Various 28 Little Bangers fom Richard Hawley's Jukebox (2-LP)

(Ace Records) 28 tracks, Gatefold cover

Ace Records is pleased to collaborate with singer-songwriter, winner of this year's Olivier Awards and Sheffield legend Richard Hawley on this first volume of a compilation series featuring some of his favorite singles. It's a selection of 28 7s singles Richard has collected on his travels around the globe, through friends, family, collectors, word of mouth, second-hand store finds, jukebox gems and everything in between. Richard refers to the glue that holds this selection together as "Little Bangers" because they are all mini hand grenades; bright lights that explode and fizzle out, some big names, some rarities, some lost souls, some obscurities, some by artists he knows next to nothing about except that they want to get him on his feet and dancing. Many are garage instrumentals that highlight the guitar line as the main melody and the art of telling a story without lyrics. Richard says, "I'm intrigued by the 7-inch single because it's so disciplined. A 7-inch single can only contain so much information.... So you have to learn the discipline of putting all that information and craft into a short period of time. If you think of this album like a piece of bacon, there's no fat on it at all. It's just juicy meat. There are no limp recordings, they're very nimble. We're especially proud that the Hendrix Estate allowed us to record Curtis Knight & The Squires' wild and never-before-licensed 'Hornet's Nest', which of course we proudly start with. We present the over five minute version that has never been released before. The tempo never lets up as it features the Shadows, Link Wray, the Troggs, the Champs, Jimmy Gordon and many more. It's joyous, it's relentless, and you can listen to it over and over for a thousand miles.