Friday, August 5, 2011

PART OF A DYING BREED



Face it, one of America's national treasures has a potty mouth. Now that we got that out of the way, take a moment to appreciate the colorful career and enduring talent of Andre Williams. His raw eloquence and off color character have had him in and out of hipness for over fifty years. He's recorded for Fortune, and imprints of both Motown (Miracle) and Chess (Checker), co-written with Stevie Wonder, partied hard, and been homeless. Pulled out of destitute nowhere-bound obscurity in the nineties, he is not letting his second chance go to waste, and we are the better for it. He is part of dying breed, the sort of person that a young Tom Waits wrote about. Hasn't looked at a J.C. Penny ad in thirty years, spits, cusses, and lives in a world were memes don't exist. He is openly and honestly flawed.


Andre Williams and his Orchestra - Sweet Little Pussycat, starring Sheree In Her Original Tiger Dance.

If you're unfamiliar with Williams, the perfect place to start is the hour and a half documentary, Agile, Mobile, Hostile: A Year With Andre Williams. The entire film is available online, and if you don't have time to watch it now, you really ought to bookmark it.



~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Andre Williams - Agile, Mobile, Hostile (1998) mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Andre Williams & the Don Juans - Pulling Time (1955) mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Andre Williams - Bacon Fat (1956) mp3 (via MediaFire) at Metal Bastard Goes Soft
Andre Williams - Jail Bait (1960) mp3 at Anitnomian
Andre Williams - You Got it and I Want It (1967) mp3 at Go Retro
Andre Williams & the Sadies - Psycho (1999) mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Andre Williams & the Diplomats of Solid Soul - Three Sisters (2006) mp3 (via MediaFire) at Metal Bastard Goes Soft
Andre Williams & the Diplomats of Solid Soul - I'm Not Worthy (2006) mp3 (via MediaFire) at Metal Bastard Goes Soft
Andre Williams - That's All I Need (2010) mp3 at KEXP
Andre Williams - Chicken Thighs mp3 at Public Collectors
Watch:
Agile, Mobile, Hostile: A Year With Andrew Williams - Documentary, 2008, 1 hr 27 min at Hulu.com
Visit:
Andre Williams at Wikiedia

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