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In 1964/5 Johnny and Larry toured the UK, backed by the Stormsville Shakers, and
were enthusiastically received across the country. Larry Williams was already pretty

well known in the UK, but Johnny had never previously toured or released a record
here. Consequently, such a high profile tour gave him a whole new audience, no doubt
also assisted by the release of an album cut by the touring band at the Decca West

Hampstead studios, produced by Mike Vernon, which sounds much like they must
have sounded on stage - indeed, when I bought the album, such is its vibrancy that I
simply assumed it had been cut live.

Another studio LP from the duo followed, entitled “Two For The Price Of One”, a
superb soul album, which was re-released on cd including some quality extra tracks,
on two of which they are backed by the psychedelic band Kaleidoscope (recorded in

1967). Bizarre as it sounds, they work rather
well together!

Exposure to the UK scene, and especially

Northern Soul, resulted in various tracks from
this period, including from the “Two For The
Price Of One” album, and the solo single ‘Ain’t

Gonna Move’, joining ‘Big Bad Wolf’ as staples
of that scene.

Many of the ‘odds and ends’ referred to above
are available on an Ace CD, “Untouchable -
The Classic 1959-66 Recordings”, and
coupled with another Ace CD, “Hot Just Like

TNT”, they give an excellent cross section of
his work up to the mid-60s.

The partnership with Larry Williams

eventually ran its course, and Johnny’s career went into the doldrums for a few years,
in spite of a few singles on small independent labels, and a couple of warmly received,
but ultimately unsuccessful albums for Fantasy in the early 1970’s - nevertheless he

kept working.

That work included experimenting with synths and rhythm machines, which he had
started with the Fantasy albums. “With my keyboard abilities as well as my guitar

playing I could now lay down all my ideas at home. I wanted my tracks to be a bit
more rhythm inspired than before”.

Producer Mike Vernon had not forgotten how impressed he had been by Johnny, and

Mike put him in touch with Dick James, of DJM Music, a slightly odd pairing one would
think, bearing in mind his work in the pop scene with such as Elton John. However,
as Johnny says, “He was great - after we’d talked terms he said, let’s do it! The ideas
were already in place, in fact more than enough. I always plan far more than I need. I

went into the studio with my regular drummer Emry Thomas, and told the horn guys