Bill Wyman 4: Willie And The Poor Boys

1985 was the year of benefit music releases, dominated by “We Are The World”, Live Aid, Farm Aid, and “Sun City”. But another project got some notice, seeing as it was organized by Bill Wyman in the wake of the ARMS concerts, which raised awareness and assistance for Ronnie Lane of the Faces, who was suffering from a debilitating case of multiple sclerosis.

Despite its inevitable confusion with a certain Creedence Clearwater Revival album, the eponymous album by Willie and the Poor Boys was a fun little collection of ‘50s covers, played by a core band of Andy Fairweather-Low, Mickey Gee and Geraint Watkins from Dave Edmunds’ band, and drums shared between Charlie Watts, Kenney Jones, Henry Spinetti, and Terry Williams. Everyone except the drummers took turns on lead vocals; Bill himself stuck mostly to bass, but does a decent job on “You Never Can Tell” and the only mildly cajun “All Night Long”. Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page, then busy in The Firm, get the spotlight on two tracks: overtly on Otis Redding’s “These Arms Of Mine” and less so on “Slippin’ And Slidin’”. But the lead single and best track was “Baby Please Don’t Go”, featuring Chris Rea.

The album came and went, and about seven years later Bill put together a new version of the band anchored by Gary Brooker for a few shows, in something of a preview of what he’d pursue with the Rhythm Kings after he left the Stones. A live album appeared to little fanfare, but it was included in the double-disc Poor Boy Boogie along with its older brother in 2006, and about ten years later in The Complete Willie And The Poor Boys, which also included a DVD containing a documentary, the video for “These Arms Of Mine”, and the original promotional film. This charming little piece had the band miming to the songs in a retro setting with poodle-skirted dancers and slick spivs, though Ronnie Wood’s drunken miming on sax under his badly hidden rooster haircut kept it anachronous. Ringo even had a cameo, without beard or mustache, as a janitor.

Willie And The Poor Boys Willie And The Poor Boys (1985)—3