By request: BILLY BOY ARNOLD "Crying & Pleading" (LP)

This vinyl collection of Arnold's complete Vee Jay output is mid-'50s Chicago blues at its best. Includes "I Wish You Would," "I Was Fooled," "Rockinitis" and the original "I Ain't Got You," later covered by The Yardbirds.(Cub Koda, All Music Guide)Born in Chicago rather than in Mississippi (as many of his musical forefathers were), young Arnold gravitated right to the source in 1948. He summoned up the courage to knock on the front door of his idol, harmonica great John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, who resided nearby. Sonny Boy kindly gave the lad a couple of harp lessons, but their relationship was quickly severed when Williamson was tragically murdered. Still in his teens, Arnold cut his debut 78 for the extremely obscure Cool logo in 1952. "Hello Stranger" went nowhere but gave him his nickname when its label unexpectedly read "Billy Boy Arnold." Arnold made an auspicious connection when he joined forces with Bo Diddley and played on the shave-and-a-haircut beat specialist's two-sided 1955 debut smash "Bo Diddley"/"I'm a Man" for Checker. That led, in a roundabout way, to Billy Boy's signing with rival Vee-Jay Records (the harpist mistakenly believed Leonard Chess didn't like him). Arnold's "I Wish You Would," utilizing that familiar Bo Diddley beat, sold well and inspired a later famous cover by the Yardbirds. That renowned British blues-rock group also took a liking to another Arnold classic on Vee-Jay, "I Ain't Got You." Other Vee-Jay standouts by Arnold included "Prisoner's Plea" and "Rockinitis," but by 1958, his tenure at the label was over. (Bill Dahl, All Music Guide)trax:
01 i wish you would 02 i was fooled 03 don't stay out all night 04 i ain't got you 05 here's my picture 06 you got me wrong 07 my heart is crying 08 kissing at midnight 09 prisoner's plea 10 no, no, no, no, no 11 every day, every night 12 rockinitis
...served by Gyro1966...