Adam Faith (backed by the Isley Brothers & Newbeats) - It's All Right (Shindig - Dec 16, 1964)
The late '50s in
England saw a legion of young teen idols, groomed for music stardom by managers eager to see their clients land a chart hit or two on their way to careers as all-around entertainers, or even television or movie actors. A few of them, like
Cliff Richard and
Billy Fury, were genuinely exciting rock & rollers when they started out, although most were just playing at rock & roll, and lacked the talent to make much lasting impact in any area of entertainment.
Adam Faith was one of the better ones, a late-'50s/early-'60s singing star who went on to a respectable acting career in television, movies and theater.
Born Terence Nelhams in
Acton,
West London, he made his first appearances in public at the legendary 21's coffee bar in
London's Soho. He came to the attention of producer
Jack Goode, which, in turn, introduced
Faith to band leader
John Barry (the music director of Goode's music showcase series
Oh Boy! and the music director of the
Drumbeat series), which resulted in the invitation to audition for a role in Drumbeat. Faith first emerged on the music scene on the Top
Rank and
HMV labels, but he saw little chart success until Drumbeat came along in
1959.
Faith became an immediate star, with his matinee-idol looks and charismatic screen presence. He was signed to
EMI's Parlophone label soon after he began work on Drumbeat. In November of 1959, he cut the single "
What Do You Want," which soared to number one on the
British charts in the course of a 19-week run. With a pleasing, upbeat arrangement built around pizzicato strings and a sort of peppy variation of
Elvis' scowling, mumbling demeanor, Faith's career at this
point was closer to teen pop than rock & roll, although his stuff is eminently listenable. His next single, "
Poor Me," was a better song and also reached number one, while his third, "
Somebody Else's
Baby," got to number two. Although hardly cutting-edge rock & roll (and one has to ignore
singles like "
When Johnny Comes Marching Home"), it was all pleasant, rather reminiscent of
Buddy Holly songs like "
True Love Ways."
The best of his singles was the John Barry co-authored "Made You," which owes a bit to songs like "
Nervous Breakdown" -- it also showed what Faith could do with a real, straight-ahead rock & roll number.
He placed six songs in the Top Ten during
1960, and three more in
1961. His string of major hits was pretty much exhausted by the summer of 1962, just before the
Beatles and the other
Liverpool bands came along and changed the entire musical landscape, but he made one more run into the Top Ten in late
1963 with "
The First Time."
Listening to this stuff, it's easy to understand why acts like the Beatles, not to mention ballsier, older rock & rollers from Liverpool like
Tony Sheridan and the
Big Three held performers like Adam Faith in such contempt -- he could be lethally "cute" on novelty songs like "
Lonely Pup (In a
Christmas Shop)," a number four single over Christmas of 1960, and had no compunction about it.
Despite his shortcomings as a rock & roller, Faith left the post-Beatles era with one major gift in the form of his superb backing band, the Roulettes -- featuring future
Argent members
Russ Ballard and
Bob Henrit -- who recorded some of the best music of the early
British Invasion era.
Beginning in 1963, they had a separate recording and performing career as well, including a series of superb recordings for EMI (available on
BGO Records). Their records with Faith were also exceptionally good, and were among the last of his major hits. In
1965, Faith released his last new
album, the concert recording Faith
Alive, featuring him and the Roulettes, a surprisingly exciting and unretouched account of their work on stage together. ~
Bruce Eder,
All Music Guide
PLEASE
NOTE: I divided my uploads among multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics.
LINK:
http://john1948.wikifoundry.com/page/John1948%27s+Youtube+
Index