Billy Vera - Hopeless Romantic: The Best Of Billy Vera & The Beaters

Writer, producer, compiler, singer – it’s all here

Born in bucolic Riverside, California and raised in New York City, where his father was a staff announcer for NBC, blue-eyed soul singer Vera began his musical career as a songwriter for Barbara Lewis and Ricky Nelson and had success in the mid-60s with a duet with Dionne Warwick’s cousin, Judy Clay, titled Storybook Children, which resulted in a well received series of appearances at Harlem’s famed Apollo. Since moving to Los Angeles in 1979, he not only fronts the most talked-about band in town but has his own radio show, acts, compiles and produces albums (including the final four by Lou Rawls, an obvious influence) and still finds time to pen incisive sleevenotes, fresh songs and magazine articles.

This imaginative compilation offers seven tracks from his obscure 1981 Alfa album (recorded live at the Roxy with his soulful Beaters combo), three hitherto unreleased studio tracks from the same year (including the marvellous I’m All For You), and a so-so single, along with a trio of album sides recorded in Muscle Shoals with Jerry Wexler behind the glass. The latter selections are particularly rewarding, particularly the ballad Once In A Lifetime and the strings-enhanced title song. A terrific spotlight on Vera in his prime.

Shout! Factory | 82663-10789

Reviewed by Gary von Tersch
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