AVID R&B continues with its Five Classic Albums series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Jackie Wilson, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details; ‘He's So Fine’; ‘Lonely Teardrops’; ‘Sings The Blues’; ‘A Woman, A Lover, A Friend’ and ‘By Special Request'‘ AVID R&B welcomes ‘Mr Excitement’ to its Classic Albums Hall of Fame. Or maybe that should be Mr. Jackie Wilson to those not in the know!? And that cannot possibly be that many people when you're talking about a man with a legendary four octave singing voice. When he began to sing and dance, he was impossible to ignore! Jackie Wilson first found fame as a member of Billy Ward & His Dominoes before going solo in 1957. He was one of the few performers who quite literally spanned all the current genres of music during his fantastically successful career. In fact when we came to complete the artwork for this release we could not make up our minds if he should be filed under R&B, Soul, Blues, Rock & Roll, Pop or even Easy listening! He had hits and awards across all genres (we went for R&B in the end!) If you are lucky enough to find a record shop open these days you might have a lengthy browse before finding the great man. Perhaps they should have a separate section called ‘Legends’ and then we would all know where to look! At the end of the day genres and labels are insignificant when it comes to a man like Jackie Wilson. He was quite simply one of the best singers and performers ever, as you will discover when you take a listen to these fab five selection. Here he covers all bases and includes such classics as Reet Petite, Doggin' Around and Lonely Teardrops. Check out:- Lavern Baker (AMSC1258); Ruth Brown (AMSC1265) Betty Carter (AMSC1132); Etta James (AMSC1264); Sam Cooke (AMSC1304); Chuck Berry (AMSC1238); Little Richard (AMSC1286), Bo Diddley (AMSC1296); The Everly Brothers (AMSC1277), Elvis Presley (AMSC1384, 1299 & 1257); Sound Of Detroit (AMSC1289); Ray Charles (AMSC1276 & 1233).