Link Wray – Link Wray

Much as I love this album — I bought it when it came out and have been playing it steadily ever since — you should listen to the “Wasted” LP put out by his older brother Vernon Wray in 1972. In the spring of that year, Vernon moved from Accokeek, Maryland, to Tucson, Arizona, to “mellow out,” taking the back wall of Wray’s Shack 3 Tracks (where Link’s 1971 album was recorded) with him and rebuilt the recording studio renaming it Vernon Wray’s Record Factory after upgrading it to eight tracks. Here he recorded his much mellower (compared to the Ray Men’s rockabilly) solo work released in two batches as “Wasted” and “Superstar at My House.” “Wasted” is a remarkable album, and a real find for hardcore fans of hippie-era country, with Wray (backed by Link and his other brothers) churning through mournful, contemplative, moody folk and tough, rugged country gems. Think “Falling’ Rain,” “Ice People,” “Crowbar,” and several other songs on his brother’s LP. “Superstar” is in the same mould but issued on 8-track tape only and so rare as to be completey unavailable. Give “Wasted” a listen and you’ll know what I mean.

https://discogs.cinepelis.org/release/2949264-Vernon-Wray-Wasted

For good histories of the Wray brothers see:

https://dereksmusicblog.com/2015/09/04/link-wray-3-track-shack/

http://www.furious.com/perfect/linkwray.html

Holy Christ, this is good! It's like a one-man "Exile on Main Street" a year before "Exile on Main Street"!
If you like that swampy gritty rootsy voodoo blues/country/soul, it don't get any better than this. Fans of Zeppelin's earthier material (III and IV) will definitely dig this. A couple of the songs sound like the blueprint for that stompin' barroom piano vibe the White Stripes were shooting for on "Get Behind Me Satan". Many of the songs also include ghostly backing vocals that add a uniquely eerie, haunting atmosphere to the proceedings. The album is somewhat similar to the style that Tony Joe White and Leon Russell were working around the same time, but this is better than anything either of them ever did. There's not one weak track here, and it all has a timeless quality that holds up remarkably well. Why isn't this album more renowned??!??

This LP I phenomenal ! It runs the gamut of every, blues, delta jazz, funk, folk, etc…MUSIC !

People hear “Link Wray”they think “Rumble” I think
“Jukebox Mama”, (that’s baby makin🎶) !

Meant to write this review about 4 years ago when I was introduced to it. But I was ashamed I hadn’t heard it 🤫.

This is seriously in my top ten REKKIDS! Do yourself and buy it
If you don’t like it, I know at least 25 ppl that would love to own it. I’ll give there address after I have video confirmation of you NOT enjoying this album : )

Dead quiet wax, great sound !

Absolutely a phenomenal album, why did i discover this gem so late? Unbelievable!!! This is for me at the same level as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones etc.. And the pressing of this first US press is also very good, i've a NM state record and the sound is very dynamic with no surface noice. This record will never leave my collection, love it!

Source Wiki:
Link Wray is the self-titled 1971 album by pioneering guitarist Link Wray. The music is an Americana blend of blues, country, gospel, and folk rock elements. This music is characterized by the purposeful use of simplified sounds to reflect the then-current vogue of blues and other roots music being used in many roots rock bands. Wray's guitar-work, composing, and vocals reflected modern rock influences. Despite publicity from radio stations and print media in the Washington, D.C. area, the album did not do well in national sales.

Some tracks from this album later surfaced on the compilation Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years, and it was included in its entirety on 2CDs compilation Wray's Three Track Shack (Acadia/Evangeline Recorded Works Ltd./Universal Music, 2005) along with other "shack" recordings of '71 Beans and Fatback and Mordicai Jones. The album has proved influential in later decades, with The Neville Brothers, Calexico, Karl Blau, and Father John Misty, among others, recording covers of tracks from it.

Recording:
The album was recorded in 1971 by Link's brother Vernon "Ray Vernon" Wray at "Wray's Shack Three Track", a three track studio Link Wray had converted from an old chicken shack on his farm in Accokeek, Maryland, and mixed by Chuck Irwin. During louder numbers, the recording team placed the speakers for Link Wray's guitar outside in the yard and miked the windows.[1] For a time no drum kit was available, so on several tracks the musicians stomped on the floor for the bass drum and shook a can of nails for the snare drum.[1]

Songwriter/co-producer/drummer Steve Verroca said that, "What we do is go into the shack and make music. We get the melody that way and then maybe write down some lyrics. Okay, it's a little unusual but that is what comes natural.

Reception:
Because of the change in style from his earlier work, the album was poorly received by Link Wray's fan base.[2] Wray had anticipated this, and shortly before the album's release remarked, "In a way I couldn't care less if the album didn't sell a single copy. We're happy with it and we've done it our way."[1]

In their retrospective review, Allmusic criticized that the album as a whole "lacks the switchblade intensity of Wray's most famous music." However, they praised the album's ion and honesty, claimed that it had aged better than most country rock of the era, and commented that "the best songs speak eloquently of the hard facts of Wray's early life as a poor Shawnee child in the Deep South, and there's a humble back-porch stomp in this music that's heartfelt and immediate.

Cover Versions:
The Neville Brothers later covered "Fire and Brimstone" on their album Yellow Moon, as did Nick Cave and Ralph Stanley for the soundtrack of the film Lawless. The band Calexico covered "Fallin' Rain" as bonus track on their album Feast of Wire. Karl Blau covered "Fallin' Rain" on his 2016 covers album Introducing Karl Blau [5]. The Neville Brothers also covered "Fallin' Rain" on their album Brother's Keeper.[6] In 2020, Father John Misty covered “Fallin’ Rain” on his EP “Anthem +3”.

Maybe not really a review, but a reply to xrisrawk

Isn't Dylan's music and whole identity as an artist based on a great exploration a.k.a. robbery of Americana and other Arcana's of mainly western culture? Maybe the late Nick Cave comes close to that, Jack White's still on the hunt.
No wonder that Link Wray's fantastic backwood quadrology Mordicai Jones - Mordicai Jones - and we should). Dylan hangs around at any shack or cabin, lurking in the woods and other places where house music, folk, country and blues have been sung & played and still float through the air, where all the great dudes and lads have always been, long time before Mr. Zimmermann started heading down on Highway 61 and catching up the tales and melodies. 'Cause who's Dylan if not all engers on board of the ecclectic Mystery Train running endlessly through the land of the free and the home of the brave, heading towards to some frontier, broken dreams and blood dripping on the tracks ...

Praise him for taking us on the bus as to Link for inventing the rock guitar and some important effects that forced the way to the full-blown-studio trickery starting in the late sixties. But also praise him for this fantastic lessons about the beauty of simplicity, taking the listener back to the roots of any music. The tunes recorded in his farm-based Wray's Shack Three Track are so rough and forcefull, La De da lifts your soul away, the intricating ratchet or whatever they've used on Take Me Home Jesus makes it amazing, Fire & Brimstone blows any place, Fallin Rain can make a hard man humble, Black River Swamp really sets one straight to a place out there in the old fashioned, mystic country side, bringing up beautiful interaction of dobro, guitar and mandolin.
They don't to this stuff anymore one might say - be sure it never has and never will vanish! But here it's done just the right way. Many killers, no real fillers, if even.
Absolutely stunner 5/5.

Happy to own this Link Wray - Link Wray which sounds fantastic.

LP Reissue is now available for pre-order from light in the attic records: https://lightintheattic.net/releases/3281-link-wray

Light In The Attic will be distributing a reissue of this soon.

A fantastic album! I first heard Fire & Brimstone with the Swedish garage band Nomads.

This album is amazing--a great mix of soulful rock and fuzzy, chugging tunes. Get it!

The song 'Juke Box Mama' on this album is where Jack White got the music for The White Stripes hit 'Doorbell'.