Shorty Long ”Here Comes The Judge”

Shorty Long

”Here Comes The Judge”
( LP Motown/Soul Records, 1968 )
Catalog # SS-709

Tracklisting:
A1 Here Comes The Judge (2:34)
A2 Night Fo’ Last (Instrumental) (2:34)
A3 Function At The Junction (2:44)
A4 Don’t Mess With My Weekend (2:27)
A5 Ain’t No Justice (2:47)
A6 Devil With The Blue Dress (2:59)
B1 Night Fo’ Last (Vocal) (2:28)
B2 Stranged In The Jungle (2:57)
B3 Here Comes Fat Albert (2:48)
B4 Sing What You Wanna (2:20)
B5 Another Hurt Like This (2:58)
B6 People Sure Act Funny (2:07)

Notes:
The Soul label is a trademark of Motown Record Corporation.
“The Sound of Young America”
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1968

Review:
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.” Another winner is “Here Comes Fat Albert,” written by Long and Edwin Starr; the song parodies the lovable character created by comedian Bill Cosby.
By Andrew Hamilton (AMG)

Comment, by Tony ''the pitiful copywriter'':
A few facts:
“Here Come The Judge” was a Pigmeat Markham burlesque routine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigmeat_Markham
and the Shorty Long version was “pushed” by the popularity of the Sammy Davis Jr. skit on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” comedy show. Davis did not put a record out and Pigmeat’s label didn’t issue a contemporary-sounding enough single.
My guess is Motown at the time did not consider itself a comedy label, nor did they have a comedy imprint. But that doesn’t take anything away from Shorty’s great music. But “Judge” was a cover.

By Pier