Customer Reviews

Flying Saucers & Rock & Roll: Very Best of

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This is the 2nd best obscure rockabilly artist ever. Second only to Hasil, Sleepy has a deep bluesy voice that captures the soul

Well, if I had my suspicions about Collectables they were confirmed with this release. For an artist who had exactly two charted singles they manage to leave off one in a volume thgey label "The Very Best Of." It was, in fact, his first hit which came while with Columbia in 1968, Every Day, which reached # 73 Country b/w If I Go Right I'm Wrong.

Could it be that Columbia refused permission to have the song included? Wouldn't surprise me, but then again Collectables seems to do this with every one of their releases. His only other hit is here, Blackland Farmer, which reached # 67 Country in 1971 for the Plantation label, although they did omit the flipside, Got You On My Mind.

In pursuing my hobby of collecting charted hit singles [Pop/R&R, Country, R&B] I am sometimes amazed at the lack of chart success for some artists who, to my mind, deserved much better. One of these is Sleepy LaBeef, born Thomas Paulsley LaBeff in Smackover, Arkansas in 1935.

This genial giant [6' 7"] recorded his first single way back in 1957 for Starday [All Alone b/w I'm Through], and from that point on his booming voice [which can be touchingly tender at times] began to take over what remained of Rockabilly. After working at Mercury, Picture, Crescent, Wayside, Dixie, and Gulf - sometimes as Tommy LaBeff - Sleepy joined Columbia in 1964 where his first single, Everybody's Got To Have Somebody (To Love) b/w the Chuck Berry tune You Can't Catch Me, failed to chart.

His singles may not have sold, but his albums were always a feature at any house party. This offering from Collectables, even though it annoys by leaving off one of his two hits plus both B-sides, is a good example of his wide voice range, and why he is generally regarded as the last of the great Rockabilly artists.

I can say without hyperbole that this is the greatest album ever created in the history of time. I'll go one step further, it's better than any album that will EVER be created in the future. In fact, it's the greatest THING ever created. Better than the Pyramids in Giza, better than the Great Wall of China, better than the Grand Canyon. OK, I know the Grand Canyon wasn't manmade, so what I guess I'm saying is that this album is the greatest THING ever created - natural or manmade. This CD may one day cure cancer.

Wait, maybe I'm thinking of something else.

The 'Very Best...' belies the contents. It would be better if this CD was titled 'Sleepy Labeef Cashes In On The Years When He Really Was At His Best', which was about 20 years before this effort. If you want to listen to authentic R&R or Rockabilly, (in mono, as it was supposed to be, not stereo) listen to his 50's stuff instead.