Search - Noel Boggs :: The Very Best of Noel Boggs

Nice collection of steel guitarist's western swing & lounge

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 12/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Amazingly, this is the only current compilation of one of Western Swing's greatest steel players. Boggs' work as a side-man can be found in transcriptions of the bands of Bob Wills (in whose Texas Playboys he served for two years, notably during the Tiffany transcriptions era) and Spade Cooley (for whom he left Bob Wills). His session work can be heard on any number of recordings from the 40s onward. But this new Varese release, collecting 16 sides originally waxed for Jimmy Wakely's California-based Shasta label, are his only solo works in print. The tracks combine four sides recorded in 1964 for the "Hollywood and Vine" LP with twelve recorded in 1958 and issued on the "Magic Steel Guitar" LP.



Elements of the Western Swing style he helped pioneer can be heard on classics like Leon McAuliffe's "Steel Guitar Rag" and Boggs' own "Steelin' Home," but by the time of these recordings, Boggs was moving in larger musical circles. He'd taken off the cowboy boots and formed a small group for hotel, club and resort performances. In addition to the swing tunes, he makes himself at home on pop standards such as Hart & Rodgers' "Lover" and the Eastern European "Beer Barrel Polka." His quartet, including organist Ivan Ditmars, longtime Lawrence Welk guitarist Neil LeVang, and pianist Paul Smith, are featured throughout, creating a warm pop-jazz sound mindful of a twangy Three Suns.



Though Boggs earlier Western Swing recordings are not to be missed, these later sides, combining his mastery of the steel guitar with the burgeoning lounge scene of the late 50s, are the works of an instrumentalist stretching out to new places. Varese's collection is not to be missed by fans of steel guitar, nor those with an interest in swinging late-50s lounge music."