Customer Reviews

Best of the Okeh Years

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This collection seems overlooked to me. The All-Music Guide lists it, but doesn't have a word to say about it. Even Amazon, though they stock it, doesn't display a photo of the cover. And no one has reviewed it. I first heard 'Two For The Price Of One' on a Rhino Soul Shots collection I bought and I loved it immediately. Much later, I bought a Fantasy collection that had their take on 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' and again, I loved it. I'd made up my mind at that point to buy the cd Two For The Price of One, but it was a bit pricey, had only 10 songs, and I just never got around to getting it and sort of lost interest. Now years later, I find this "collection", which has "Two...." in its entirety plus 10 more cuts from the man's Okeh years.

Its wonderful! The 12 cuts with Larry Williams are 1st class 60s soul, with great chemistry and energy. The last 8 cuts are from Watson's 2 (mostly) instrumental albums for Okeh, 'The Fantastic Piano and Guitar of Johnny Watson - BAD' and 'The Johnny Watson Trio Plays Fats Waller'. This cuts are jazzy and laid back, but still fine.

Part of the reason this may be overlooked is that it is issued on Collectables, which has a reputation for substandard sound and skimpy or no liner notes. The sound here is really good, but the package (liner notes, graphics, one embarrassing mis-spelling) leave much to be desired. The music is always enhanced by the stories and history that surrounds it, and there is nothing here of value but the music itself. Particularly reissue labels should know that with the proliferation of downloadable music, what you offer besides the music becomes more and more important. Those of you who have purchased a box set with a booklet full of quality pictures, recording information, biographical background, etc. will know exactly what I mean. Adding value is the name of the game in many businesses today, and nowhere is it more important than in the music business.

I LOVE THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON, HE HAD SO MANY PHASES TO HIS MUSICAL CAREER, AND HE WAS OUTSTANDING IN ALL OF THEM. THIS CD FEATURES HIS MID 60'S RELEASES ON THE OKEH LABEL, WHICH HE COLLABORATED WITH AND WERE PRODUCED BY LARRY WILLIAMS (AN L.A. R&B ARTIST WHO DID BONEY MARONIE, AND OTHER SONGS LIKE THAT ON THE ART RUPE'S SPECIALTY LABEL IN THE 1950'S), WHO LIVED UP THE BLOCK FROM JOHNNY GUITAR. THE FIRST SONGS WERE FROM AN ALBUM CALLED "TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE", AND FEATURES THE VOCAL VERSION OF JOE ZAWINUL'S "MERCY, MERCY, MERCY", ORIGINALLY RECORDED BY CANNONBALL ADDERLY. MOST OF THE LATER SONGS WERE FROM AN ALBUM CALLED JOPHNNY GUITAR WATSON TRIO PLAYS FATS WALLER, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. IF YOU LIKE THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT LINK BETWEEN HIS 1950'S-EARLY 60'S BLUES, R&B STUFF, AND THE 1970'S "FUNK" PERIOD OF HIS MUSIC.