Listen.../I'll Keep You Satisfied/Little Children/Trains and Boats and Planes

Liner Note Authors: Bob Solly; Tony Barrow; Elliot Field.
BGO's 2014 set rounds up Billy J. Kramer's first four albums -- 1963's Listen; 1964's I'll Keep You Satisfied and Little Children, and 1965's Trains, Boats & Planes -- on a double-disc set. These records represent every LP Kramer released during the '60s and although there are recordings, both from that decade and later, that did not make the cut here, this represents the peak of his recording career. Perhaps a four-fer isn't the best way to hear Kramer's music -- live cuts emerge out of the ether and there is overlap, most notably on the first disc when "I Call Your Name" concludes Listen and then pops up as the second song on I'll Keep You Satisfied -- but this haphazardness has its place, suggesting just how rapidly these records came out during the '60s. And although the hits -- "Bad to Me," "Little Children," "Do You Want to Know a Secret," "Trains and Boats and Planes," "From a Window" -- are the highlights, the album tracks and miscellany have their period charm, providing a blast of nostalgia whether a listener was there or not. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine