Search - Del Shannon :: Sings Hank Williams/1661 Seconds

An Absolute Sleeper of an Album!

Stanley J. Czerwien | Brookfield, Illinois USA | 01/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you like Del Shannon, Hank Williams or country music - this CD is a must. Shannon sings the songs of his idol in a "straight-up" fashion, and I have to admit does a fantasic cover of these great songs. I actually prefer Shannon's version of "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "Kaw-Liga" over the originals. I cannot state strongly enough how great a CD this is."

Album Six - Clearly the Best

Morten Vindberg | Denmark | 07/16/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This two original albums on CD features Del Shannon's fifth and sixth album. Album five is a Hank Williams tribute featuring only Williams songs. This may have looked like a good idea at the time, and many other pop-artists at the time recorded such tribute albums. Often this had to do with lacking enough new quality material for release, and the record-companies obviously tried to cash in on their popular artists.



Of course the songs are good and soundwise they appear clearer than most of Williams' originals; but unfortunately Shannon doesn't bring much more to these great songs. After 3-4 tracks they begin to sound too identical, and there is an annoying lack of variation in the arrangements. On a lot of Williams' recordings there is a violin and other instruments besides the steel-guitar. My favorite on the Williams half is "Weary Blues".



Second half of the CD is "1661 Seconds", which is classic Del Shannon, with great originals and covers of other contemporary artists like "Four Seasons" and Roy Orbison.



The album features two of Shannon's finest original singles "Stranger in Town" and "Keep Searchin'"- Moreover there is Shannon's original "I Go to Pieces" which the British duo Peter and Gordon turned into a top-ten hit. Another stand-out is Shannon's great version of "Rag Doll", which I clearly prefer to the Four Seasons' orginal. Less successful is his cover of Roy Orbison's "Running Scared". Shannon clearly was a big fan of Orbison, but he simply hadn't got the voice to do such a song.



The rest of the album is mostly nice pop-ballads of which several are writtin by Shannon himself. This album is obviously a must have for any fan of Del Shannon."