Um fantástico álbum duplo do melhor deste excelente e pluri-facetado cantor e produtor sul africano, repleto de grandes temas como, Lazy Life, Time And The River ou Hello Operator . Usava muitos pseudónimos na sua actividade musical. Para além disso, ele esteve por detrás de outros grupos e artistas sul africanos com quem colaborou e apoiou. Citando apenas alguns, Wanda Arletti, Des and Dawn Lindberg, Abstrct Truth, Birds of a Feather, Third Eye, McCully Workshop, The Staccatos and Rising Sons, entre outros.
Billy Forrest (born William Boardman in Kimberley in 1940) was the “top guy” at the time and was appointed as producer.
He’s known as the “Jonathan Kink”n as South African Pop, a compliment he may not be so keen on nowadays. He began singing in clubs in the Johannesburg area in 1958.
Sarie Award winner and Country Superstar, Billy Forrest, has earned himself a place in the annals of South African country music for over 40 years.
Recebendo o prémio Sari Award em 1966 (da esquerda para a direita): Billy Forrest, David Fine, Billy Andrews e Eve Boswell.
It all began for Billy while touring nationally with The Giants in 1960, along with Mickie Most and the late Gene Vincent. After this successful tour, the Giants recorded their debut album, "Meet the Giants".
Billy followed up in 1963 with Don’t Let Me Cross Over, 500 Miles Away from Home and Miller’s Cave. The breakthrough came in 1964 with Hello Operator, which shot up in the charts and earned Billy him a Gold Disc as well as the coveted Sarie Award for Top Male Vocalist of 1965 in the Country and Western category.
The most successful music act, Dream Merchants, followed when Billy Forrest teamed up with Billy Andrews. The Dream Merchants' such as "Love Minus Zero" and "Land of 1000 Dances" followed, along with "Land of Milk and Honey" and their popular album, "Predictions and Things". In 1990 their album "Dream On" was hailed as ‘record of the year’.
In 1984 Billy's album "My Kinda Country" was nominated for both the Sarie and OK Soho Awards, which he won in the country category. This was followed with Albums "Wings of a Dove", "Whispering Hope" and "Waters of Life" (with Joanna Field).
Billy was a founder member of Over the Hillbillies, along with Lance James, Sally Vaughn, Joanna Field and Clive Bruce. Their first two successful albums were Friends Forever and OTH. In 1991 Over the Hillbillies released their best seller, Dance with Me Darling.
Billy continues as a popular performer and has earned his place as one of the great ""Country Legends" of South African music.
Malcolm Lombard wrote the following about this formidable artist who made his first recording exactly 50 years ago:
“Tenacity, determination, perseverance, an uncompromising stickler on quality, sheer guts and, not least of all, loads of talent have made Billy Forrest a living legend in the South African music industry. An unparalleled 17 chart entries on Springbok Radio’s Top 20 … compares favourably to a select few of the world’s top recording artists. His versatility as a hit-making producer of some of our country’s biggest successes, too, is legendary. One cannot but respect the man. Sustained success over a period of 50 years is seldom achieved by any artist – local or international!”
Forrest has also enjoyed an extremely successful as a record producer. His credits include Wanda Arletti, Des and Dawn Lindberg, Abstrct Truth, Birds of a Feather, Third Eye, McCully Workshop, The Staccatos, and Rising Sons to name a few. In 1966, he edited a pop magazine “Pop Gear”.
Text partially taken from Dreams Fantasies and Nightmares Revisited book, and http://billyforrest.wordpress.com .
Faixas/Track List:
1. Dark lonely streets (recorded with the Giants)
2. Come back to me
3. Somebody's smiling
4. Ginny come lately
5. 500 miles away from home
6. Miller's cave
7. Still
8. Hello operator
9. Wind me up
10. Waltzing with sin
11. 3 a.m.
12. Love minus zero
13. The land of milk and honey
14. Let it be me
15. The Rattler
16. Time and the river
17. Hello lover
18. Lazy life
19. Melody fayre
20. Abergavenny
21. We're all playing in the same band
22. Papa's gonna kiss it better
23. Lovely Lorraine
24. Dream lover
25. Hello-a
26. Take to the mountains
27. Joey the lipstick collector
28. Hey girl
29. I hear those churchbells ringing
30. I am what I am
1. Liefde is my nooi se naam
2. Sing a song
3. Do you love me?
4. Hazy hazy
5. Our sweet precious love
6. Hanging over the border line
7. She can't say that anymore
8. I loved 'em everyone
9. Wings of a dove
10. Mama sang a song
11. Whispering hope
12. El Salvador
13. He (can build a mountain)
14. The sun ain't gonna shine anymore
15. Substitute
16. My ship is coming
17. Dream on
18. Tiny bubbles
19. There won't be anymore
20. Spanish Harlem
21. Only love can show the way
22. Let the heartaches begin
23. Hands
24. One friend
25. Time stood still
Álbum gentilmente cedido pelo nosso amigo sul africano John Lyle, a quem agradecemos pela sua habitual colaboração.
Album kindly given by our South African friend John Lyle, whom we thank.