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"Your Cheatin' Heart" (1973)
The Buddy Holly Memorial Society was again responsible for this second French EMI collection of Kidd cuts, fourteen tracks this time as opposed to the previous offering's count of sixteen. Another collection from right across the group's career, with 1961 being the only year missing out on any representation whatsoever.
All the pirate line-ups are represented in this collection which rounded up more of the rarer cuts in Kidd's catalogue. Starting with the rock 'n' roll of "Feelin" from the second single in 1959, the two "Saturday Club" cuts are here as well as a host of rare b-sides. Of these, "The Fool" shows the latter line-up to be a band of potential, Kidd sounding well at ease over a confident arrangement that was slicker than the version attempted for the "Lost Album" just two years before. 1965's "Don't Make The Same Mistake As I Did" could just have made an a-side, John Weider's overdubbing his sub-Mick Green guitar licks to good effect.
Top of my tree (for me) on this outing though, is the Kidd-Green b-side "Then I Got Everything". Submerged underneath the band's monster 1963 hit "I'll Never Get Over You", "Everything" shows the direction a decent in-house writing partnership could have gone. After the relative failure of the succeeding 45's this was never pursued and Kidd's name never appeared as composer again on vinyl, except as arranger for "Gotta Travel On" which also puts in an appearance here. Mick Green later stated that although Kidd continued to write, songs became uncompleted and, fed-up with a continuing lack of success he seriously considered giving up.
The later years, especially after the addition of organist Vic Cooper, shows a thicker sound until Kidd parted from his ship-mates. Kidd went on to record the heavier, big band sound of the penultimate single "It's Got To Be You" from 1966, an indication of the Soul-tinged direction Kidd might have taken had it not been for the accident that curtailed his life later that same year. Overall, this was another worthy collection in tribute to the Kidd, only marred perhaps by being released in the then-fashionable "electronic stereo" style, which supposedly enhanced the cuts for the new stereo age. Unfortunately, this system only serves to make it sound like the tracks were recorded on a second-hand biscuit tin in Joe Meek's legendary bathroom.
NEW - This album has been re-released as part of the Johnny Kidd Memorial Album/Your Cheating Heart re-release (on Amazon), also available from Beat Goes On.