An amazing phenomenon was occurring in the United Kingdom at the same time American listeners were being overwhelmed by the “British Beat.” If these two collections are an indication—and they are—a great deal of young English record buyers were listening to American blues and R&B. Some of it was low-cal stuff like the Righteous Brothers’ “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” and Inez Foxx’s “Mockingbird,” but they also consumed Louisiana Red’s down home “I Done Woke Up,” Frankie Lee Sims’ primitive “What Will Lucy Do” and O.V. Wright’s deep soul burner “That’s How Strong My Love Is”—all contained here. New Orleans was also a big influence, as Chris Kenner’s “Land of 1,000 Dances,” Professor Longhair’s “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand,” and Lee Diamond’s “Hatti Malatti” are among the Crescent City offerings. The set also includes some rarely heard masterpieces, including Freddie King’s instrumental “Driving Sideways,” Dr. Horse’s telling “Jack, That Cat Was Clean” and Bobby Parker’s brilliant “Watch Yourself.”
The driving force behind Sue was Guy Stevens, a popular club deejay who had a knack for tracking down obscure, small label American 45s and introducing them to the patrons of his dances. Such was his enthusiasm and popularity that he was able to convince the well-heeled Chris Blackwell to release some of his favorites and place them on Sue, a label that was setup to release U.S. masters. Suddenly, kids from Dublin to Dover were exposed to the sounds of “Wild” Jimmy Spurriel, Elmore James, B.B. King and Irma Thomas. As a result, Stevens/Sue were key players in the first initial British blues revival in the mid-1960s and supplied inspiration to many English beat groups. Even hardcore R&B and blues collectors will find sounds new to them here.