Shorty Long
Here Comes The Judge
Rare & Collectible Vinyl Records

1968 Purple Swirl Label Original With Original Label Inner. "Motown Records Had To Release An LP By Frederick "Shorty" Long When His Amusing "Here Comes The Judge" Zoomed To #8 Pop In July Of 1968. Shorty Had Been Hanging Around And Recording At Motown Since 1964, And For Tri-Phi Before That. (Motown Purchased Tri-Phi And All Their Masters, Songs And Artist Contracts.) Shorty Releases At Motown Were Sporadic At Best. As Good As This Is, It Would Have Been Better If They Had Included His Two Tri-Phi Sides And His Two Earlier Soul/Motown Recordings. Still, You Get The Marvelous "Don't Mess With My Weekend," Which Motown Let Die On The Album. "Weekend" Had It All: Thunder And Lightning Sound Effects, Witty Lyrics, A Bubbling Beat, Crack Backing Vocals, And Shorty's Discourse About The Fun He Has On Weekends. "Devil With The Blue Dress On" Sounds Better Than Ever; It's Hard To Understand Why This Slow-Grinding Beauty With The Bluesy Guitar Didn't Click. Likewise For The Stomping "Function At The Junction," Which Froze At #97 On The Pop 100 Chart In 1966. Motown Released "Night Fo' Last" Before "Judge," And It Flopped. His Southern Roots Surface On The Energetic Remake Of Titus Turner's "People Sure Act Funny." - Andrew Hamilton, AMG