Presse - Del Shannon The Drugstore's Rockin' - Two Silhouettes (CD) - Auarian Weekly
Ballad Of A Dead Man
Before Del Shannon blew his brains out with a shotgun in 1990 at the age of 55, he was a singular real-rock voice in an age of boy-bands. His good friend Tom Petty wanted him to join the Traveling Wilburys upon the death of Roy Orbison. He should have. Consumed by depression, alcoholism, and the bitter realization that roots-rock was but a fading dream in the nineties pop world, the Michigan native—born Charles Weedon Westover in 1934—ended it all, but not before leaving behind a legacy of American, no-frills rock 'n' roll perfectly captured on Two Silhouettes (Bear Family Records), as part of the label's "The Drugstore's Rockin- series.
The 33 tracks in just under 80 minutes has its share of novelty clinkers, as Shannon seemed desperate to recapture his 1961 "Runaway' classic. Still, there are nuggets of pure gold here, like a pre-Elvis version of "(Marie's The Name Of) His Latest Flame, "Hats Off To Larry," -Little Town Flirt, Hey Little Girl, and "Keep Searching (We'll Follow The Sun)."
It ends with a real rave-up: "Move It On Over" features some hard and heavy lead guitar from Dennis Coffey of Motown's Funk Brothers. Covers of Dion's "Runaround Sue," Bruce Channell's "Hey Baby' and Lennon/McCartney's From Me To You" actually equal the originals. There's some weirdness, too. -Torture" is a guitar instrumental in the vein of Link Wray or Duane Eddy but with the sounds of men screaming for their lives.
Ballad Of A Dead Man
Before Del Shannon blew his brains out with a shotgun in 1990 at the age of 55, he was a singular real-rock voice in an age of boy-bands. His good friend Tom Petty wanted him to join the Traveling Wilburys upon the death of Roy Orbison. He should have. Consumed by depression, alcoholism, and the bitter realization that roots-rock was but a fading dream in the nineties pop world, the Michigan native—born Charles Weedon Westover in 1934—ended it all, but not before leaving behind a legacy of American, no-frills rock 'n' roll perfectly captured on Two Silhouettes (Bear Family Records), as part of the label's "The Drugstore's Rockin- series.
The 33 tracks in just under 80 minutes has its share of novelty clinkers, as Shannon seemed desperate to recapture his 1961 "Runaway' classic. Still, there are nuggets of pure gold here, like a pre-Elvis version of "(Marie's The Name Of) His Latest Flame, "Hats Off To Larry," -Little Town Flirt, Hey Little Girl, and "Keep Searching (We'll Follow The Sun)."
It ends with a real rave-up: "Move It On Over" features some hard and heavy lead guitar from Dennis Coffey of Motown's Funk Brothers. Covers of Dion's "Runaround Sue," Bruce Channell's "Hey Baby' and Lennon/McCartney's From Me To You" actually equal the originals. There's some weirdness, too. -Torture" is a guitar instrumental in the vein of Link Wray or Duane Eddy but with the sounds of men screaming for their lives.
Presse - Del Shannon The Drugstore's Rockin' - Two Silhouettes (CD) - Now Dig This
I certainly learned a few things from the excellent booklet. one of them being that 'Cry Myself To Sleep', with Grady Martin and company, was one of several Nashville record-ings. This isn't rock n roll as most of us know and love it and I guess that it even falls into the nostalgia category. but I bought a couple of these releases and heard them a lot on radio, TV and at friends' houses and so I found listen-ing to them again quite an enjoyable exper-ience. Mind you, I soon found that my falsetto isn't quite what it used to be, resulting in a few coughing fits, and I couldn't find my old metal Kazoo to join in on 'So Long Baby'. which was a shame. Among the things that were new to my ears was 'That's The Way Love Is'. a superior piece of 1960s pop music that I really enjoyed.
There are also two instrumentals. one of them -'Torture' - being just that for me. but amid the mayhem of 'Nothin- I detected a decent rock n roll instrumental with prominent sax and guitar. As I have said, not classic rock n roll, perhaps, but still very enjoyable to those of a certain age and a classy release which makes my old 99p Tring label CD obsolete. Hats off to Larry and all concerned.
Eric Dunsdon
I certainly learned a few things from the excellent booklet. one of them being that 'Cry Myself To Sleep', with Grady Martin and company, was one of several Nashville record-ings. This isn't rock n roll as most of us know and love it and I guess that it even falls into the nostalgia category. but I bought a couple of these releases and heard them a lot on radio, TV and at friends' houses and so I found listen-ing to them again quite an enjoyable exper-ience. Mind you, I soon found that my falsetto isn't quite what it used to be, resulting in a few coughing fits, and I couldn't find my old metal Kazoo to join in on 'So Long Baby'. which was a shame. Among the things that were new to my ears was 'That's The Way Love Is'. a superior piece of 1960s pop music that I really enjoyed.
There are also two instrumentals. one of them -'Torture' - being just that for me. but amid the mayhem of 'Nothin- I detected a decent rock n roll instrumental with prominent sax and guitar. As I have said, not classic rock n roll, perhaps, but still very enjoyable to those of a certain age and a classy release which makes my old 99p Tring label CD obsolete. Hats off to Larry and all concerned.
Eric Dunsdon