Sexy Ways: The Best of Hank Ballard & the Midnighters
Usually confined to the footnotes as the writer and  originator of "The Twist,"  Ballard was in fact a key proto-rock & roller. His early-'50s hits  like  "Sexy Ways" and "Work with Me Annie" were not only so  transparently libidinous that they made double-entendre into  single- entendre, but were the very pinnacle of  guitar-driven R&B.; After several fallow years, Ballard returned in  1959 with  "The Twist" followed by a string of wonderfully engaging R&B; romps  like  "Finger Poppin' Time" and "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go," and  near-soul  ballads like "Teardrops on Your Letter." He really only had one  groove, but it  was a very, very good one.--Colin Escott