This album is a masterpiece! The highlight is definitely "Switchblade," a pounding instrumental track. But every other song is great too. Seriously, there is absolutely zero filler. If if you're a fan a Link Wray, you will want this one for your collection. Be warned, though, that it doesn't sound much like Link's stuff from the 50's and 60's. "Bullshot" has much more of a 70's blues-rock feel to it. If you're okay with that, then go buy this (if you can find it, that is). - By Sean (California, USA)
musicians:Link Wray: Guitar, Vocals / Joanne Massey: Vocals / Chris Robinson: Keyboards / Doug Wray: Guitar, Drums, Vocals / Rhonda Wray: Vocals / Robin Wray: Vocals / Howie Wyeth: Drums / Rob Stoner: Bass / Anton Fig: Percussion, Drums / Richard Gottehrer: Percussion, Keyboards
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1. Good Good Lovin' 2. Fever 3. Snag 4. Just That Kind 5. Switchblade 6. It's All Over Now Baby Blue 7. Rawhide 8. Wild Party 9. The Sky Is Falling 10. Don't
...Naturally vocal duets predominate, but vocal & instrumental and instrumental only pairings are not overlooked. Songwriting partnerships are many and varied. There was Gilbert and Sullivan, the great writers of musicals like Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Lerner and Loewe, and then, in the rock & roll and teen pop eras there were the Brill Building teams like Pomus and Shuman, and Goffin and King. When The Beatles changed the face of popular music there was Lennon and McCartney, and British pop music was further enhanced by Jagger and Keith Richards, John and Taupin, and Chinn and Chapman. Just as songwriting twosomes have abounded, so too have performing partnerships. Some have become household names, The Everly Brothers, Jan and Dean, or Ike and Tina Turner - all featured here - readily come to mind. Others less so and that's where this collection comes in. Here are 75 duos, British, European and American who all had their moment no matter how fleeting that moment might have been. Compiled and annotated by Austin Powell, creator of Fantastic Voyage s popular Forgotten 45s collections, and accompanied by a 20pp illustrated booklet, It takes Two salutes dynamic duos both famous and obscure to paint a rounded picture of the duos scene of the rock & roll era.
...Most of the material was also reissued on the Mr. Guitar CD and the Some Kinda Nut: Missing Links, Vol. 2 LP, which are easier to find in the U.S. - by Richie Unterberger
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…While it mines the obscure & unreissued recordings from the decade, all the performances are solid and embody the best of California jump blues. The disc starts with the horn heavy traditional jazzy r&b sound of the early years and quickly moves into the more uptempo ensemble sound that turned into rock & roll. A big bonus on this disc is the numerous recordings of both TEDDY BUNN & CHUCK NORRIS... most of which have never been reissued. Their jazzy distorted sounds add real flavor to the proceedings and drive the songs along... Taken from impossibly rare 78 rpm releases this set is a real winner… - Bluebeat Music
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You just need one look at Rob Zombie to know that the guy knows a thing or two about Halloween. He really proves his mettle--and his metal, for that matter--on this loud, garish, downright fun collection of rip-roaring devil's music. There's actually very little to be afraid of, to tell the truth--unless, that is, you have a phobia about the kind of goofy good times laid down by Zombie and pals like Rocket from the Crypt, Satan's Pilgrims, and the wrestling-masked power-surf combo Los Straitjackets (who turn in a hypercharged "Munsters Theme"). The garishly groovy package, which features some of Zombie's most over-the-top cartoon illustrations, is rife with haunting hoedowns like the Dead Elvi's "The Creature Stole My Surfboard." More fun than a coven meeting any day. --David Sprague
Is there anything else that we really need to say about guitar mauler Link Wray? Quentin Tarantino has nearly made him a household name in the soundtrack realm, while Pete Townsend and Jimmy Page have pledged their undying allegiance over the years, so now even classic rock fans have to begrudgingly give him their due (there could always be more, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame might be nice, considering his all-encompassing influence on every garage band from the late fifties through the present day…). But at some point you have to get back to the essence of the matter. And the essence of this matter are rough Washington D.C. joints like the 1009 Club and Benny’s Rebel Room, stomping grounds where Link and his band the Wraymen crafted and cranked out a soundtrack of tough instrumentals to accompany the booze and brawls.
...The Yardbirds Story is a four disc boxset that collects all the Giorgio Gomelsky produced recordings the Yarbirds made while under his management, 1963–1966.
It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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...The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco defined the accessible, yet technically challenging, soul-jazz that Adderley would be associated with for the rest of his career. The warm, exuberant feel of the quintet is especially evident on the set's two finest tracks -- a spirited take on Randy Weston's "Hi-Fly," and on Timmons' swinging "This Here." Two of Adderley's own compositions, "Spontaneous Combustion" and "You Got It!," blend blazing post-bop dexterity with pulsing, infectious blues structures. Both Cannonball and Nat Adderley play with stunning, bluesy brilliance here, while the rhythm section ably anchors the proceedings. Outside of Somethin' Else, Adderley's 1958 masterpiece, In San Francisco may be the saxophonist's defining moment. - AllMusic Review by Anthony Tognazzini
...All tracks are culled from the period when Link Wray and his backing band The Raymen recorded one album and a little over a dozen singles for Swan Records between 1963-1966. Wray’s material from this time was generally instrumentals of the most roughed-up kind that featured constant bursts of unaccountable, uncontrollable and unpredictable frenzy even hundreds of plays later. “Early Recordings” has remained in print since it was first released in 1978, and it’s no surprise as the ripples that emanated forth from his first reverberations drive through a ridiculous amount of pioneering rock’n’roll. Without exaggeration, his influence can be heard throughout successive waves of punk, heavy metal, rockabilly and anything else of the stripped down rock’n’roll guitar trash variety. On his early Swan songs, Wray & Co all kick-started into action, swung high and hit hard with just six strings basking in the heat of over-taxed amplifiers, and STILL sound nothing less than ahead of its time. - Reviewed by The Seth Man
The RAYMEN: Link Wray: all guitars / Doug Wray: drums / Shorty Horton: bass / Vernon Ray & Joey Welz: Keyboards
...The Yardbirds Story is a four disc boxset that collects all the Giorgio Gomelsky produced recordings the Yarbirds made while under his management, 1963–1966.
...She was a minor star in the late '50s and early '60s, but she should have been a bigger one, and even now, in the archival wing of the 21st century, she deserves to be much better known. Campbell's biggest hit was her answer song to Claude King's 1962 country hit "Wolverton Mountain" called "(I'm the Girl From) Wolverton Mountain," which also was a hit that same year, and led many to assume Campbell was a country singer, which she decidedly wasn't. The song isn't included in this set, but it's hardly missed, since the focus here is on her wilder rock & roll side, collecting Campbell's rowdier tracks for the Point, Eldorado, Gone, Rori, and ABC-Paramount labels recorded between 1957 and 1962. It's dynamite stuff. Given her wide-ranging talents, if she were to be active in the 21st century at her prime, Campbell would undoubtedly be a multimedia superstar, a powerful, passionate singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and dancer with the good looks and talent to stick in anyone's memory.(Steve Leggett, Allmusic)
...It doesn't all work, but there are some terrific songs, among them the Native American lament "My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying," and the romantic "Until It's Time for You to Go," and a musical adaptation of a passage from a Leonard Cohen novel, "God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot." (Beware of the abbreviated version, Vanguard 73113.) - AllMusic Review by William Ruhlmann
Almost all of the 28 songs on this compilation of Wray's circa 1963-1966 Swan material also appear on Norton's more comprehensive two-CD Mr. Guitar compilation. So why pick this disc up, whether or not you have Mr. Guitar already? Well, there are seven previously unreleased stereo mixes from the original Swan multi-tracks. That's not much, but it's something, although it's unclear whether all of the takes given the stereo mixes are previously unreleased in any form whatsoever. For what it's worth, "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Frenchy" are identified as alternate take twos, while "Please Please Me" is described as alternate take one, and includes some studio chat. Judged in isolation, this is great if erratic 1960s instrumental rock, with some of Wray's finest tracks and most imaginative playing: "Mr. Guitar," "Bo Diddley," "Cross Ties," "Scatter," "Law of the Jungle," "The Black Widow," and "Ace of Spades" are simply amazing, and lesser-known items like "Big Ben," the tortured rare vocal showcase "Hidden Charms," and the invigorating instrumental take on the Beatles' "Please Please Me" aren't far off that standard. If you only had this disc and didn't know of the existence of other Wray compilations, you'd be quite the happy camper. The reality is, though, that Mr. Guitar has over twice as much material, including virtually everything here (though not "Please Please Me"). So only those hardcore collectors who want those stereo mixes have to count this as a necessity. - by Richie Unterberger
...The Yardbirds Story is a four disc boxset that collects all the Giorgio Gomelsky produced recordings the Yarbirds made while under his management, 1963–1966.
...Here for the first time in one package we present all the A and B sides of every single he released between 1953 and 1962, and as the 40 tracks on this collection show, he was anything but a two hit wonder. With many rare blues and R&B recordings and detailed liner notes this has to be the definitive Wilbert Harrison collection.
...The truth is, modern dance music owes a great debt of thanks to popular music of 40 years ago and, no matter how you listen to this outstanding collection of 75 tracks, there is something for all members of the family to enjoy and it stems from decent intros to each track, the use of real instrumentation and some of the finest vocalists and backing singers possibly of all time.
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...The Yardbirds Story is a four disc boxset that collects all the Giorgio Gomelsky produced recordings the Yarbirds made while under his management, 1963–1966.
...This second 3CD volume of post-war guitar blues from Fantastic Voyage follows their hit Screaming And Crying collection with 75 more lovingly selected cuts. Alongside obvious names such as Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, BB King and John Lee Hooker are gems from lesser-known players the likes of Lee Jackson, Eddie Kirkland and Goree Carter, whose Rock Awhile recalls the jump of proto-rocker Rocket 88.
Formed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1963, The Barbarians got their big break in 1964, when they scored a slot on the T.A.M.I. Show. The band's barbaric, nonconformist image was a big part of their appeal. They grew their hair longer than most of their contemporaries and wore leather sandals instead of Beatle boots. And then there was their drummer Moulty, who had a hook for a left hand. Deciding to capitalize on Moulty's disability, The Barbarians' producer, Doug Morris, talked our hook handed hero into recording this "autobiographical" soliloquy in early '66 using Dylan's group, The Hawks (aka The Band), as accompanists. The song's simple message - never give up no matter what the odds - was sincere enough, and it tugged enough heart strings to become a minor hit. But the single was an embarrassment for the group. Moulty was so furious when he found out that the track had been released that he flew straight to New York and chased the president of Laurie Records around his office, breaking copies of the single over his head. Not surprisingly, the band parted company with the label soon afterwards. - Richard Patterson, The Band guestbook, April 2001
The Barbarians:
Link Wray's huge rattling guitar sound was partially due to various health problems. A childhood bout with measles left him partially deaf so that when he took up the guitar he had to play the instrument extremely loud to hear it properly. Then as a young man he contracted TB and lost a lung, which meant he couldn't sing, so he turned to guitar instrumentals as his musical stock in trade. But Wray was no typical 1950s guitar player. His relentless search for edgier, dirtier guitar tones made him the Godfather of modern rock guitar, and his rumbling, careening and decidedly electric guitar playing still sounds stunningly alive and fresh even five decades on from his first recordings. The song that jump-started Wray's recording career, the left-field instrumental "Rumble," was released by Archie Bleyer's Cadence Records in 1955, and even though Bleyer had nothing but disgust for Wray's sound and approach, he set him up in Edgewood Studio in Washington, D.C. to record material for a projected LP, finally dropping Wray's contract altogether early in 1959, and then shelved the master tapes from the D.C. sessions. Wray went on to sign with Epic Records and further refine (a word that doesn't seem to fit comfortably in a sentence with the name Link Wray) his cone-rattling guitar sound, and all concerned forgot about the Cadence album sessions. Now nearly fifty years later, and a year after Wray's death, Sundazed has finally released them. It would be wonderful to say that White Lightning: Lost Cadence Sessions '58 comprises a lost masterpiece, but that isn't the case. This is the sound of a young and innovative guitar player trying to find his way, but falling just short of finding it. There are flashes of vintage Wray here, certainly, including the intriguing "Pancho Villa" (re-recorded for Epic as "Guitar Cha-Cha"), an early version of "Rawhide," and a kinetic take on Duane Eddy's classic "Rebel Rouser," but most of the tracks feel more like sketches than completed takes, and Wray's trademark ear-blasting guitar tone is seldom present, although one can sense it just around the corner. Truthfully, Wray was a victim of the day's technology at these sessions. Guitars then were manufactured to deliver a clean, clear sound, as were amplifiers, and certainly recording engineers and studios were geared to eliminate anything that popped the needle into the red, and in the red was exactly where Wray was trying to go. It wasn't until Wray and his brother Vernon took over their own production that Wray was actually able to finally realize the sound he was after. In the end, White Lightning is an important historical recording but it doesn't really add much to Wray's body of work beyond revealing a starting point. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
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It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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...It was a stunning song in the tradition of Bacharach's classic '60s work and it was successful enough that the composers decided to collaborate on a full album, Painted from Memory. Wisely, they chose to work within the stylistic parameters of Bacharach's '60s material, but Painted from Memory never sounds like a stylistic exercise. Instead, it's a return to form for both artists. Bacharach hasn't written such graceful, powerful melodies since his glory days, and Costello hasn't crafted such a fully realized album since King of America. It's a testament to both that even if the album is clearly in Bacharach's territory, it feels like a genuine collaboration. Often, the music not only evokes the spirit of Dionne Warwick, it's reminiscent of Elvis' torching ballads for Trust. Costello keeps Bacharach from his schmaltzier tendencies, and Bacharach keeps Costello from overwriting. With its lush arrangements, sighing brass and strings, gentle pianos, and backing vocals, it's clearly a classicist album, yet it sounds utterly timeless. Its melodies are immediate, its emotions subtle, its impact lasting -- and, with that timeless sound, Painted from Memory illustrates that craft cannot only be its own reward, it can be genuinely moving. 
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This is a broad collection of Link Wray at his best. Most of it is instrumentals, his srongest points really. Plenty of twang and rockabilly. I like this album because when they remastered it they left in the background studio chat and false starts-which I find to be interesting. There are a few covers toward the end of the album including a Ray Charles song. I listen to this CD over and over-and don't tire of it. If they would have included 'Rumble' I would have given this CD a 5 star rating. - spaceman
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...As such, it's the definitive overview of Carrack's career. If you're a somewhat anonymous journeyman, you don't stick around as long as Carrack has, or participate in so many different projects, without demonstrating your versatility. Carrack shows himself to be comfortable with bright, bouncy pop, post-new wave roots rock, smooth adult contemporary, and sentimental ballads. But his true forte is the sort of blue-eyed soul that became popular in the post-Hall & Oates era. His clear, soulful pipes are already in evidence on the four selections culled from his tenure with Ace, which bridges into the Squeeze and Carter songs, and then into 12 selections culled from his solo albums. There are a couple of fine Nick Lowe co-writes in "I Live on a Battlefield" and the early hit "I Need You," plus a fine cover of Jackie DeShannon's folk-rock classic "When You Walk in the Room." The high point is Carrack's terrific 1988 Top Ten hit "Don't Shed a Tear," a catchy, modern blue-eyed soul track that fit comfortably into Top 40, adult contemporary, and mainstream rock radio, and even landed him some MTV airplay. Even if Carrack's production is far more synthetic than one usually associates with the term "soul," he proves himself quite a solid stylist over the course of this surprisingly ingratiating collection. - AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
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One of Ace Records' superlative double-disc reissues of previously rare vinyl by the guitar god Link Wray, GROWLING GUITAR / LIVE IN 85 combines a pair of albums covering a more than two-decade span of Wray's career. LIVE IN 85 is just what the title suggests, an all-killer, no-filler live set that once and for all shows why instrumental acts are more fun to see on nostalgia tours: vocal chops can be lost pretty easily, but nobody suddenly starts sucking at playing guitar, especially not a master like the distortion-loving, feedback-mangling Wray. This is a fiery set, every bit as good as the 1961 live tracks on Norton's BIG CITY AFTER DARK archival release. The compilation GROWLING GUITAR is a more scattershot affair, gathering rare singles and previously unreleased tracks from the '60s to the '80s, including a surprising array of covers from the pens of Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, Leiber and Stoller and even Bob Dylan. Terrific stuff. - cduniverse
It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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...This recording from the KSAN-FM "Live At The Record Plant" series captures guitar legend Link Wray with the power trio lineup that he toured with in the mid-1970s. Best known for his three chord instrumental rockers from the 1950s such as "Rumble" and "Rawhide," Wray had been through a long and winding career that included rockabilly, country, and classic rock'n'roll. Some of the material in this show works really well. The show comes alive when Wray and the band launch into a version of Ray Charles' "Unchain My Heat," and the raunch of "Rumble" sounds as good today as it did decades ago. Other highlighs include "Backwoods Preacher Man," "It Was A Bad Scene" and "Good Time Joe." - from: http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/
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...Hutcherson's originals (five out of six selections) show him at the top of his game as a composer, and the ensemble's playing is tight and focused throughout, but what really lifts Stick-Up! to the top tier of Hutcherson's discography is its crackling energy. It's quite possibly the hardest-swinging album he ever cut, and part of the credit has to go to the stellar rhythm section of McCoy Tyner on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, who lay down a driving, pulsating foundation that really pushes Hutcherson and tenorist Joe Henderson. Tyner in particular is a standout, charging relentlessly forward on the intricate "8/4 Beat" and "Black Circle" and lending a Coltrane-ish flavor to the spiritually searching "Verse." The lone non-Hutcherson piece, Ornette Coleman's sometimes overlooked "Una Muy Bonita," is given a fantastic, rollicking treatment as catchy as it is progressive, proving that the piece is a classic regardless of whether it's interpreted freely or with a steady groove and tonal center. Hutcherson's originals are uniformly strong and memorable enough to sit very well next to it, and that -- coupled with the energetic performances -- ranks Stick-Up! with Dialogue and Components as the finest work of Hutcherson's tenure at Blue Note. - AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
...His use of distortion and power chords, in particular, are essential to the rock lexicon. Every 45 he released was another lesson, eagerly studied by fledgling guitarists around the world. About Link's first hit, Pete Townsend said, "If it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I never would have picked up a guitar." Pete's sentiment was echoed by legions of fretboard aficionados.
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It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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