Larry Williams - At His Finest: The Specialty RocknRoll Years '2004

Tracks list

 When Larry Williams picked up the banner so prematurely dropped by his
Specialty label mate Little Richard in 1957, he became for a while the very
personification of rocknroll. Frantic but always in control, wild but witty,
crazy but cool, he had an unquenchable taste in bizarre women: short, fat, bony,
dizzy or jelly bellied, Larry loved em all.

The magnificent Larry Williams first lit up my life during the summer of 1957
when his London-American release Short Fat Fannie came crackling out of the
family wireless sets overworked speaker. Earlier that week I bought Little
Richards Jenny Jenny and had worn myself out trying to sing along with it-.-but
this Larry Williams, while similar, was different. Not only could you sing
along, you could whistle, too! Rocknroll whistling? Crazy! I bought the record
and played it until word perfect on Short Fat Fannie and its flip High School
Dance. Unlikely as it may seem for a white kid from a North London council
estate, I became Larry Williams. To emphasise the effect that London HLN 8472
must have had on me, it should be noted that other records that I acquired at
that time included Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On by Jerry Lee Lewis, Thatll Be The
Day by the Crickets and Searchin by the Coasters. Who said that we didnt have
better summers in those days?

Bony Moronie, a couple of months later, was even better. Can there have been a
more perfect example of a rocknroll record? Even square old Gooff, the jazz
loving owner of The Melodaire record shop couldnt stop himself from smiling as
he played the record for me. With the rockin You Bug Me Baby as the flip side I
didnt think that things could get much better. But then along came 1958s mammoth
two-sider Dizzy Miss Lizzy / Slow Down. I first heard this by way of the jukebox
in the infamous Busy Bee transport cafe on the Watford by-pass, a favourite
haunt of the ton-up motorcycle fraternity. Just to impress the chicks it became
something of a challenge for these leather boys to select a record and then race
down to the first roundabout and back before it finished playing. But nobody
left the Bee once I started playing Larrys two-sided epic!

By 1959 we were being told that rocknroll was dying-.-but fortunately Larry
Williams was not listening. She Said, Yeah / Bad Boy was yet another classic
double sider that had the old Rock-Ola glowing. My record player turntable
almost went into meltdown too. There was no escape for my parents who, on
retiring to the front room, found themselves confronted by UK rocker Roy Young
standing at a piano and squawking out She Said, Yeah on BBC TVs Drumbeat!

Larrys final UK London-American release, I Cant Stop Lovin You / Steal A Little
Kiss came as something of a disappointment when compared to his previous
records. Somehow we didnt expect a girlie chorus on a Larry Williams record.
Perhaps rocknroll had died after all.

In recent times our chums at Ace Records have kept rocknroll fans and
resuscitation units well supplied with vinyl, tape and CD compilations featuring
the best of Larry Williams. However, this double CD package of dynamite is
possibly their finest moment. Not only do we get those classic London/Specialty
singles and LP tracks as well as the now well known alternates that have cropped
up in recent years but we also get (wait for it...) 18 tracks new to CD in any
form of reissue (out of 47 in all). These cuts didnt stagger bleary-eyed from
the Specialty vaults, they jumped. The studio chat is hilarious and the music is
glorious.

Compiled by the redoubtable team of John Broven and Stuart Colman, with Stuarts
usual fascinating notes, this my friends is one of the greatest rocknroll
releases ever, maybe its even better than that. I think I may have to become
Larry Williams again. 
:: TRACKLIST ::

Disc 1
01. Just Because
02. Let Me Tell You Baby
03. Short Fat Fannie
04. High School Dance
05. Bony Moronie
06. You Bug Me, Baby
07. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
08. Slow Down
09. Hootchy-Koo
10. The Dummy
11. Peaches And Cream
12. I Was A Fool To Let You Go
13. Bad Boy
14. She Said, Yeah
15. I Cant Stop Lovin You
16. Steal A Little Kiss
17. Teardrops
18. Give Me Love
19. Ting-A-ling
20. Little School Girl
21. Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu
22. Hey Now, Hey Now aka Jockomo

Disc 2
01. Short Fat Fannie (Take 1)
02. Iko Iko (Jockomo) (Take 2)
03. Love Charms (Take 4)
04. Oh Baby (Take 1)
05. You Bug Me, Baby (Take 1)
06. The Dummy (Take 1)
07. Slow Down (Take 4)
08. Slow Down (Take 7 + 8)
09. Should I Laugh Or Should I Cry (Take 1)
10. Zing Zing (Take 3)
11. Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Take 2)
12. I Was A Fool To Let You Go (Take 5)
13. Babys Crazy (Take 11)
14. Babys Crazy aka Marie Marie (Take 19)
15. Make A Little Love (Take 1)
16. Little School Girl (Take 1)
17. Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Extended)
18. Heeby Jeebies (Take 17)
19. Hocus Pocus (Take 12)
20. Took A Trip (Take 10)
21. Jelly Belly Nellie (Take 2)
22. Bad Boy (Junior Behave Yourself) (Take 5)
23. Bad Boy (Junior Cha Cha Cha) (Take 6)
24. Heeby Jeebies (Take 4)
25. Evidently You Dont Love Me (Let The Four Winds Blow) (Take 1)

Related artists