Pravda Records is still around??? I thought they went out of business like fifteen years ago! I wonder if they still have any copies of that Defoliants ep that Soul Asylum ripped the “Hang Time” cover idea off of. Well, anyway, let the record show that Andre Williams – surely the only human bean to have played both the Apollo Theatre and the Concert Café—has had a fifty year recording career; therefore, my opinion and/or potential endorsement does not and should not matter one pinch o’ poo in the grand scheme of things. That said, whilst i liked Mr. Williams output for Sympathy et al in the 90’s fair enough, 2006 finds me finding his voice wholly unremarkable at this late date in his larnyx’s history, and, worse yet, finds me finding him backed by some anemic white boy soul/r&b/funk outfit to whom WAR (ca. “Spill The Wine”) and Gladys Knight & The Pips appear to be some manner of holy grail. I didn’t much care for this type of music when it was on AM radio when i was a kid in the early ‘70s, and, to tell ya God’s honest truth, i still can’t stand the shit today. If this record still makes your white urbane ass feel like it’s been given an honorary Harlem knighthood, go nuts. Me, i’m still trying to figure out whether or not anyone in his backing band was ever in Too Nice For Nancy. Whoopee ding. BEST SONG: “Uptown Hustle” BEST SONG TITLE: “I Don’t Need Mary (Juana)” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: A few years ago, i played roulette at the same table as Andre Williams. He kept trying to take his chips with him, not realizing that roulette chips stay at the table under penalty of great censure. That’s actually not the fantastic amazing part, though: Later that weekend, i was riding in an elevator with Mr. Williams, and he took a fancy to my shirt. It was a standard Superman t-shirt, except that, instead of being royal blue, as these things tend to be, it was powder blue. Andre Williams kept telling me that my shirt was “the bomb!,” and attempted, several times, to literally purchase the shirt off my back. I wouldn’t sell, and, from that point forward, my powder blue Superman t-shirt was known to me as my “Andre Williams shirt.” Fast forward several years, and i am opening up this month’s package of reviewables from Razorcake, which included this CD. What shirt, might you guess, was i wearing as i opened it? Correct. My Andre Williams powder blue Superman shirt. Doo-DOO-doo-doo-Doo-DOO-doo-doo… –norb (Pravda)