Guitar Ace: A Tribute To Link Wray CD

This long overdue homage to Link Wray, inventor of the power chord, gets it right. 24 scrappy garage,surf, and punk artists from across the globe contribute versions of popular and obscure Link Wray nuggets, proving that his music transcends cultures, ages, genres, and trends. With a sufficiently primitive approach and more vocals than you might expect from someone best-known for his instrumentals, ringers like The Fleshtones (blitzing though a minute-and-45-second, raucous beach party rave-up of "Soul Train"), Southern Culture on the Skids (grinding out "I'm Branded" with lo-fi raw power) and Calexico (the lovely "Fallin' Rain" is this album's least-frantic cut) rub elbows with lesser-known yet talented bands; all of whom deftly capture Wray's eclectic musical personas. From the reverbed, spaghetti western twang of The Hellbenders "The Outlaw," The Space Cossacks "Mustang," and Boston's Four Piece Suit "Roughshod," to variations on the "Rumble" theme courtesy of an international crew featuring Belgium's Fifty Foot Combo ("Slinky"), Finland's The Downers ("Genocide"), and the Scandinavian ad-hoc group Spy-Fi ("The Shadow Knows"), Guitar Ace leaves few Wray guns holstered. Excursions into surf (San Francisco's Pollo Del Mar's frantic "Jack the Ripper") country (Deke Dickerson & The Eco-Fonics finds his inner Ricky Nelson on "Run Boy Run"), and poppy garage rock (The Gore Gore Girls run "Baby Doll" through the Shangri-Las' tough but tender wringer) show how Wray was far from a one-chord pony.

A solo acoustic rendition of "Ace of Spades" from guitarist David Wronski even captures Wray's spooky power in an unplugged setting. By the time "Rumble" rumbles around -- a full 23 tracks into the album -- Croatia-based The Bambi Molesters' surf-heavy version seems nearly anti-climactic. Meticulous liner notes from Gregory Nicoll, an expert on the early history of rock & roll guitar, summarize and organize Wray's confusing career and label affiliations. Detailed track-by-track song capsules review the specifics of both the original version and this album's cover. The only element missing is the lack of specific personnel information. Regardless, this is a rousing, provoking, and successful tribute that not only sheds light on its subject's catalog, but spotlights international bands infused with and inspired by Link Wray's unique vibe. ~ Hal Horowitz

Gore Gore Girls/Boss Martians/ Hellbenders/Dave Wronski/Bleed

Personnel: Evan Foster (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Deke Dickerson, Bob Merkt (vocals, guitar); Joey Burns, Peter Zaremba (vocals); Chris Flanagan, Jono Jones, Dick Dale, Dalibor Pavicic, Milton Reder, Ivan Pongracic Jr., Ferenc Dobronyi, Keith Streng, Richard Mills, Phantom Frank (guitar); David Wronski (acoustic guitar); David Sholl (saxophone); Gregg Rollie, Nick Contento (keyboards); Jeremy Rexford, Jason Reavis, Doug Hoekstra , Dusty Watson, Dan R. Hall (drums).

DJs: Bas Albers; Gerard Janssen.

Mojo (Publisher) (9/03, p.105) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...If you like guitars gutsy, echo-drenched and menacing, there are many pleasant surprises here..."