Link Wray - Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years '1995

Tracks list

 Wrays image as leather-clad, fuzz-drenched cowpunk is so indelibly etched
into the minds of most fans that its been convenient to overlook the fact that
in the early 70s, he eschewed grungy instrumentals for laid-back, homespun roots
rock. He wrote lyrics and sang on these albums as well, some of which were
recorded in a three-track studio built in a converted chicken coop on his family
farm. Reflecting the pastoral, rural influence of the Band and other groups of
the day, Link also largely abandoned his electric guitars for acoustic ones on
some of the albums, though he returned to harder-rocking electric sounds by the
middle of the 1970s. This double-CD box set collects 37 songs from five albums
spanning 1971 to 1974. One of these LPs only surfaced in England (Beans and
Fatback), and another was an odd effort by one Mordicai Jones on which Link
played most of the instruments and wrote most of the material. The anthology
rightfully emphasizes his self-titled 1971 comeback album, the best of these
recordings, which has an enigmatic backwoods ambience and spiritual lyrics, and
contains a couple tunes later covered by the Nevilles (Fire and Brimstone and
Fallin Rain). The later albums, some of which featured high-profile guests like
Jerry Garcia and Tower of Power, had a more generic early-70s AOR rock feel; not
so on the Mordicai Jones tracks, though, on which rustic arrangements back Jones
vocals, which sound like a more subdued Robert Plant. As a whole, the work
assembled here isnt nearly as important as Wrays instrumental recordings from
the 50s and 60s -- and Wrays wracked, tense vocals are something of an acquired
taste -- but its rather intriguing stuff with little relationship to the rest of
his catalog. 
:: TRACKLIST ::

Disc 1
1. La De Da (04:01)
2. Take Me Home Jesus (03:18)
3. Juke Box Mama (04:26)
4. Rise And Fall Of Jimmy Stokes (04:00)
5. Fallin Rain (03:43)
6. Fire And Brimstone (04:18)
7. Ice People (03:03)
8. God Out West (03:52)
9. Crowbar (04:45)
10. Black River Swamp (03:56)
11. Tail Dragger (04:30)
12. Hobo Man (03:51)
13. Im So Glad, Im So Proud (06:52)
14. Georgia Pines (03:54)
15. Water Boy (09:40)
16. Alabama Electric Circus (03:57)
17. Take My Hand (Precious Lord) (03:35)

Disc 2
1. Walkin In The Arizona Sun (02:51)
2. Scorpio Woman (03:44)
3. All Because Of A Woman (03:18)
4. On The Run (05:42)
5. Days Before Custer (04:01)
6. Be What You Want To (05:56)
7. All Cried Out (03:48)
8. Tucson, Arizona (04:14)
9. River Bend (02:38)
10. You Walked By (03:16)
11. Walk Easy, Walk Slow (05:19)
12. Morning (02:01)
13. It Was A Bad Scene (03:32)
14. Good Time Joe (03:59)
15. Walkin Bulldog (03:09)
16. I Got To Ramble (04:39)
17. Backwoods Preacher Man (04:00)
18. Shes That Kind Of Woman (04:02)
19. Super 88 (03:28)
10. Rumble (02:35)

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