Friday, February 11, 2011

Duane Eddy - Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel [40th Anniversary Edition]

If Duane Eddy's instrumental hits from the late '50s can sound unduly basic and repetitive (especially when taken all at once), he was vastly influential. Perhaps the most successful instrumental rocker of his time, he may have also been the man most responsible (along with Chuck Berry) for popularizing the electric rock guitar. His distinctively low, twangy riffs could be heard on no less than 15 Top 40 hits between 1958 and 1963. He was also one of the first rock stars to successfully crack the LP market.

Having said this I would also like to praise the remarkable eclecticism of this first and greatest All-Instrumental Rock and Roll album. I have heard this album- at least in sections- for about 20 years now have only recently come to respect the range of styles represented here. Hazelwood and Eddy pulled every possible trick out of their bags in late, great '58: there is real rockabilly ("Cannonball" w/ Al Casey- Duane's truest rockabilly outside of his later "Theme From Dixie"); standard Rock and Roll ("Rebel Rouser"); proto-surf (the legendary "Movin' and Groovin'"); country-rock ("Detour"); standard country ("Anytime"); REAL- (no foolin')- BLUES ("Three-30-Blues"); Rhythm and Blues ("I Almost Lost My Mind"); just a hint of jazz stylin' ("The Lonely One"); and even a stab at what would later be called Folk Rock ("Lonesome Road"). Absolutely incredible!

Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel was his first LP and the album that put Duane Eddy's name on the map. It was the first album of the Rock And Roll era issued completely in stereo and the best selling instrumental rock album ever (2 years in the charts). Sadly only half of the stereo masters could be located and that's why this 40th anniversary remastered edition contains 6 mono tracks. However it includes 3 previously unavailable b-sides as bonus tracks.


Tracklisting:
1. Lonesome Road
2. I Almost Lost My Mind
3. Rebel Rouser
4. Three-30-Blues
5. Cannonball
6. The Lonely One
7. Detour
8. Stalkin'
9. Ramrod
10. Anytime
11. Moovin' 'N' Groovin'
12. Loving You
13. Up and Down - (bonus track)
14. The Walker - (bonus track)
15. Mason Dixon Lion - (bonus track)


twngulation

3 comments:

Exeter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Exeter said...

WoW!
Duane Eddy put a bug in my ear when I first heard "Rebel Rouser" in 1958. That bug is still there! Thank goodness for Bear Family's reissue series.

Roger Camden said...

You're spot on-- this record has a little bit of everything.
It plays like a greatest hits collection, really.
(pleasantly surprised to find that this is lossless)
Duane Eddy's tone is top five for me, without a doubt.

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