If Alan Williams’ life-to-date was a Hollywood movie, it would be one of those where it starts at the end. In this case, it’s his combination retirement/record release party later this month. The album is his third solo release, Floating On the Dreamline. The retirement is from being a professor of music at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He grew up studying jazz and classical piano in North Carolina. In between were stints in a world music group, a folk-rock group that signed with Island Records when they were the cool label back in the 90’s, some time as a recording engineer, and his PhD studies in ethnomusicology. So if you are wondering what kind of music he’s playing now, well, you would be right.
CD opener Somewhere There’s a Train births the lyric that became the album title in an indie rock number with shades of Morrissey emotion. The protagonist dreams about a different life because his current job has “no reward, just ignored, and bored to tears.” A little more upbeat, kind of Blondie-meets-The Knack, is the power pop tune, Nobody Died. It’s a little bit of a poke at his current GenZ students and their tendency to overthink life, when Williams suggests they not take themselves too seriously. The only thing keeping Feel No Pain from being a full heavy metal assault is James Hetfield screaming the lyrics. The topic is a little more sobering: the seedier edge of Lowell that depends on narcotics to get through the day…or not.
Lighter in both spirit and subject is Before My Eyes. The bossa nova lounge piece is a reminder that sometimes finding the right answer takes a little patience to see, “like rounding a corner or turning a page.” A Sliver of Forever is a jazzy piano ballad duet with Julia James, a former student and sometimes-opener for his live shows. I can’t really tell you what it’s about, but there’s a feeling of joy Williams notes came from the recording process and its spontaneity more than from the song itself. The closer is A Prayer. It’s cast through an acoustic singer-songwriter lens and is a wish for more optimism in the world where, “soon will come the sun, warming everyone.”
For much of the album, Alan Williams is accompanied by his New England Conservatory of Music student bandmates, Greg Porter and Ben Whittman, on bass and drums respectively. The fact this record hangs together across such a huge variety of genres is at least partially a testimony to a mind sync they seem to have developed after decades of collaboration. I found that different songs were a highlight for me on different listens. I didn’t know quite what to expect when I hit play, even after several trips through the track list. So for an album that will reward you differently every time you hear it, you have to try Floating On the Dreamline.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.