Customer Reviews

Shangrenade

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I'm so very pleased to see this album is finally available!I have this on vinyl and it's one of my most cherished albums. Harvey Mandel's guitar is captivating and mystical, makes you feel like you've transcended reality and flown somewhere over the rainbow. Green Apple Quickstep and Shangrenade are magical and beautiful songs and I can't compare this album to anything else on earth.

The was Harvey's third solo album made in the early 70's, not long after his stints with Canned Heat and John Mayall's band. If you want to hear one of America's most underrated yet innovative Blues rock guitarist, then this classic 1973 vintage album is a must. It contains some of the first recorded examples of the 'two handed tapping' technique.

1. What the Funk
2. Fish Walk
3. Sugarloaf
4. Midnight Sun II
5. Million Dollar Feeling
6. Green Apple Quick Step
7. Frenzy
8. Shangrenade

This is one album that nay true music fan should own. If you want my opinion Harvey should be mentioned during any conversation that concerns guitarist. This album is another fine example of a genius at work. This is a well kept secret to the outside world and that should be told. Harvey's in is own ball park for sure. This album combines Baby Batter and some of his early harder edge blues leanings with a touch of fusion. How could you go wrong??

If guitar freaks had heard this album when it came out in '73, they would have yawned when Jeff Beck released "Blow By Blow" in '75 and called it "passe". "Shangrenade" was SO far ahead of its time but completely overlooked because Harvey Mandel was off the radar, recording for the relatively nonexistent Janus Records label (Pure Food and Drug Act's '71 release on Epic Records SHOULD have alerted the world to the fact that Mandel was a major talent, but THAT one got swept under the rug as well; NOW try buying a copy of it: you will pay through the nose, and rightly so).

For my tastes, "Shagrenade" is Harvey Mandel's crowning achievement. My copy of "Blow By Blow" got dropped off at the used record store decades ago, but I still have "Shangrenade".