Link Wray (Spkg)

Link Wray | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1971
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hip-O Select
• ASIN: B000BQ1HLO
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,058 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Don't let the cover fool you. This ain't no Redbone, this ain't no Willie Nelson (good though those two artists may be). Link Wray's Polydor debut from 1971 sounds kinda like The Band meets The Rolling Stones, with a healthy side of Van Morrison playing gospel blues somewhere in the Mississippi Delta. Recorded in his converted chicken coop studio, Wray took a breather from his earlier electric guitar instrumentals to lay down a raw and intense album. If you are unfamiliar with Wray's work, he is probably best known for his 1958 hit "Rumble." Though it only got to #16 on the charts, its influence is staggering. The late critic Cub Koda said that Wray "invented the power chord." Pete Townshend of the Who said that he probably would never have picked up a guitar had it not been for the tune. Much of his early work from the Fifties may seem pretty tame now, but he was breaking ground for the likes of Dick Dale and a whole crop of guitarists that would come during the British Invasion, such as Clapton, Beck, and Page, all of whom have paid homage to Wray's talent. By most accounts, Link turned 75 this year (though it might be 73 or 68, depending on what you read), and he's about as far as one can be from the rock mainstream: Denmark. He moved there in 1978, and lives on an island where Hans Christian Andersen once made his home. And though his life has been far from a fairytale, Wray still manages to get out on the road from time to time, showing the kids how it's done, comfortable in his status as one of the pioneers of rock. The album was remastered from the original master tapes in 2004 by the Grammy-winning engineer Gavin Lurssen, and it comes in a die-cut gatefold package that replicates the original vinyl release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Album but Do Yourself a Favor and Buy Wray's Three Track Shack Instead, February 21, 2006

By 

A. Woodley "A Stooge" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Link Wray (Spkg) (Audio CD)

This is a great album but do yourself a favor and buy Link Wray's album Wray's Three Track Shack. This album along with two others (Beans and Backfat and Mordicai Jones)are all collected on Wray's Three Track Shack. All three albums are fairly hard to find and can get costly so do yourself a favor and buy Wray's Three Track Shack, it's well worth the money.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Link Wray's Injun Rock 'n Roll Roots are the REAL DEAL!, November 10, 2010

By 

Craig K. Arey - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Link Wray (Spkg) (Audio CD)

When I first heard this music in vinyl record form back in the early[mid?] Seventies, while living as a hermit in a beat up old shack on a dairy farm in North Carolina, I thought that I had died and gone to heaven. God Almighty, that backwoods primitive Native American Rock and Roll beat, was just so damn Genuine and Authenic, I listened to it over and over and over and over again. And even though I'm not a religious man, the way Link and his backup singers sang about Jesus, just about made a believer outta me. So, decades flew by, and that record got lost somewhere, but I never forgot it, and would seek out different Link Wray music in an attempt to get that good good feeling back. But all the other music that Wray did was WAY WAY different, and nowheres as good as this one. For a long time, I would doubt myself into thinking that maybe I was remembering his name wrong. But LINK WRAY?..... Not too many of them around to get confused with. And FINALLY, thanks to the producers [Polydor} and Amazon, I am back in the heavy heavy but, oh so uplifting groove once again! This album will MOVE you like nothin" else!!! And I also want to thank my long lost buddy, Pete Hoffman for lending that beautiful record to me back then. Thanks, Pete.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fabulous Treat, June 19, 2009

By 

Rodney J. Moss - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Link Wray (Spkg) (Audio CD)

But as per another reviewer, the way to go is to pick up Three Way Shack(ie 3 albums condensed into 2 cds) of which this brilliant and movingly expressive artist can be sampled in high lyric quality. My views of this are expanded in that column.