Three Saturdays With Billy (on Radio & Tv 68-69) (10")

Following his signing to EMI in December 1966 Billy Fury would record some eleven singles for Parlophone until late 1970, and for much of this period he continued to regularly record live sessions for the BBC. However, as was BBC policy during those times, most of these live recordings were destroyed and only eight tracks from 1967 to 1970 have since appeared, and nothing from 1968 and '69 was known to survive - until now. Top Sounds' new release - Three Saturdays With Billy - is literally just that, offering seven previously unreleased live recordings performed for the Radio One programme Saturday Club, as well as an audio of a performance taken from an appearance on Simon Dee's Dee Time TV show. Those Saturday Club performances were saved from actual broadcast tapes and survive in superb quality, and include unique versions of tracks such as David Bowie's 'Silly Boy Blue' and the Bee Gees' 'One Minute Woman', as well as some scintillating rockers like Billy's own 'Bye Bye' and Chuck Berry's 'Sweet Little Sixteen'. Billy's studio capture of 'I Love You' was never released in his lifetime and though a nice version was issued on The Missing Years compilation, the feverish rendition here recorded with his then backing group the Storm ranks as Billy's wildest recording ever. Two interviews with Billy also survive from these broadcasts and feature on this release and Billy's most left field single - 'Phone Box' - gained some TV exposure on the aforementioned Dee Time, and the maestro here plays guitar and sings it live.