Link Wray

INCLUDES 4 BONUS TRACKS

This special LP edition includes Wray’s magnificent and essential debut album, Link Wray & The Wraymen (1960). The instrumental long play was a slapped-together affair, combining both sides of his first three Epic singles with half a dozen other numbers. Highlights include some ingeniously devious rockers like “Raw-Hide,” the floor-rush of “Right Turn,” the slow, drunken walk of “Rendezvous,” the garage punk of “Radar,” and a reworking of his classic “Rumble,” here titled “Ramble” (which explores the same catchy riff with piano accompaniment), as well as other great instrumentals such as “Hand Clapper,” and “Comanche.” The songs do tend to play off pretty basic early rock & roll chord progressions, and exhibit a more pronounced Duane Eddy influence (mainly on “Raw-Hide,” but also on “Dixie-Doodle,” “Hand Clapper,” and “Caroline”) than his later work would.

In addition to the original masterpiece, this collector’s edition also includes 4 bonus tracks from the same period, consisting of Wray’s first single “Rumble” (which was originally released in March 1958 by the Cadence label), and the fabulous but underrated numbers “Johnny Bom Bonny,” “Mary Ann,” and “Roughshod,” which deserve greater recognition.

LINK WRAY, lead guitar on all tracks, plus:
The Wraymen: Doug Wray (drums), Brantley “Shorty” Horton (bass).
Plus Vernon “Lucky” Wray (vocals and rhythm guitar on “Johnny Bom Bonny” & “Roughshod”).
Unidentified piano and saxophone.
Recorded in New York City, Washington DC, and other unknown locations, between 1958 and 1960.

SIDE 1

01 CAROLINE
02 SLINKY
03 RIGHT TURN
04 RENDEZVOUS
05 DIXIE-DOODLE
06 RAMBLE
07 JOHNNY BOM BONNY (*)
08 MARY ANN (*)

SIDE 2

01 HAND CLAPPER
02 RAW-HIDE
03 LILLIAN
04 RADAR
05 COMANCHE
06 STUDIO BLUES
07 ROUGHSHOD (*)
08 RUMBLE [original single version] (*)

(*) BONUS TRACKS