Shorty Long - The Essential Collection
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Shorty LongEdition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2000-07-24
Music Label: Universal/Spectrum
Free Music Notes for The Essential Collection
Free Music Review: Little Man ... Big BIG Voice
Hit: 4 Stars
Frederick Earl Long, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama on May 20, 1940, was a little man just over 5' tall, accounting for his nickname, but which also happens to catch the eye alongside his surname [not to be confused with Emidio Vagnoni who also performed as Shorty Long on The National Barn Dance].
This Shorty was also quite proficient on a wide array of instruments, including the harmonica, guitar, trumpet/coronet, drums, and piano/organ. On top of all that he could belt out a tune with the best of the biggest soul singers around. At age 19 he relocated to Detroit where he eventually came to the attention of the great Harvey Fuqua [of Harvey & The Moonglows fame] who signed him to his Tri-Phi label.
There he cut songs like I'll Be Here, Bad Willie, and Too Smart, all released in 1962 but none of which made any dents on national charts. When Fuqua then sold his entire operation to Berry Gordy and his Motown operation, Long went along as part of the package, and one of his first cuts there in 1964 was the self-penned [with William Stevenson] Devil With The Blue Dress On [track 10] which he rendered in a slow, bluesy manner. But again he could not crack the Top 100 on any national charts, settling for a Billboard Pop Hot 100 "bubble under" at # 125 (two years later Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels would take it to # 4 Hot 100 in a medley with Good Golly Miss Molly).
Long's follow-up It's a Crying Shame failed as well [it's also not included here], but in late 1966 he finally had his breakthrough hit [of sorts] when another of his compositions [in conjunction with Eddie Holland this time], the funky Function at the Junction, reached # 42 R&B/# 97 Hot 100 on the Motown subsidiary Soul. With Call On Me as the flipside [another omission here], it should have done much better on both charts, but for whatever reason Shorty just wasn't connecting with the buying public.
A cover of the Big Bopper's classic Chantilly Lace was another along those lines, but this one failed to make either chart [and is yet another not included]. In March 1968 Night Fo' Last repeated the success of Function At The Junction on the R&B charts [# 42] and went marginally higher on the Hot 100, peaking at # 75 b/w with an instrumental version of the same song [tracks 3 and 18].
Later that spring Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham put out a tune for the Chess label based upon his running gag on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - Here Comes The Judge - which reached # 4 R&B/# 19 Hot 100, but it was Shorty's cover for Soul that became THE hit version, also reaching # 4 R&B but a much higher # 8 Hot 100. The flipside was Sing What You Wanna and both sides are here.
With an LP also under his belt he was now known from coast to coast, and with Motown giving him the green light to produce his own material [Smokey Robinson was the only other ever to receive that leeway], it seemed like Shorty was finally on his way. But on June 29, 1969 he and his friend Oscar Williams both perished in a boating accident on the Ontario side of the Detroit River. He was just 29.
I certainly can't argue with the 18 tracks chosen for this release, which has marvelous sound reproduction, but it would have been nice had they gone to, say, 24 and included the missing B-sides, Chantilly Lace, It's A Crying Shame, and some of those Tri-Phi label releases. Then it would have truly earned the title "essential" and received 5 stars from this collector.
The Essential Collection Poster
UK compilation for the funkiest singer to ever record for Motown. Best know for his self penned 'Devil With the BlueDress On' which was a hit for Mitch Ryder. 18 tracks. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.R&B Music CDs
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