RSSRobert Gordon With Link Wray [extended]
- Link Wray [Polydor, 1971] C+
- Robert Gordon With Link Wray [Private Stock, 1977] B
- Fresh Fish Special [Private Stock, 1978] C+
- Rock Billy Boogie [RCA Victor, 1979] B
- Bad Boy [RCA Victor, 1980] C+
- Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die [RCA Victor, 1982] B-
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Link Wray: Link Wray [Polydor, 1971]
The creator of a feedback experiment called "Rumble" that beat the Yardbirds to it by six or seven years must have turned hippie on his own as well, though his headband reflects birth loyalties to the Shawnee nation. These days he runs a three-track recording shack in rural Maryland where he and some fellow spirits put together this blues- and country-rooted document. The playing (not much feedback) is better than the vocals is better than the songs, and on the whole it's pretty dumb. But I have to grant that the man sings about getting crucified by the Establishment as unselfconsciously as a back-porch bluesman sings about trains, which must be worth something. Right? C+
Robert Gordon With Link Wray [Private Stock, 1977]
I've gotten to where I enjoy almost all of this a little, even the original compositions by Wray, who on every evidence except that of his guitar ought to retire to the Fools Hall of Fame. But it's nowhere near as exciting as Gordon's Tuff Darts album would have been; it's nowhere near as exciting as "Red Hot," the only cut that jumps out at you the way this good ole rock 'n' roll is presumably supposed to; and it's nowhere near as exciting as the Gordon-Wray band on a good night, which is really the point. I've run into that confluence of events several times; if you haven't, you won't find this worth your time. B
Fresh Fish Special [Private Stock, 1978]
Gordon has perfected his craft since cutting his first album, and the follow-up is less lively as a result, because the heroic stance he's homed in on is rockabilly balladeer, which is a lot harder to approximate than '50s rock and roller. After all, the credulous lucidity of Presley's slow songs is beyond mortal imitation, and how much secondhand early Twitty (or Husky) does anyone need? C+
Robert Gordon: Rock Billy Boogie [RCA Victor, 1979]
Gordon's nouveau rockabilly has always been a mite slick and a mite fast, and this is his best album because he's no longer hiding it--his blown notes are just blown notes, not stigmata of authenticity. Credit Chris Spedding's unnaturally adaptable guitar, which drives the music more aptly than Link Wray's raw protohippie licks, authentic though they may have been. I mean, half the time Gordon actually sounds as though he belongs there. Blows some notes, though. B
Robert Gordon: Bad Boy [RCA Victor, 1980]
As our increased familiarity and his increased facility reduce his dependence on ironic context, he becomes unnecessary--totally unnecessary, I mean. Sure he uses his excellent voice better than genre loyalists give him credit for. But that makes him either a "real" rockabilly or an interpreter with moldy-fig tastes--competition for either Ray Campi or Roomful of Blues. I mean, like wow. He was more interesting, and more emotionally effective, as a joke with no punch line. C+
Robert Gordon: Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die [RCA Victor, 1982]
A shame Brian Setzer beat him to it, I suppose. But given his by-now veteran status and RCA's failure to beef things up with the rockabilly ballads that have always set him apart from the other cats, this compilation has four too many words in its title. B-