Hope for us all
Posted by Archie Valparaiso on 14 April 2008 - 12:30pm.
He was my No. 1 male vocalist in the other thread. He's warm, he's unthreatening, not at all dark and even less edgy. His toop makes Kirk Douglas's look real. His body moves as if he's doing Tai Chi in a vat of Mazola. He's 80 years old. Yet when he opens his mouth this still comes out (wind on to about 1:40 and watch to the end if you're really pushed for time or your schmaltz tolerance is particularly low; it's worth it):
Even I, a man of great faith, was expecting him to chicken out of the end bit and bring it an octave down. But nope. Right on the money like it was 1965.
So, who else has a bus pass that's curling up at the edges yet can still perform the pants off most of today's young slips of things?
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Saw Humphrey Lyttelton supporting Radiohead a few years back...
and he was bloody fantastic.
Humph
Did he really? I saw him years ago at the Chichester Real Ale and Jazz festival (forget Glastonbury etc etc) and he was terrific then too.
Speaking of Andy Williams, I heard Home Lovin Man in the radio recently and thought what a spendid tune it was - great lyrics.
Yup...
at South Park in Oxford. Also on the bill... Supergrass, Beck, Sigur Rós, Rock Of Travolta.
Jagger maybe?
Macca? Dylan?
Or Roger ( Cover Star ) Waters?
Er, Dylan?
His voice was shot when he was still in his fifties and he has to sit down now!
Macca is a possible contender, I suppose, but in 15 years' time can we expect his vocal faculties to be as intact as this?
James Taylor
Sings as well as he ever did.
Pete Seeger - knocking on 90
Just in case....
I'm sure the more learned folk amongst us know this but watching this clip made me go and find out the reason for "huckleberry".
I quote
"As a boy Johnny (Mercer) and his friends would enjoy spending time in the early summers picking wild huckleberries (Blueberries). They would place these in pails and bring them home to enjoy. They even turned up in ice-cream. This is where my huckleberry friend came from, just Johnny as a little boy, with his friends enjoying themselves in their private activities. "
So now I know....thought I'd share it
BB King
Saw him 5 years ago in Tampa and he was no spring chicken then and he's still on the road. He had to be helped to his seat but from then he rocked and when you heard The Thrill is Gone his age was meaningless
Good call ...
I've seen Andy Williams live twice in the past 5 or 6 years and on each occasion he was fantastic, and interestingly he attracts a really wide age range to his shows. Great voice, very funny and self deprecating - completely lacking in that cliched American show biz fakery. Still does a superb version of 'MacArthur Park'. Shows old movie clips and talks about the songs - didn't care for 'Moon River' when he first heard it apparently, particularly the 'huckleberry friend' line! He also mentioned that it increases milk yield when played to cows, for all you dairy farmers out there.
Toupe or not toupe (Sorry!)
Archie are you sure that's a piece? He is the spitting image of my dad and I'm worried in case there is something he's not telling me. Either way it looks good to me and he has a fine set of pipes to be sure.
Syrup
I've always had him down as a wearer, but can't find anything that says definitively...To me (as a baldy) my opinion of people always drops a shade if they succomb to the syrup. And don't get me started on comb-overs.
The voice sounds grand tho'
Grand, and some
Here's a quick snippet of Westlife's recent cover of the Eagles' "Desperado":
And here's Andy - weighing in with an age difference of a mere half century or so - recorded last year (when he was 79):
I know who I'd rather turn to for my easy listening.
Having listened to the Westlife version...
I picture a bunch of kids reading the lyrics off a piece of paper whilst dreaming of going shopping for computer games.
Mr Williams, however, brings a lifetime of experiences to the words, investing them with a gravitas that didn't exist in the original. That is one hell of a cover version!
I'm seriously impressed.
I know!
I've been raving about Andy Williams since the Eighties. I harboured a secret hope when I discovered this blog that if I bided (bade? bode?) my time and eased my way in gently, I might at last find some like-minded souls here. It's good to know I seem to have succeeded with this thread.
As for his "Desperado", you're right; it sounds just the way it always should have sounded: very sad and resigned. It's ironic, really, because back in his heyday Andy Williams was accused of being "just a voice" with no phrasing or feeling. It was bollocks then and it's even more bollocks now that the Westlifes (Westlives?) of the world have moved into his old niche.
Hmm. Andy - now that certainly would be a Word cover.