BILLY & LILLIE, "WHIP IT TO ME BABY" C/W "LOVE ME SINCERELY," ABC-PARAMOUNT 45-10421 (REL. 4/1963)

 

I must confess that I’ve ignored the records of Billy And Lillie. A couple of their Swan Records singles are among the most commonly-found 45s in my neck of the woods. I knew they were a Black r&b duo and, thus, right up my alley in theory, but I let them be as I explored other options.

When one of their ABC-Paramount releases (not a common sight) crossed my path, I took the bait. I was pleased with what I heard and will have to scout out some of their other platters when they appear. This single, from April 1963 (the date of my release), is in a solid old-school lowrider ballad mode on one side and a more au courant r&b sound on the other. But first: some background on this duo.

Vocalist-trumpeter Billy Ford was a veteran of the music field by the time he teamed with Lillie Bryant. He’d played in big bands, jazz combos and r&b groups since WWII, including one lead by Cootie Williams, Duke Ellington’s best trumpeter in that mega-influential band’s classic years. By the early 1950s, Ford ran his own band and made a lot of records as themselves and as backup for other r&b vocalists. 17-year-old Bryant first recorded with Ford’s outfit in 1955. Billy was, at first, a mite skeptical of Lillie’s abilities, but she was popular with audiences.

An encounter with writer-producers Bob Crewe and Frank Slay got the duet a pop hit with “La Dee Dah,” a novelty rocker with a lyric sewn together from the names of recent pop and rock hits (a tack taken by many performers at the time). It and “Lucky Ladybug” are the two Swan singles I see every time I dig through records. I might pick them up after all these years; who knows?

By the time of today’s single, Billy and Lillie’s star had fallen somewhat. They’d been good competition for other r&b duos (Mickey & Sylvia, Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford, et al), but times had changed, and old-school acts appealed to Black and Latino audiences; the latter embraced the feel of 1950s r&b ballads and their appeal continues in this culture, who help keep these “lowrider” sounds alive. This single combines the old and new, as stated above. Let’s lower the tonearm down on this styrene orb…

“Whip it To Me Baby” has a chaotic start, with zany percussion and Billy’s growling horn making quite the racket. The over-busy backdrop is unusual for producer Clyde Otis. It sounds like two records played at once, or crossed signals on a faulty radio. Handclaps maintain a steady 4/4 rhythm, with almost-inaudible backup vocalists in support of Ford and Bryant.

This shebang would sound much better were it from a vinyl pressing. I’m sure those exist, but they’re always harder to find than the styrene option. The murk of this side is, to these ears, fascinating, but I can’t imagine teens dancing to this. What beat would they follow? A comical collision of bodies might result. The first mosh pit might have been inspired by this crazy slab of Styrofoam derivative!

Cash Box favored the lowrider-friendly side of this single.

“Love Me Sincerely” drops all the calamitous clamor for a chugging fish-beat r&b ballad with that 12/8 tempo. Ms. Bryant gets solo passages, which she handles with soul, on this production that builds, with background voices and electric organ (including a bass voice that oft intones “yea-ah!”)

Lillie breaks out into some gospel-flavored ad-libs at the tail end. She has a real flair for this style, and I hope there are other releases where she gets to explore this side of her voice.

This was old-fashioned-sounding in ’63 and had retro appeal then. Six decades later, it sounds like an idealized version of the ‘50s sound. There’s enough real feeling in Lillie’s performance to push it a touch towards soul music.

The duo made a few more singles; their final released, on Philadelphia’s Cameo label, reprised their early style. Sandwiched between garage-band releases, they must have seemed antique in 1966, when zero interest in this sound, outside a cadre of collectors, existed.

Billy Ford continued his band into the 1980s; every so often, Lillie would do a guest appearance in his live shows. She got into local politics and, according to Michael J. Kirby’s Way Back Attack website, ran for mayor of her hometown of Newburgh, New York, late in her life. Kudos to her!

Tomorrow: a Doris Troy record few know of; as part of duet Jay and Dee, she tears it up on a pair of beautifully-recorded upbeat r&b goodies from the Arliss label, c. 1961.