TALL TALES OF THE OLD WEST

Williams knows how to spin a yarn. Full of cowboys, cattle rustlers, drunks, gamblers, horse thieves, hanging judges and—oh, yes—one lawyer, this entertaining recording will make three hours in the car fly by. Williams's friendly, familiar voice draws the listener in. Adept at character voices, he gives comic life to wizened old prospectors, dopey drunks and snooty, educated men. The funniest offering is the comic "Old West Critters and Characters," which features a parrot that alternately preaches the Bible and cusses a blue streak, and a scam involving a hound proclaimed able to sniff out gold. "The Coat" is a suspense tale with a Twilight Zone twist: two outlaws on the lam argue over a coat on a stormy night, but the winner gets more than he bargained for. "They're Gonna Hang Durango" is no-holds-barred adventure, as a man risks his life to help his condemned friend make a daring escape. Mild references to hangings and saloon whores aside, the audio should not offend family sensibilities. Still, the humor is targeted to adults, not children (upon seeing a gravestone inscribed "Here lies a lawyer and an honest man," a bystander remarks, "I didn't know you could bury two people in the same grave!"). (May)