Customer Reviews

Live Run / Live at Club Westworld

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Davie Allan and the Arrows have been around since the '60's, keeping the flame alive for fuzzy instrumental guitar rock. Funny thing -- the guy continues to write incredible music and performs amazing slices of retro rock, and this live CD showcases both his guitar talents and compositional skills. Recorded in 1999 and released a year later, this is the hottest Allan release since Fuzz Fest. His take on the oft-covered Peter Gunn is fiery. He shows his love for Mancini on other cuts as well, including Baby Elephant Walk and Experiment in Terror. But the man is truly alive and running on his own tunes, including an extended, distortion-flooded Missing Link and the ripping Open Throttle. This is the sound of a biker taking to the open road and never looking back.

Davie doesn't just shred--he splits and dissects and reassembles songs in a fuzzy and effective image. To understand Davie Allan's view of covering a song is best understood by viewing your cat with a mouse. Or even better, for hockey fans, when Darren McCarty of the Red Wings sought revenge on Claude Lemieux for a past infraction. He grabbed him and beat him and then dragged him to the Detroit bench. Then he smiled to his fellow Detroiters and kneeded poor Claude in the face. This is what Davie does to the songs of the Ventures and Henry Mancini--and even his own material. "Blues' Theme" is coupled with "The Born Losers" to great effect. And his reworking of "The Dark Alley" (under another name) is a masterpiece. All around a worthy purchase. By the way, Allan NEVER NOT ONCE ever road a motorcycle.

I became hooked on instrumentals during my youth in the fifties and sixties. Among my favs were the Ventures, Surfaris, and Davie Allan & Arrows. Allan's guitar work coupled with Mike Curb's compositions was an unbeatable formula for fantastic instrumentals. Two of the very best were "The Wild Angels" and "Devil's Angels" soundtracks with great instrumentals such as "Unknown Rider," "Hell Rider," and "Devil's Carnival." However, I find Allan's latest offerings to be dismal. He uses way too much distortion and seems to lack the enthusiasm of his youth. I suggest the aforementioned soundtracks as a way better buy.