Customer Reviews

Blue Jean Bop / Gene Vincent & Blue Caps

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If you haven't heard Gene Vincent before, start with this CD. It contains Vincent's first two (and best) albums.

Gene Vincent often gets overlooked today. That's unfortunate, since his first two albums are both among the best albums recorded in the 1950's.

These two albums are also a "must have" for anyone who likes great guitar work. Vincent's lead guitarist on these albums was Cliff Gallup, who has been described as one of the early "guitar gods." Jeff Beck cites Gallup as one of his major influences and describes these two albums as "the best examples of radical-yet-sophisticated guitar driven rock & roll ever recorded." If that's not enough of a recommendation, Jeff Beck also recorded a Gene Vincent/Cliff Gallup tribute album called "Crazy Legs" in 1993 on which he follows Gallup's original guitar work really closely.

Bottom line: these two albums are definitely worth having.

2 albums on one cd. Gene Vincent was always something special. He had a big influence on some british rockers (Dave Phillips, Blue Cats, The Beatles, Vince Taylor) and others.These are the first two albums. Rockabilly at its best! The Blue Caps here are Cliff Gallup and Willie Williams' on lead and rhythm guitar, Dickie Harrell on drums, Jack Neal on upright bass. There are rockabilly classics like "Bljuejean Bop!", "Red Blue Jeans And A Pony Tail", "Cruisin'", "Double Talkin Baby", "Pink Thunderbird". A must have for every true rockabilly fan!

In May 1956, the two-and-a-half-minutes of the title preview marked the astonishing recording debut of Gene Vincent. The producer of this album Ken Nelson created a space-aged sound. This album is so remarkable and created a guitar hero out of Cliff Gallup. G.V. rocks, the Bluecaps rol and the result is uninhibeted magic.

This is a great double album of Gene Vincent's first two LP albums but note that this 2 for 1 DOES NOT have the 2002 reissue bonus tracks so if you just want to original albums, this is a great deal and of good quality but does not have tracks like the 1956 single "Be-Bop-A-Lula" here! I ended up just digitally downloading the bonus tracks from Amazon.com after the fact but beware before purchasing this great double album on one CD.

This is a great value set for hardcore fans of Vincent, but will be of little interest to new comers. If you buy just one Gene Vincent cd get "Rocks & the Bluecaps Roll/A Gene Vincent Record Date" as it more straightforward rock and roll, has less "filler", and of course Be-Bop-A-Lula. Also check out the excellent rendition of Bluejean Bop on Paul McCartney's newest record Run Devil Run.