, which became a running gag throughout The Monkees' two years on the air). 

The Monkees were an immediate hit and Davy, in particular, was the popular pin-up choice.
  

The Monkees' history is very well documented elsewhere, so I see no reason to dwelve any deeper into their remarkable history here. 

Nonetheless, their mid-period albums such as "Headquarters" (1967 - The first album they were allowed to play their own instruments on),  "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd." (1967), "The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees" (1968) as well as the soundtrack to their film "Head" (1968 - Co-written by one Jack Nicholson),  are all certified late '60s pop classics.

But inevitably when the T.V. series went off the air their popularity waned and by 1970 the game was up.

Solo careers were launched all around and Davy's debut post-Monkees effort was 1971's "Davy Jones" on Bell Records. 

A nice enough bubblegum album, "The Road to Love" is one of its strongest cuts.

But in spite of a memorable guest appearance on "The Brady Bunch", sales were disappointing and Davy's solo career never really took off.

During the '70s Monkees reunions and semi-reunions (Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart) were attempted, but with diminishing returns.

In the early '80s Davy returned to solo work and briefly became a big star in Japan.

During the mid-'80s The Monkees' old T.V. series started to enjoy a revival in re-runs on American cable stations, MTV in particular, and the old Monkee music was also up for a timely reappraisal and critical re-evaluation. 

Thus the time for a reunion was ripe and in 1986 Arista Records issued a new compilation album on CD - then a new format - which also contained a couple of recently recorded Monkee tunes, including their version of the Mosquitos power pop classic "That Was Then, This is Now"...

  

For the past 25 years Monkees reunions (usually minus Michael Nesmith, though) have been a regular occurrence.

In between those Davy always returned solo work (his last show was a couple of weeks ago) as well as the occasional T.V. and film gig.  His first love, horses (he was a jockey in his younger days), was never far from his heart and mind either.

Rest In Peace "Someday Man" - You will be missed!

A trivial footnote: Without Davy, there wouldn't have been a David Bowie.  Bowie, initally known as David Jones, was forced to change his name to something else as soon as Davy Jones became a household name.  Hmmm.