Freddie Heath was born in 1935, a couple of weeks after Elvis, on the other side of the Atlantic, in one of the northern districts of London. When English teenagers were gripped by an epidemic of musical chicken pox called skiffle, Freddie was already of age, but he happily succumbed to the “disease”, especially since his seniority allowed him to give punches to incompetents, manage processes and buy swill for the whole company. After several years of playing other people’s repertoire, Heath decided to start creating his own. Meanwhile, the band regularly changed their names: from “Nuts” to “Smacked”, from “Smacked” to “Badly Bruised”, from “Badly Bruised” to “Finally Lost…” However, the contract with the publishing company His Master’s Voice put an end to this hilarious leapfrog, the managers said that from now on the gang is called Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.
The gang enthusiastically approved the new name, and the newly minted Johnny Kidd happily forgot the generic heavyweight Frederick Albert Heath and put a filibuster black patch over his right eye. Fortunately, privateering and other “legitimate” robberies have been considered an aristocratic entertainment on the island since the 16th century. Kidd’s first single was the legendary “Please Don’t Touch” recorded in 1959. Alan Caddy’s unprecedentedly powerful riff seemed to take rhythm and blues to a new level, but there was no explosion. Or rather, it was extinguished by the 25th place in the British charts, but the explosion wave reached the end of the 1970s, giving rise to bands such as Motörhead. Not to mention that many modern rockabilly bands rattle it for their pleasure and the delight of the audience. The B-side of the single contained an energetic “Growl”, which would have been a smash hit in itself, if not for the A-side.
Download or listen to Johnny Kidd compilation online & The Pirates (mp3, 70 Mb)
This was followed by the singles “If You Were The Only Girl In The World/Feelin'” and “You Got What It Takes/Longin’ Lips”, which showed that the releasing company didn’t know a damn thing about what it was doing: it was the hit stuff that was hidden on the backs, and the faces of the records decorated the aisles for the general background of that time was nothing. The next little thing was supposed to be “Yes Sir That’s My Baby”, written back in 1925. The day before, it was unearthed by the American dude Riki-tiki Nelson, but even in his performance, this imperishable Charleston reached only 34th place in the US pop charts. And although Nelson’s instrumentalists have always been top notch, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates have turned it into a complete cramp worthy of Little Richard.
In search of a second song for the single, Kidd and the guys walked around the Soho area. There they saw a girl who quivers down them backbones. The song “Shakin’ All Over” was born almost instantly, and yet it was missing something. Surprisingly, it was lead guitarist Alan Caddy who suggested inviting a friend to record. Joe Moretti had already had experience playing in concert with Gene Vincent and was the driving force behind Vince Taylor’s smash-hit “Brand New Cadillac”.
Moretti did not blow it here either, giving out one of the most recognizable passages of the 20th century with the help of a metal lighter. It’s also amazing that these Brits created a surf rock hit at a time when surf rock itself was in its infancy, and Dick Dale was recording beach music, but still rockabilly. The fact that this is surf rock was convincingly proved by The Blue Hawaiians in 1999, simultaneously revealing the dark side of the composition.
In 1960, “Shakin’ All Over” took the top spot of the British chart and the minds of many young musicians. The next single, “Restless”, surpassed her in all respects, but it played on the same field, which made the teenagers so called dwarfs, so called gnomes, scream that they had already heard it all. The strangest decision was to use the “Shakin’…” arrangement in the new “Please Don’t Bring Me Down”. The song, of course, did not interest anyone, flying past all the leading radio stations. Although knock off her arrogance and the clay of worthless self-repetitions, and the ears will see a genuine diamond waiting for the cutter.
Meanwhile, Alan Caddy and his companions gave up on everything, loaded parrots into chests, loaded galleons with chests and went to the continent to accompany Colin Hicks, younger brother of Tommy Steele. Johnny Kidd watched in silence as the musicians ran from his ship, outrunning the rats. In January 1962, he released his most ambitious and also the most beautifully arranged single “Hurry On Back To Love/I Want That”, where he expanded his range, hitting the “blue-eyed” soul. Such a style could have been the logical development of Johnny Kidd’s career, but few people voted for it with the pound sterling. Meanwhile, a new crew joined the Pirates, Captain Kidd dressed everyone up in costumes fashionable by the standards of the 18th-century buccaneers, and he began babbling on fake rigging.
The song “I’ll Never Get Over You”, written by Gordon Mills in the spirit of Buddy Holly and a little bit of the Beatles, reached the 4th place in the charts, having been there for almost four months. At the same time, Johnny’s slightly sandpaper timbre of voice is consistent with both Carl Perkins and Otis Redding’s repertoire, and Kidd begins to draw from both cauldrons, leaning more on gumbo. In 1966, The fresh-spilled Pirates, who call themselves that with the blessing of their Leader, go to the studio to perpetuate their own material, while Johnny Kidd himself is increasingly experimenting with blues and country music with the support of session musicians. Suddenly, one of the session musicians, keyboardist Ray Souper, gathers friends and introduces them to Kidd as very, very new Pirates. The guys are all smart, Johnny is inspired, the era of singles is over, it’s time to record a longplay.
On October 7, 1966, a concert in Nelson, Lancashire was cancelled. Johnny and bassist Nick Simper traveled back in the same car. Near the town with the ominous name Bury, their car collided with an oncoming one. Only Nick survived.
PS: In the second half of the 1970s, the penultimate line-up of The Pirates reunited, recording four albums of ferocious rock and roll. But about that the next night.
