FOR THE RECORD (USA):
Billy Williams was an entertainment superstar at the beginning of the twentieth century. Whilst his energetic performances made him extremely popular with music hall audiences, it was an eagerness to embrace the new sound recording technology, his remarkably clear diction and the consistent quality of his many songs that set Billy apart from his contemporaries and made him the perfect recording artist.

This compilation of jauntily sung recordings was selected from the Brownrigg-Williams collection at Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive and was originally released in 1989. The CD starts appropriately with Billy’s own composition, John, John, put your Trousers on, the first song of Billy’s all too short recording career. Twenty-two tracks later, the ironically titled There’s Life in the Old Dog yet concludes the programme. The latter was to be Billy’s final recording made shortly before his untimely death in March 1915. Throughout this CD, Billy sings his heart out in a series of recordings that follow his recording career. The paced chronological order of this selection gives an appreciation of the unwavering quality of Billy’s material; although preferences for style, pace and lyric may be debated between devotees.

The choice of songs is upbeat throughout and provides over an hour of music hall delights, including some of the less frequently found titles, such as The taximeter Car, The Land where the women wear the trousers, and St. Kilda.

All these recordings have been transferred sympathetically and the inset 24 page booklet of notes and photographs that accompanies the CD provides an informative extra. The inclusion of such songs as The Old Armchair or Why don’t Santa Claus bring something to me would, in my view, have given a flavour of Billy’s infrequently used sentimental style, and opportunity perhaps for another CD.

Presenting the songs in chronological order also provides an insight into Billy’s diminishing reliance on a variety of other composing talents, with the singular exception of his good friend Fred Godfrey. We have on this CD a fairly representative proportion of composers used by Billy, principally during the earlier part of his career. This includes the penned works of Hyde and Heath, Barnes and Weston, Castling and Godfrey, Hargreaves, Morse, D’Albert, as well as Billy’s own collaborations with some though not all. Not surprisingly, however, the greater number of these recordings were composed in collaboration with Fred Godfrey with whom Billy generated the majority of his material; some 150 recorded songs in total.

If you have not experienced the songs of Billy Williams, this selection provides a good foot-tapping introduction to one of Australia’s greatest recording artists. If you already own examples of this incomparable songster, this CD will undoubtedly treat you to songs and information for your further enjoyments and research. You certainly get a good deal for your money.
Howard F. Martin