I
don’t know what I like best about this album - the corner of the sleeve that
proudly declares ‘AS SEEN ON T.V.’ or the other notice that states ’20 TWANGY
GUITAR GREATS’. I think it has to be the latter. As though people were entering
record shops in the 1970s and looking specifically in the racks for the TWANGY
GUITAR section.The sleeve even has a photograph of Duane Eddy on the reverse - playing an acoustic guitar for some reason - but it isn’t made clear that it’s a photo of Eddy. The photographer’s credit - Colin Earey - appears next to the photo, suggesting that it’s a picture of an acoustic guitarist named Colin Earey. Who the hell is Colin Earey? This would probably have confused hundreds of prospective buyers, both when the album was released in 1979, and in second-hand record stores over the intervening decades.
This album - poorly packaged, but well recorded - seems to be a collection of Duane Eddy performances recorded in 1979, not a simple compilation of his already recorded greatest hits. To that end, because it’s recorded late in the 1970s, the production is very good and very clear. Although the downside is that there’s no actual production per se on there. It sounds like they simply got all the levels down pat and then recorded all twenty twangy guitar greats in one sitting.
Looking at Eddy’s discography on Wikipedia, it’s amusing to see he once released an album titled The Biggest Twang Of All, which sounds more like a venture into soundtracking bad 1970s porn films.
Hit: Peter Gunn
Hidden Gem: Rebel Rouser
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