Marty Wilde was one of the coterie of British rock n roll singers to be inspired by the likes of Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, and having become part of the management stable of impresario Larry Parnes, followed in the wake of other UK R&R pioneers like Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard to appear regularly on the TV pop shows like 6.5 Special and Oh Boy, which gave them a platform to make an early impression. With his band The Wildcats, he racked up a string of a dozen or more hits in the first five years of his core chart career covered by this anthology, often with cover versions of US hits but also writing his own material.

This great-value 65-track 2-CD set (records were short in those days!) comprises all his A & B sides for Philips during this era, plus the tracks from his Presenting Marty Wilde EP along with the titles from his first two LPs Wilde About Marty and The Versatile Mr. Wilde, not otherwise included on singles. It includes all his career UK hits, notably the Top 10 classics Endless Sleep, Donna, Teenager In Love, Sea Of Love, Bad Boy and Rubber Ball. He is a fine performer, able to transcend the genres, and he has since appeared in musical theatre as well as still being active on the oldies circuit on 2019, not to mention being father of 80s star Kim Wilde, and this substantial memento of his primary career is a worthy recognition of those talents.

REVIEWS

“Marty Wilde is a legend in the UK music industry and this latest package from Acrobat offers a generous 65 tracks, complete with detailed sleeve notes from Paul Watts. ” – Shaun Mather (Now Dig This Issue 438)

“Amazingly, to this former teenage music snob, Marty’s early recordings show he had an excellent voice and was unburdened by inappropriate backings foisted on him by unsympathetic record label bosses. This is a double-CD with 65 songs, most of which you will remember, if not necessarily by Marty. Teenager In Love, Splish Splash and Rubber Ball are among them.” 5/5  – John Howard (Vintage Rock Issue 44)