Del Shannon - Home and Away: The Complete Recordings 1960-1970 '2004

Tracks list

 Of all the early rock & rollers, Del Shannon is the hardest to classify. He
came on the scene a little late -- his first hits, Hats off to Larry and
Runaway, arrived in 1961, five years after rock & roll came crashing in, a long
enough period of time where his music felt much, much different than the
three-chord ravers of the first wave of rock & roll. He arrived during the peak
of teen idol pop and was handsome enough to ride that wave, but he was older
than Fabian and Ricky Nelson, scoring his first hits in his mid-twenties.
Shannon could be seen as a kindred spirit of Roy Orbison, favoring dramatic
ballast to blues boogie, threading a sense of melancholy into his biggest hits,
but he never verged on the operatic the way Orbison did. He was comfortable
enough with country to cut an album of Hank Williams tunes in 1965 and hip
enough to go psychedelic when the times shifted in the late 60s. He wrote his
biggest hits but also had exceptional taste in other songwriters, being one of
the first American rockers to cover the Beatles, along with such 60s pop hits as
Bobby Hebbs Sunny, Brian Hylands The Joker Went Wild and the Lovin Spoonfuls
Summer in the City.

None of this restlessness brought Del Shannon big hits -- his run peaked early,
with the back-to-back Top 10 hits of Hats off to Larry and Runaway, with the
latter reaching number one, then he bounced back in 1965 with the Top 10 Keep
Searchin (Well Follow the Sun) -- but it did result in a singularly fascinating
body of work, one thats compiled in its entirety on Bear Familys box Home and
Away: The Complete Recordings 1960-1970. Shannon continued to tour and, when he
could, record, until his death in 1990, but this is his prime, when his
creativity ran wild but never in a showy way, not even when he dove into trippy
psychedelia in 1967, a career move that practically begs for extravagance.
Despite that keening falsetto and taste for melodrama, Shannon never seemed over
the top; he retained a Midwestern humbleness that grounds his records, even ties
together all his musical wanderings. The music on Home and Away may drift from
rock & roll to country to pop and back again, winding up with a lean, colorful
roots rock reminiscent of Joe South, but it doesnt seems scattershot or random,
theres a natural logic to Shannons movements that keeps his music seeming like
pop product that follows the changing times. Theres range here but also
consistency, with each phase being pretty strong on its own accord, with Shannon
subtly altering his vocal style to suit whatever hes singing. Perhaps he was too
adept at this, sliding from sound to sound so easily he never wound up cutting a
strong overall persona, but thats also a byproduct of his Midwestern breeding;
he served the song, not himself. And while that might not have made for
superstardom, it did give him a remarkable run, its uniqueness easier to
appreciate in one big dose as it is here, for all those phases and stages are
placed in context (with Bear Family thankfully saving the alternates and demos
for an extended coda, not mixing it in with the rest), making the depth and
unpredictability of his work not just evident, but easy to savor.
:: TRACKLIST ::

CD1 - Big Top Recordings
1-1 The Search (mono) 
1-2 Ill Always Love You (mono) 
1-3 Runaway (mono) 
1-4 Jody 
1-5 Hats Off To Larry 
1-6 Dont Gild The Lily, Lily 
1-7 I Wake Up Crying 
1-8 Wide Wide World 
1-9 Misery 
1-10 Daydreams 
1-11 His Latest Flame 
1-12 The Prom 
1-13 Lies 
1-14 He Doesnt Care 
1-15 So Long Baby 
1-16 The Answer To Everything 
1-17 Hey Little Girl 
1-18 I Dont Care Anymore 
1-19 Ginny In The Mirror 
1-20 I Wont Be There 
1-21 You Never Talk About Me 
1-22 Cry myself to sleep 
1-23 Im Gonna Move On 
1-24 The Swiss Maid 
1-25 Dream Baby 
1-26 She Things I Still Care 
1-27 Runaround Sue 
1-28 The Search 
1-29 Ill Always Love You 
1-30 The Search (stereo) 
1-31 Ill Always Love You (stereo) 
1-32 Runaway (stereo: different take) 
1-33 Hey Little Girl (stereo: w/o overdubs) 

CD2 - Big Top Recordings/Berlee/Amy Recordings
2-1 Little Town Flirt 
2-2 The Wamboo 
2-3 Two Kinds Of Teardrops 
2-4 Kelly 
2-5 Two Silhouettes 
2-6 My Wild One 
2-7 Happiness 
2-8 Hey Baby 
2-9 Go Away Little Girl 
2-10 From Me Too You 
2-11 Sues Gotta Be Mine 
2-12 Now Shes Gone 
2-13 Thats The Way Love Is 
2-14 Time Of The Day 
2-15 Torture (version No. 1) 
2-16 Nothin 
2-17 Froggy 
2-18 Pursuit 
2-19 Mary Jane 
2-20 Stains On My Letter 
2-21 Ill Be Lonely Tomorrow 
2-22 I Cant Fool Around Anymore 
2-23 Handy Man 
2-24 Give Her Lots Of Lovin 
2-25 Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) 
2-26 Memphis 
2-27 Ruby Baby 
2-28 Crying 
2-29 World Without You 
2-30 Twist And Shout 
2-31 Torture (version No.2) (instrumental) 

CD3 - Amy Recordings
3-1 Do You Wanna Dance (mono) 
3-2 This Is All I Have To Give 
3-3 Keep Searchin (Well Follow The Sun) 
3-4 Broken Promises 
3-5 Stranger In Town 
3-6 Over You 
3-7 Your Cheatin Heart 
3-8 Kaw-Liga 
3-9 I Cant Help It 
3-10 Honky Tonk Blues 
3-11 I Heard That Lonesome Whistle 
3-12 You Win Again 
3-13 Ramblin Man 
3-14 Hey Good Lookin 
3-15 Long Gone Lonesome Blues 
3-16 Weary Blues 
3-17 Im So Lonesome I Could Cry 
3-18 Cold Cold Heart 
3-19 Wrong Day, Wrong Way 
3-20 Table Reserved For The Blues 
3-21 Pardon Me I Guess Im In The Way 
3-22 Queen Of The Honky Tonks 
3-23 Break Up 
3-24 Why Dont You Tell Him 
3-25 She Cried 
3-26 Needles And Pins 
3-27 Do You Wanna Dance (stereo) 

CD4 - Amy Recordings/Liberty Recordings
4-1 I Go To Pieces 
4-2 Im Gonna Be Strong 
4-3 Rag Doll 
4-4 Running Scared 
4-5 Move It On Over 
4-6 She Still Remembers Tony 
4-7 I Cant Believe My Ears 
4-8 I Wish I Wasnt Me Tonight 
4-9 The Big Hurt 
4-10 Ive Got It Bad (aka Never Thought I could) 
4-11 Show Me 
4-12 For A Little Star 
4-13 When You Walk In The Room 
4-14 Oh, Pretty Woman 
4-15 Oh, Pretty Woman 
4-16 Everybody Loves A Clown 
4-17 Its Too Late 
4-18 Where The Action Is 
4-19 Lightning Strikes 
4-20 The Cheater 
4-21 Kicks 
4-22 Under My Thumb 
4-23 She Was Mine 
4-24 Show Me 
4-25 Under My Thumb 

CD5 - Liberty Recordings
5-1 Red Rubber Ball 
5-2 Pied Piper 
5-3 Sunny 
5-4 Time Wont Let Me 
5-5 What Makes You Run 
5-6 I Cant Be True 
5-7 Summer In The City 
5-8 Where Were You When I Needed You 
5-9 The Joker Went Wild 
5-10 She 
5-11 Stand Up 
5-12 The House Where Nobody Lives 
5-13 Its My Feeling 
5-14 Mind Over Matter 
5-15 Silently 
5-16 Cut And Come Again 
5-17 My Love Has Gone 
5-18 Led Along 
5-19 Life Is But Nothing 
5-20 Easy To Say 
5-21 Friendly With You 
5-22 He Cheated 
5-23 Runaway 67 
5-24 Thinkin It Over 
5-25 The Letter 
5-26 River Cool 
5-27 Colour Flashing Hair 
5-28 Conquer 

CD6 - Liberty Recordings/ABC-Dunhill Recordings
6-1 New Orleans (Mardi Gras) 
6-2 Be My Friend 
6-3 Silver Birch 
6-4 I Think I Love 
6-5 Gemini 
6-6 Runnin On Back 
6-7 Been So Long 
6-8 Magical Music Box 
6-9 Something To Write Home About 
6-10 Raindrops 
6-11 You Dont Love Me 
6-12 Leavin You Behind 
6-13 Never Be The Same 
6-14 Comin Back To Me 
6-15 Sweet Mary Lou 
6-16 Colorado Rain 
6-17 How Can I Tell You? 
6-18 Southern Part Of Town 
6-19 Shes Got Soul 
6-20 Sister Isabelle 
6-21 Good Love 
6-22 Sun Dont Shine (Drip Drop) 
6-23 Anita (Im Walking On Fire) 
6-24 Reason To Believe 
6-25 She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye 
6-26 He Cheated (overdubbed) 
6-27 Raindrops (with sound effects) 

CD7 - Demo Recordings/Pepsi Recordings
7-1 Little Oscar 
7-2 Living In Misery 
7-3 Angel Of Love 
7-4 Could Be, Cant Tell, Dont Know 
7-5 Whats The Use (In Trying) 
7-6 This Feeling Called Love 
7-7 This Is All I Have To Give 
7-8 Everything I Have Is Yours 
7-9 Happiness 
7-10 Shes Your Girl 
7-11 One More Time 
7-12 Face Of An Angel 
7-13 Johnnys Got The Blues 
7-14 I Fell In Love With You 
7-15 Condemned To Die (version No. 1) 
7-16 I Guess Ill Never Really Know 
7-17 A Girl Of My Own 
7-18 Time Marches On 
7-19 Daydreams 
7-20 Wishing on a star (Counting stars at night) 
7-21 Honey Bee (version No. 1) 
7-22 Lies 
7-23 He Doesnt Care 
7-24 The Prom 
7-25 Honey Bee (version No. 2) 
7-26 Condemned To Die (version No. 2) 
7-27 Im Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You 
7-28 Runaway 
7-29 Jody 
7-30 One Kiss 
7-31 Pepsi Commercial No.1 
7-32 Pepsi Commercial No.2 
7-33 Pepsi Commercial No.3 
7-34 Pepsi Commercial No.4 

CD8 - Demo Recordings
8-1 The Things She Said 
8-2 I Cant Let You Go 
8-3 Just You 
8-4 If She Were My Girl 
8-5 For A Little While 
8-6 This Feeling Called Love 
8-7 Its Funny 
8-8 She 
8-9 Where Is She 
8-10 Ive Got Eyes For You 
8-11 Did I See What I Think I Saw 
8-12 Makins Of A Heartache 
8-13 Im Going Through It Too 
8-14 Table Reserved For The Blues 
8-15 Pardon Me (I Guess Im In The Way) 
8-16 Pardon Me 
8-17 The Jury 
8-18 Deep In The Valley 
8-19 I Never Caught Her Name 
8-20 Thunder And Lightning 
8-21 The Wedding (There Goes Billy) 
8-22 Rest Your Mind 
8-23 Lorrayne

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