It's amazing to think that Johnny Kidd & the Pirates never had the chance to cut a proper LP in their years on EMI's HMV label -- one would think that the 1960 hit version of "Shakin' All Over" would have gotten them their shot at a 12" platter, but it didn't, and it wasn't until the release of Memorial Album -- four years after his death -- that a Johnny Kidd & the Pirates album finally appeared. This is a first-rate though hardly comprehensive collection, with some curious gaps; bracketed by the 1960 original and the 1965 remake version of "Shakin' All Over," the 16-song LP showed up in England just in time to grab what sales there were from the growing oldies boom. Drawing on many of the best of Kidd's sides from various eras assembled in a somewhat hodgepodge manner, the album is highlighted by bold singing and guitar playing (mostly courtesy of Mick Green) throughout, and has a surprise to two (or three) for those who think that "Shakin' All Over" was most of what Kidd had to say that was important. The revelations include numbers like "Hungry for Love" (a song later linked to the Searchers), his rousing approach to rockabilly on "So What," and even his command of the Merseybeat sound on "I'll Never Get Over You." Kidd's frantically paced chart debut, "Please Don't Touch" (which is in a similar vein to Cliff Richard & the Shadows' "Move It"), is present, along with his last single, "Send for That Girl," a slower, darker-toned, powerfully sung ballad, and both are impressive; there are covers of American material, such as "Shop Around" and "Whole Lotta Woman" (the latter off of an abortive attempt at an LP). It's all astonishingly strong stuff, and might even have found an audience in the United States under the right circumstances.