Tuesday 10 May 2016

We Want Billy! – BILLY FURY***

Sweet Little Sixteen/Baby Come On/That’s All Right/Wedding Bells/Sticks & Stones/Unchain My Heart/I’m Moving On/Just Because/Halfway To Paradise/I’d Never Find Another You/Once Upon A Dream/Last Night Was Made For Love/Like I’ve Never Been Gone/When Will You Say I Love You

Billy Fury makes his second 1963 UK album chart entry with We Want Billy!, a live set in front of a spirited audience of mostly teenage girls. It featured backing from The Tornados with their distinctive electric organ sound. Divided between rockers and hit singles it fails to do justice to either, since other singers do the former better, and the studio versions of the latter are far superior. (UK:14)

"There are many different Billy Fury albums but We Want Billy is perhaps the best. Many people prefer studio recordings to live ones, but this recording was carefully engineered so as to combine studio-type quality with the excitement of a live show. The result is exceptionally good."

"We Want Billy was recorded live in two sessions with different audiences. He was a master showman, who thrived on audience reaction, and it really shows on this album. The audience simply did not want to let him go."

"I'm not a big fan of live music on albums but for me We Want Billy is the best and most exciting live album from that period."

"The sound quality is great, the fans screaming is so exciting. Sweet Little Sixteen, wow! what a version. The build up to That's All Right is really exciting, especially with the organ pumping away."

*It was one of the first live albums in UK rock history and featured renditions of his hits and cover versions of several R & B songs such as Unchain My Heart."

"About half of the 'concert' consists of rock & roll oldies like Sweet Little Sixteen and Unchain My Heart, sung in a competent sub-Elvis style. There's also a lengthy medley of many of his early '60s pop hits, which are better heard in their studio versions."

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