Little Willie John - Heaven Can Wait and 1966

A REPOST BY REQUEST

It was my initial intention to continue to spread the Little Willie John posts out a little bit but 2 things happened: 1-the first two posts seemed to be well received and 2-more importantly in listening to the material prior to writing I had something of a epiphany. I ended up listening to all four discs in a row and something became clear; starting from track 9 of disc two (The King Sessions) you have the material from 1959 thru 1960, what should be the 'sweet spot'. Consider that by the end of 1958 LWJ is one of the hottest singers around, but at the height of his popularity someone  (the biography does not discuss this), gets very conservative and one dimensional in the choice of material and arrangements and turns him into a one-trick pony at the very moment when a large number of new singers are coming of age. In these 2 years of poor decisions they manage to completely lose the Public Ear. It is clear from the start of this disc that someone has realized the error and made an attempt at giving him varied vehicles and is laying off the vocal gymnastics. The material is far more interesting and his voice continues to mature. This is really good stuff. Sadly, once lost, the Public Ear is difficult to recapture and meanwhile John's demons get the upper hand until he is jailed and convicted of murder in Washington (state) in 1964.

In most situations that would be the end of this story, but there is one last semi-triumphant chapter. During his time in prison awaiting Appeal, John had struck up a correspondence with producer David Axelrod. In February of 1966 Willie was released pending his Appeal trial and went straight into the studio with Axelrod for 3 sessions with the cream of L.A. studio players that combine to make his final album. John loses the Appeal, is sent back to prison and dies 2 years later under mysterious circumstances at 30 years old. The small miracle here is that Axelrod puts him into updated songs and arrangements and he responds magnificently. No doubt that under different circumstances he could have revived his career and been a major star again with proper handling. The sessions, however, are tied into silly legal disputes for 30 years before they are finally released.

So it seems to me that to illustrate my point I need to go ahead and offer the rest of LWJ now so YOU can decide if I may have gleaned something from careful listening or if you think I'm just full of crap.

There are 2 links in this post.