BILLY DAVIS "Watcha Gonna Do?" Singles, Rarities and Unreleased 1963-1966

The split of Billie Davis' 1960s recordings between three different labels seems to have made it impossible to compile a truly definitive retrospective of her work, which would take two CDs if it were to be complete. Should you want everything she recorded between her two separate stints with Decca Records, however, this compilation is exemplary, even if its omission of that Decca material (which included all three of her British chart hits) means that this shouldn't be mistaken for a best-of. All of her 1963-1966 singles for Columbia and Piccadilly (including her duets as half of Keith & Billie) are on this 28-track anthology, along with five previously unreleased 1963 cuts (two studio outtakes and three live performances). These show Davis to be a singer worthy of attention by serious British Invasion fans, yet not one who was quite good enough to demand re-investigation by less intense specialists. Influenced by both girl group and soul, she had a perky, girlish, vibrato-heavy sound that wasn't far off the standards of, say, Lulu. Yet she was clearly not in the same league as Lulu either vocally or in terms of the quality of the material she recorded. Some of the tracks are dull or hindered with cheaper, more dated early-'60s British pop production than the likes of Dusty Springfield or Lulu ever had to overcome. Still, there are some very good songs here, like the sassy, swaggering "Whatcha Gonna Do" -- the one track here you could peg as a should-have-been hit that never was -- and its swinging, infectiously catchy girl group-ish B-side, "Everybody Knows." Other singles (like 1966's "Just Walk in My Shoes"/"Ev'ry Day") showed her gravitating toward credible blue-eyed soul, and "The Last One to Be Loved" is a good and sumptuously orchestrated cover of a Bacharach/David song that's highly reminiscent of Dionne Warwick's mid-'60s recordings -- no real surprise, since Warwick herself recorded it too. The duets with Keith Powell (billed to Keith & Billie), however, were tame soul-pop tunes that undermined her strengths. The liner notes give a good account of Davis' career during this hitless period, and if you pick this up in conjunction with the compilation Tell Him: The Decca Years, you'll have everything you need to hear by the singer. by Richie Unterberger, AllmusicBillie's UK hits including Tell him (available here as a live recording) were released on the Decca label and they've been released on a separate compilation, but Billie recorded music for other labels that was just as good, yet mysteriously failed to yield a solo hit. Actually, this set opens with a Mike Sarne hit, Will I what?, featuring Billie Davis. It is similar in style to Mike Sarne's previous hit, Come outside, that featured Wendy Richard and made number one in Britain. Billie got that opportunity only because Wendy declined to perform the song live. I guess Wendy didn't fancy a singing career, but she established a successful career as an actress, achieving fame originally via the TV comedy series Are you being served?, later becoming even more famous as one of the stars in the TV soap opera Eastenders. So Billie took her chance, but while she was a hugely talented singer, her career was somewhat less successful than Wendy's.
Born Carol Hedges, she adopted her stage name by combining the names of two of her heroes, Billie Holiday and Sammy Davis. Her big solo hit came early in 1963 with her cover of Tell him, following up with a minor hit later that year. Disaster struck in the form of a nasty road accident in October 1963. The fall-out from that accident certainly didn't help her career. Apart from having to recover from her physical injuries, the accident was surrounded by scandal and that would have damaged her even if she'd emerged physically unscathed.
Billie continued recording for Decca until her contract ran out at the end of 1964, but some of the tracks during that period appear here. Looking at the credits, I see that Billie Davis now owns the masters to those tracks. The remainder of this compilation focuses on her period with Piccadilly, for which label she recorded several great singles in 1965 and 1966 including some duets with Keith Powell. As with the later Decca material, nothing charted, but the quality was high. Billie returned to Decca in 1967 and eventually had another hit for them in 1969, I want you to be my baby, but there is nothing here that was recorded after 1966.
This compilation gives a hint of what might have been, if luck and the music business had given Billie Davis a fair chance. If you've listened to a compilation of Billie's Decca music including the hits and want to explore further, this collection is exactly what you're looking for. Come to think of it, you might actually prefer this collection anyway. (Amazon)trax:
1. intro - Billie Davis 2. sweet nothin's (unreleased, live '63) - Billie Davis 3. will you love me tomorrow (unreleased, live '63) - Billie Davis 4. tell him (unreleased, live '63) - Billie Davis 5. it's so funny i could cry (unreleased) - Billie Davis 6. you don't have to be a baby to cry (unreleased) - Billie Davis 7. bedtime stories - Billie Davis 8. you and i - Billie Davis 9. that boy john - Billie Davis 10. say nothin don't tell - Billie Davis 11. school is over - Billie Davis 12. watcha gonna do - Billie Davis w/The Leroys 14. everybody knows - Billie Davis w/The Leroys 15. the last one to be loved - Billie Davis 16. you don't know - Billie Davis 17. no other baby - Billie Davis 18. hands off - Billie Davis 19. when you move you lose - Keith & Billie 20. tastes sour don't it - Keith & Billie 21. heart and soul - Billie Davis 22. don't take all night - Billie Davis 23. you don't know like i know - Keith & Billie 24. two little people - Keith & Billie 25. that's really some good - Keith & Billie 26. swingin' tight - Keith & Billie 27. just walk in my shoes - Keith & Billie 28. ev'ry day - Keith & Billie
...served by Gyro1966...