[.ca] Fever - Best of

From Amazon.com:
Standing slightly more than five feet tall, Little Willie John scored his first hit at age 17. That 1955 R & B smash--"All Around the World" (also known as "Grits Ain't Groceries")--reflected his status as a seasoned veteran of several leading jazz/R & B big bands. John went on to record such noble rockers as "I'm Shakin'" (covered by the Blasters) and "Leave My Kitten Alone" (covered by the Beatles). However, his greatest success came when he set his torchy, gospel-drenched tenor to slow blues ("Need Your Love So Bad"), standards ("Sleep"), heartbreak ballads ("Talk to Me" and "Let Them All Talk"), and his flame-broiled original version of the oft-covered (Peggy Lee, Madonna, the Cramps, among others) incendiary title track. John was only 30 when he died--reportedly of either pneumonia or a heart attack--while imprisoned for manslaughter in 1968. That same year, James Brown recorded an album called Thinking of Little Willie John and a Few Nice Things. One listen to this 20-song Little Willie John compilation will tell you why. --Don Waller

Some Of The Best Aren't Here:
When you look at the contents of the CD you have to wonder if it means "Fever" is the best of Little Willie John and, with that, they're giving you only SOME of his other hits OR, if purporting to offer all his best, the producer fell asleep at the switch. The same holds true for another CD listed: Little Willie John: All 15 Chart Hits 1953-1962. First of all John, born in Cullendale, Arkansas on November 15, 1937 and raised in Detroit, he was just 16 in 1953, and although touring with Paul Williams & His Orchestra and cutting some discs for Savoy, Rama, and Prize, had no hits of any description until 1955. Secondly, from 1955 to 1961 he actually had eighteen charters. After signing with King in 1955, that fall he scored with the # 5 R & B hit, All Around The World. Not bad for an 18-year-old, and when he did it again early in 1956 with the double-side hit Need Your Love So Bad (# 5 R & B) b/w Home At Last (# 6 R & B), King knew they had something special (the B-side is missing from the other CD mentioned). His biggest hit ever, Fever, followed in a few months, going to # 1 R & B (where it stayed for five weeks) and # 24 pop in August. The thing is, the flip-side, Letter From My Darling, also went to # 10 R & B and is not included in either this compilation OR the other one. Nor is the next one in 1956, Do Something For Me, which hit # 15 R & B, and yet the flipside, My Nerves, which did not chart, is included in this set. There were no charters in 1957, but in May 1958 he was back with Talk To Me, Talk To Me which, b/w Spasms, a # 5 R & B and # 20 pop. Later that summer You're A Sweetheart topped out at # 14 R & B and # 66 pop in August, and while it's on the other CD, it is omitted from this one. But the uncharted flip, Let's Rock While The Rockin's Good IS here. Go figure. Another release in the same period, Tell It Like It Is b/w Don't Be Ashamed To Call My Name went to # 12 R & B - but neither is included on either CD. Both his following hits are here and on the other CD, however, with Leave My Kitten Alone scoring at # 13 R & B and # 60 pop in August 1959, and Let Them Talk reaching # 11 R & B and # 100 pop in February 1960. Neither flip-side, Let Nobody Love You (# 106 pop) and Right There are included. Later in 1960 Heartbreak (It's Hurtin' Me) also gained # 11 R & B and while it's on both CDs, the flip, Right There, is on neither. Then came the old standard Sleep (again on both sets) which reached # 10 R & B and proved to be his best pop hit, going to # 13 in November. The B-side, There's A Difference, is missing, as is his next hit, Walk Slow b/w You Hurt Me, which went to # 21 R & B and # 48 pop in January 1961 (the A-side IS on the other CD). The old Duke Ellington hit, Flamingo, then followed for John in 1961, going to # 17 R & B - but it's missing from both compilations, although the B-side, (I've Got) Spring Fever, a # 25 R & B and 71 pop in June, is at least on the other compilation. His last hit, Take My Love (I Want To Give It All To You), is on both sets, and it went to # 5 R & B in the fall of 1961, but the flip-side, Now You Know, is missing from both even though it scored at # 93 pop that August. Inducted into the R & R Hall of Fame in 1996, John wasn't around to appreciate the honour, having died in Washington State Prison from a heart attack on May 26, 1968. His sister Mabel John had a single hit with Your Good Thing (Is About To End) in 1966 (# 6 R & B/# 95 pop), and was also a member of Ray Charles' Raeletts. It seems that, if you really want ALL the best of Little Willie John you will have to purchase both CDs, and then search around for Letter From My Darling, Do Something For Me, Tell it Like It Is, and Flamingo. Good hunting.

stop and listen ..... to this gem:
This guy's got a voice that most likely still got him up into heaven. I don't think an angel could compete with the vocal magnificence of the R & B/Blues singer here that has been so, so neglected compared to many that are inferior. This CD has the gems of Willie John and if these fail to move your soul into an upright position, you must already be dead. Check out: Fever, I Need Your Love so Bad, Talk To Me, ... amoung the others. Whew! Words fail me. Just listen!

Collects his two essential singles, and some great extras:
Little Willie John had, for all intents and purposes, only two truly great songs, but the qualifier on that is that they really were really, truly great. Those two songs are "Fever" and "I Need Your Love So Bad." This isn't to say that none of his other recordings aren't worth listening do. They most certainly are, such as his excellent version of "All Around the World" and the superb "Sufferin' the Blues." Several other cuts are excellent also. But both "Fever" and "I Need Your Love So Bad" are absolutely essential soul classics, and will be remembered and performed as long as anyone sings great songs. Most are familiar with the fact that Little Willie John was the first to record "Fever," but Peggy Lee the first to make it a hit. But it is almost impossible to imagine a more definitive version of the song than John's. The same holds true with "Need Your Love So Bad." If anything, his vocal on this is even stronger than on "Fever." Unfortunately, Little Willie John's story is all too familiar. A short recording career from which he reaped virtually no economic benefit, and an early death, in his case from pneumonia contracted while serving a prison term in Washington state for having stabbed a man. It must have been galling for him to see others like Peggy Lee and Elvis and the Beatles recording songs he had recorded earlier, with not nearly as much to show for his efforts. But it must be stressed that while John did not record a great deal in his short career, he was by no means a one or two hit wonder. He possessed and emotional range in his singing matched by very few of the great singers from the 1950s, and successors like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, and Al Green all acknowledged his greatness as a vocalist.

An Essential R & R CD for your Collection!:
Little Willie John was a tremendous talent. Much more so than can be measured in a single release on 45, or even many albums. So it was a treat to get this Rhino CD, because they always have the BEST sound, and remaster from original sources. The one thing, soundwise, that cannot be removed, is distortion. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for his studio recordings, Willie possessed such a HUGE voice, that it often overloaded his solo microphone, and while that is disguised wonderfully on this release, it cannot be eliminated. On "Fever", "All Around the World" and "Sleep" is it overcome almost entirely, and these are the best sounding versions you will find of these. However, "Spasms" and "Talk to Me" are not as wonderous in the audio category. If you have to purchase ONE disc of this legendary writer/singer......grab this one. However you will also need "Little Mister Willie John", "Sure Things" and "Home at Last" to get all of his great songs!! The CD "28 Big Ones" is a great buy considering all the music, but has the worst sound quality of any. It's rather strange how a singer who influenced every R & B singer of his day, and well beyond, not to mention Peggy Lee and Sinatra, does not have a boxed set of all his recordings...............together, and possibly with a few radio appearances and live tracks. At LEAST his CDs are still in print, and I'd grab them ALL while they are. King records is still handling the releases, which might be why it would be wiser to turn the master session tapes over to, say, Bear Family, to make a thorough, complete release of this immortal artist, lost too soon.

A fine collection, by this great jump blues singer:
Although my alltime favorite Little Willie John tune "I'm Sticking With You Baby"(an incredible jump blues) is missing, this is still a fine collection, that should be bought in tandem with the Collectibles cd(which has more songs, but many different ones). This cd has plenty of rollicking tunes, and although I'm really not a fan of John's balladry, he sounds best when singing uptempo jump blues or r & b tunes like Fever where he can use his rich vocals and attitute to thier fullest. Some of the ballads that border on doo-wop are throwaways, but most of his hits were the jump blues tunes, and his voice sounds a little different with each performance, making him a unique performer who's voice on a good day could sound so smooth, slick and hip, and on other days weak and wimpy. This collection finds him in generally prime form, so pick this cd up along with the Collectables disc.

• All Around the World
• Need Your Love So Bad
• Home at Last
• Fever
• My Nerves
• Suffering With the Blues
• Person to Person
• Talk to Me, Talk to Me
• Spasms
• Let's Rock While the Rockin's Good
• Leave My Kitten Alone
• Let Them Talk
• I'm Shakin'
• Heartbreak (It's Hurtin' Me)
• Sleep
• You Hurt Me
• I Like to See My Baby - Hank Ballard, Little Willie John
• Take My Love (I Want to Give It All to You)
• Big Blue Diamonds
• My Baby's in Love With Another Guy