Presse Archiv - Billy Fury Wondrous Place - The Brits Are Rocking - Now Dig This
He did, however, cut one of his own the following July, the superb, dark and moody 'Don't Jump'. Lesser-known items include a trio of originals, the soulful 'If I Lose You' from November '61, the r'n'b stroller 'Keep Away' and the somewhat average 'What Did I Do' from the January '63 session that yielded the 'Billy Fury & The Tor-nados' EP. 'Twist Kid' pre-dates the beat groups that were just about to pop their mopped heads over the horizon. The five tracks from the semi-live April 1963 session with The Tornados and 500 teenage girls show that Fury was still a rocker at heart despite the flow of ballads being released. From the same year we get a great version of LaVern Baker's 'Bumble Bee'. By the time of his most recent recording here, March 1964, Billy's backing band was The Gamblers and their heavier sound was evident on recordings like 'The Hippy Hippy Shake' and the one included here, a barnstorming take on 'Nothin' Shakin". I commend Bear Family on the brilliant job they've done here, from the sleeve-notes to the choice of recordings.
05.11.2019
Presse Archiv - Billy Fury Wondrous Place - The Brits Are Rocking - UK Rock & Roll Magazine
BILLY FURY `WONDEROUS PLACE' (Bear Family)
Billy Fury is on one hand considered up there with the best of the best of the breed of British rockers. His 1960 album 'The Sound Of Fury' thought of by some with a respect usually reserved for recordings that came out of Sun. True, that 10" is the nearest thing to authentic rockabilly that a UK artist recorded back in the day. On the other hand the conversation then tends to be that Billy Fury turned his back on rock n roll to concentrate on ballads, hits and money. The facts, like them or not is that the sort of music Billy was laying down in 1960 was almost half a decade out of date back in the States, their own brand of fabricated teen idols were flooding the charts while the originators of rock n roll were either in the army, out of vogue, hitting the bottle or both. Worst still, dead, Eddie and Buddy had already started looking beyond rock n roll before their untimely deaths. As far as record company bosses were concerned there was nowhere else commercially to go with Billy but ballads, mostly penned by someone else, they were proved right too, his ballads were much bigger hits than his early rockers. This goes some way to show that despite being know for ballads at the height of his career, when Billy was off the leash he was still rocking, here's the proof.
Simon Nott
22.12.2019
Presse Archiv - Billy Fury Wondrous Place - The Brits Are Rocking - Now Dig This
There's two bonus tracks to the original ten. As much as 'Wondrous Place' is my favourite British song, it's interesting to hear it added here as an extra and realise MONO ,. just how well the original SoF plays as a stand-alone album. 'Gonna Type A Letter' is more in keep-ing and rounds off a truly wonderful reissue. It's the latest instalment in Bear Family's great Vinyl Club series, coming in gold met-allic, 180 gram vinyl with a perfect recreation of the original artwork.
If you haven't been lucky enough to have got the album on an original pressing or the 1981 reissue, this new release is a must. If you have, I'd still recommend it as it's such a beautiful package. Limited to the usual 500 copies, it comes complete with a Billy Fury postcard and should be snapped up pronto.
15.07.2020
