That's all she wrote - LANDY BUG 105

Gil Billingsley

That’s All She Wrote is best known in deep circles as the Power House 45 recorded by O C Tolbert under one of his aliases King Diamond. His version is so sparse that it might as well be a demo but Tolbert’s great attack and wonderful use of dynamics makes it a 5 star disc. That 45 was produced by Detroit music man Dave Hamilton who rightly thought the number had more mileage in it and released this second version by the obscure Gil Billingsley. Hamilton kept the basic rhythm track with the excellent drumming and added other instruments – guitar and keyboards – plus some background singers. He also put together a little “playlet” as an intro and told Billingsley to let it go. And as you can hear he did just that – hard, gritty and convincing in his misery. Maybe this version doesn’t have quite the stark impact that Tolbert brought to it but it deserves a far better fate than to languish as an unheard flip to a Northern track.

Discography

That’s all she wrote / I’m me just me ~ LANDY BUG 105 (1980)
(Your lovekeeps lifting me) higher and higher / Inst. ~ GILFORD 305 (1980s)

Note ~ “That’s all she wrote" can be found on the Kent UK CD “Dave Hamilton’s Detroit Dancers Vol 1” and the flip is on Vol 2 as well as "Masterpieces Of Modern Soul" from the same company.

 

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