Search - Gene Vincent :: Gene Rocks

There are heaps of Gene Vincent compilations. So many, you practically trip over them. This one is different and then some: It's simply the finest concentrated distillation of Gene Vincent's out 'n' out rock 'n' roll tracks you will ever hear.These magnificent recordings have a febrile, lascivious quality unmatched by any of his competitors. They're nonsense songs about sex, hot rods, frenzied bopping and uncontrollable limbs in red-blue jeans, always epitomizing the hub-cab stealing ne'er do-well of a dozen high-school exploitation movies.There was no singer quite like him. His lean, mean, high-pitched vocals, laced with screams and yelps on a cushion of fluttery echo, provided the blueprint for every late-blooming rockabilly band and beat-group singer, John Lennon included. And his guitarists were equally radical: Cliff Gallup, the Blue Caps spark-plug, became a huge influence on six-string stuntmen the world over.Vincent was a strange, self-destructive mess of a man whose road was always rocky. He drank to excess, limped with a rotting leg, fathered the rock 'n' roll life style and died at 36. But no one has made better rock 'n' roll music before or since.It's another outstanding release in Bear Family's 'Rocks' series, this one featuring thirty of the greatest rock 'n' roll recordings by the most diehard, dedicated rock 'n' roller of them all. Includes all five US hits: Race With The Devil, Bluejean Bop, Lotta Lovin', Dance To The Bop and - one of the greatest moments in the history of recorded sound - Be-Bop-A-Lula.Cliff Gallup's complex, futuristic lead guitar influenced dozens of major stars including Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Dave Edmunds and Albert Lee.Comprehensive notes by fan Ian Wallis, author of the best selling American Rock 'n' Roll: The UK Tours 1956-72 (Music Mentor Books).