Search - Del Shannon :: Little Town Flirt/Handy Man

Two album CD covers some of Del's best material

08/19/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Little Town Flirt was re-released a few years ago. Many biographers considered it Del's best album. Indeed, the biggest hits are found on it (Runaway and Hats Off to Larry as well as the title track). "Handy Man" was cut during the "Amy" label years. This was when Del had the Royaltones as his backup band. In Del's opinion, these were the best guys he got to perform with. While there are several forgettable covers, "Give Her Lots of Lovin'" and "Mary Jane" are very good Del originals. If you want to get one Del album that is not just greatest hits fare, and prefer the early years, this is an excellent choice. For collectors, this is the only way I know of to get the "Handy Man" tracks on CD."

Classic Shannon sound

Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 06/17/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A two-fer containing the earlier Big-Top era "Little Town Flirt" album and the rejuvenated Del Shannon's Amy "Handy Man" album. The "... Flirt" album presents some of his best material from his earlier hit-making days. Of note is that many of the songs here (tracks 1-3, 5, 7, 9-12) are the rare stereo versions and while some may say they are inferior to the single mixes, they have a sound stage and fidelity that really brings the material alive. The "Handy Man" album is the first of Del's second wind string of hits on Amy. These tracks are all in mono. While Del's classic sound remains on this group of tracks, there is little original material of the quality of his Big Top era. It does present the grittier "Handy Man" Jimmy Jones remake and the first U.S.-charted Lennon-McCartney tune, "From Me To You". Although both albums have been taken from original masters, the sound quality is better on the "Flirt" album sides (the Amy stuff has always been saturated-sounding). With so many greatest hits collections available, this piece is notable for the "Flirt" album - both content and sound quality."

A Great Release

Morten Vindberg | Denmark | 03/28/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD release puts together Del Shannon's third and fourth album. Both albums are great, but quite different, especially soundwise. Somehow the the "Little Town Flirt" album outshines the "Handy Man" album, by having the cleanest sound.



There are great many tracks on both albums, but again "Little Town Flirt" comes out as the most consistent. With the 3 great hits "Little Town Flirt", "Two Silhouettes" and "Two Kinds of Teardrops", which all have kept their charm over the years - because they are such good tunes - and I love the female harmony vocals on those three. Other very memorable tracks on this album are Shannon's two original ballads "Happiness" and "Kelly". His cover of Roy Orbison's "Sweet Dreams" and "Hey Baby" are fine recordings - in fact, there are no real low points on the album.



The sound changes on the "Handy Man", where some tracks sound somewhat muddy. The single hits on this album are the great Phil Spector sounding title track and the pretty ordinary "Mary Jane". Among the album tracks there are a couple of nice Shannon original ballads - both quite Merseybeat inspired. There is a nice try at Roy Orbison's "Crying", which works great until the falsetto part

- here it is really miles behind Orbison's original. The closing track "Twist and Shout" has a great raw guitar solo, and makes up a worthy finale om a slightly uneven album.



In spite of the relative flaws of "Handy Man" - a great release."