"...It's You I Need..."
Aged only 20 when he
recorded it and self-penning all 10 of the songs - Liverpool's Ronald Wycherley
and his May 1960 debut album "The Sound Of Fury" is the kind of
mythical release that only grows with the passing decades.
Re-listening to this British
legend in 2016 is a thoroughly brill experience – Billy Fury's Decca LP as good
as you remember it and better. Now a staggering 56 years past - that 23-minute
platter still thrills and you can completely get why British Rock 'n' Rollers
and Rockabilly dudettes alike worship at its 10" feet. At times the whole
LP even feels like Buddy Holly's lost Rock 'n' Roll album - or with Joe Brown
and his pals sounding not unlike Scotty Moore and Bill Black doing their
slap-bass echoed thing - the great Sun Records Rockabilly masterpiece Elvis
Presley never made. Here are the Silver Suits and Brylcreem Quiffs...
UK released July 2000 –
"The Sound Of Fury" by BILLY FURY on Decca 844 990-2 (Barcode
042284499026) is a 2CD Remastered set and plays out as follows:
Disc 1 - "The Sound Of
Fury" Original MONO LP (22:27 minutes):
1. That's Love
2. My Advice
3. Phone Call
4. You Don't Know
5. Turn My Back On You
6. Don't Say It's Over [Side
2]
7. Since You've Been Gone
8. It's You I Need
9. Alright, Goodbye
10. Don't Leave Me This Way
Tracks 1 to 10 are his debut
LP "The Sound Of Fury" - released May 1960 in the UK as a 10" LP
on Decca LF 1329 (no US release). Produced by JACK GOOD - it peaked in June
1960 at No. 18 on the UK LP charts.
Disc 2 - BONUS TRACKS (44:30
minutes):
1. That's Love (Alternate
Take - STEREO)
2. My Advice (STEREO)
3. Phone Call (STEREO)
4. You Don't Know (STEREO)
5. Don't say It's Over
(STEREO)
6. Since You've Been Gone
(STEREO)
7. It's You I Need (STEREO)
8. Alright, Goodbye (STEREO)
9. Don't Leave Me This Way
(STEREO)
10. Maybe Tomorrow
(Alternate Take - STEREO)
11. My Christmas Prayer
12. I Got Someone
13. Open Your Arms
14. Don't Jump
15. Magic Eyes
16. Sleepless Nights
17. Please Don't Go
18. If I Lose You
19. I Love How You Love Me
Tracks 11 to 19 in MONO
The Band:
BILLY FURY - Lead Vocals
REG GUEST – Piano
JOE BROWN – Electric Guitar
ALAN WEIGHELL – Electric
Bass
BILL STARK – Bass
ANDY WHITE – Drums
THE FOUR JAYS – Backing
Vocals
The 12-page booklet features
seriously in-depth and affectionate liner notes from CHRIS ELEY that go into
the January 8th and April 14th sessions at Decca's Studio 3 in West Hampstead
that produced the iconic album. The text is peppered with colour photos of his
1st UK EP "Maybe Tomorrow" on Decca DFE 6597 - a French Magazine
cover in his gold jacket - a UK Decca Records Trade Advert for 'his first long
playing record' - a black and white publicity photo with his fellow mucker Joe
Brown - the cover of a Dutch reissue that doubled the LP up with Tommy Steele -
and two different French EPs - one of which actually credits it as Billy Fury
with The Four Jays.
Oddly there are no mastering
or tape-transfer credits anywhere - but that's hardly important when you clap
your weary lugs on the Remasters that are uniformly fabulous to the nth degree.
The MONO LP sounds staggeringly clean for its age yet vibrant - the
stripped-back Rockabilly set if the band to the background while Billy’s vocals
is to the fore (all in a good way). But that's nothing to the STEREO takes on
Disc 2 which I would describe as sensational. These are already great songs -
but in STEREO! Wow is the only appropriate response. Some of the STEREO
versions featured here first appeared in 1988 on the CD reissue of "The
Sound Of Fury" on Decca 820 627-2 (with liner notes from the mighty JOHH
TRACY – a former company employee who wrote tons of those early CD booklets).
Good news is that with the exception of "Turn My Back On You" - CD2
will allow fans to sequence 9 of the 10 track LP in STEREO for the first time
and that’s an Audio thrill I'll buy into any day of the week.
It opens on the very Sun
Records Rockabilly of "That's Love" and continues with "My
Advice" where the 'bop-bop-bop' backing vocals of The Four Jays (flown in
especially for the sessions) feel like The Jordanaires giving support to Elvis
as he 'uh-huh's' into the microphone. Decca chose "That's Love" as a
lead off 45 in May 1960 with "You Don't Know" on the flip-side and
Decca F 11237 rewarded them and Billy with a No. 19 Pop placing and an 11-week
chart run. "Phone Call" is great stuff - a Blues shuffle that
emphasises Joe Brown's guitar flourishes and Reg Guest's slinky piano fills.
The first angst-ridden ballad comes in the shape of "You Don't Know"
- a gorgeous vocal by Fury - Reg Guest giving in some tasteful piano. The
STEREO version can only be described as beautiful - not just the execution of
the song but Jack Good's smart Production. Probably closest to Presley's
version of Crudup's "That's Alright" - "Turn My Back On
You" is pure Rockabilly joy where Billy is "...gonna swing round
honey...gonna turn my back on you..." - his Vocal aping a hero of his -
Eddie Cochran.
Side 2 opens with the
brilliant "Don't Say It's Over" - a piano roller that 'bah-doom's its
way into your living room (great dancer). A two a.m. whiskey-sodden lounge-room
Piano introduces the two-paced "Since You've Been Gone" which continues
on that path until it decides around 1:25 minutes to go Bopper and then
Rockabilly slap-bass's to the finish line. Great finger picking from Joe on the
cool "It's You I Need" - yes indeed. Back to crooning with
"Alright, Goodbye" where some girly is leaving our poor Billy with a
broken heart (they're always doing that) while the finisher "Don't Leave
Me This Way" is a very Presley rapid-paced piano bopper.
"...OK fellas..."
- Billy Fury shouts to his tight band during "Don't Leave Me This
Way" - hit me with that sound - and they do. Time to let "The Sound
Of Fury" back into your world...kudos to all involved...
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