Press Archive - Del Shannon The Drugstore's Rockin' - Two Silhouettes (CD) - Old Time Review UK
Bear Family Records have presented this set in an attractive looking digipak and includes a 40-page booklet containing extensive liner notes by Bill Dahl, along with a discography and rare photographs from the era.
Conlusion:
Bear Family Records have done themselves proud on another set that represents an era of change in music, between the first wave of Rock n Roll and the British invasion. Del Shannon’s distinct and unmistakable sound still sounds fresh, in places, and has possibly never sounded better. Including hard to get rare material alongside more established hits make this a must for enthusiasts and collectors alike.
31.07.2019
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.
09.08.2019
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
08.08.2019
Presse - Del Shannon The Drugstore's Rockin' - Two Silhouettes (CD) - American Music Magazine September 2019, Schweden
DEL SHANNON • «TWO SILHOUETTES» Bear Family Records BCD17596. Speltid: 76:20. Häte: 38-sid. Spår:33. Runaway (Stereo)/His Latest Flame/That's The Way Love Is/My Wild One/Wide Wide World/Torture(version 1)/Hats Off To Larry/The Wamboo/Don'r Gild The Lily, Lily/From Me To You/Two Silhouettes/Froggy/Sue's Gotta Be Mine/Hey Little Girl/ Misery/Hey Baby/Now She's Gone/Nothin'/Lies/So Long Baby/The Swiss Maid/ Dream Baby/Ginny In The Mirror/The Search (Stereo)Mary Jane/Keep Searchin' /1 Don't Care Anymore/You Never Talked About Me/Runaround Suell Won't Be There/ Cry Myself To Sleep/Move It On Over. Under tidigt 1960-tal var Del Shannon en av mina stora favoriter och jag köpte var-je skiva jag kunde fl tag på. På den har utgåvan återfinns flera av de låtar jag kunde spela om och om igen; det gick bara inte att tröttna på dem. När jag spelade den här skivan infann sig den gamla känslan och jag fick rysningar när låtar som «Runaway», »His Latcst Flame», «Hey Little Girl», «So Long Baby», «The Swiss Maid», «Keep Searchin.•, «Little Town Flirt», «That's The Way Love Is», «My Wild One» samt en helt underbar cover av Roy Orbisons «Dream Baby» dånade ut i högtalarna. Del Shannon håller än tycker jag. Hans största framgångar på våra breddgrader blev «So Long Baby» (6:a 1962), «Hey, Little Giri» (4:a 1962), «Little Town Flirt» (5:a 1963), «Two Kinds Of Tcardmps» (6:a 1963), «Two Silhouettes» (15:e 1963), «Sue's Gotta Be Nline» (9:a 1963), «Handy Nian» (9:a 1964), «Keep Scarthid» (1:a 1965), «Strangcr In Town» (13:e 1965) och «Runaway '67» (15:e 1967). I mitten av 1960-talet flyttade han till Los Angeles och skivbolaget Libcrty som gav honom hans näst sista listplacering på Billboard med «The Big Hurt» (94:a 1966). Därefter började han pm-ducera bland andra Brian Hyland och the Shirel-les samt komponera. Hans sista «hit» blev «Sca Of Love» år 1981, producerad av Tom Petty. Del Shannon tog sitt liv den 8 februari 1990 i Santa Clarita, men han musik lever kvar och han har alltid en plats hos mig. Bo Berglind
06.09.2019
