Bobby Hebb "The Sunny Anthology" 1960-1976

It's a good thing there's a place on the Internet to go to that gives us access to obscure imports that would otherwise be impossible to find. This European import on the World in Gold Records label is almost too good to be true, containing 31 tracks that trace Bobby Hebb's recording career from 1960 to 1976. Like most, I came on board as a fan in the summer of 1966, with his self-composed #2 national smash "Sunny." I continued with him into January of '67 when his third consecutive chart placer, "Love Me," a terrific record modeled on "Sunny" but with superb changes, faded after peaking at #84. I was unaware of anything that came before and missed most of what came later. The really good news here is that we get "Love Me" on CD for the first time, plus Hebb's pre-"Sunny" singles starting in 1960 and on five different, mostly very obscure, labels. In addition to the original single version of "Sunny," we get the entirety of the "Sunny" LP (which has never had a proper, quality U.S. release on CD) in stereo, as well as all seven of his 1966-68 Philips single releases, both A and B sides. This CD concludes with his two mid-'70s Laurie singles, making it a total of seven (!) different labels represented on this collection.In line with Hebb's Nashville roots, his first single A-side (from 1960) was an Owen Bradley (the esteemed country writer and producer) song, "Night Train to Memphis," written for Roy Acuff's Smokey Mountain Boys. The informative six-page booklet notes (with photographs) reveal that a teenage Bobby Hebb appeared on the Grand Ole Opry stage nine years earlier (almost unheard-of for a black performer during an era of strict Southern racial segregation) as a dancing, spoons-playing member of Acuff's otherwise all-white ensemble. The B-side of this debut single on the Rich label (out of Nashville) was a self-penned blues titled "You Gotta Go." A subsequent 1961 A-side (on the FM label), "I Found Somebody," is a self-penned soul ballad that has him wailing joyously and sounding like a near vocal twin of Ray Charles, four years his senior. After that, it was on to the appropriately named Battle label where he replaced Mickey Baker as Sylvia "Pillow Talk" Robinson's vocal partner on the now extremely politically incorrect "You Broke My Heart and I Broke Your Jaw" (1962). Incidentally, this is the only track with sound issues, as it was most likely dubbed from a rare existing vinyl copy. As for those two concluding mid-'70s Laurie label singles (in stereo), one of them, in January 1976, dented the bottom [#94] of Billboard's soul singles chart: none other than his disco (!) version of "Sunny" titled "Sunny '76." There were no more than a handful of disco records I ever liked, but on hearing this for the first time (four decades later!), it is now my second favorite disco disc, after Carol Douglas's "Midnight Love Affair" (which got to #102 pop in the winter of '77).

This CD makes you think that this creator of one of the most covered records of the 1960s ("Sunny"), which even the likes of Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and Eddy Arnold recorded as album tracks (among 100+ others), should have had much wider commercial success as a recording artist and performer. Sadly, we lost him in 2010--but at least we have this remarkable collection, a must-have for all Bobby Hebb fans. Now, how about a CD reissue of his 1970 Epic album "Love Games"? (The Soul Detective)

trax:

01 sunny (45 rpm mix) 02 i love everything about you 03 some kind of magic 04 love me 05 my pretty sunshine 06 you want to change me 07 dreamy 08 everything is coming up roses 09 yes or no or maybe not 10 good good lovin' 11 a satisfied mind 12 for you 13 you don't know what you got until you lose it 14 i am your man 15 bread 16 sunny (album mix) 17 love love love 18 crazy baby 19 bound by love 20 i love mary 21 betty jo from ohio 22 atlanta, ga 23 you gotta go 24 feel so good 25 night train to memphis 26 you broke my heart and i broke your jaw (bobby & sylvia) 27 i found somebody 28 judy 29 true i love you 30 proud soul heritage 31 sunny '76

...Many Thanks To Jillem For The Bobby Hebb Share! served by Gyro1966...