Ray Sharpe's biggest and only hit, "Linda Lu," only made it to number46 on the Billboard charts and his music doesn't fit into any convenient categories. He is that anomaly of anomalies, an African-American who made records that sounded like a hillbilly doing rock & roll and pop tunes. Sharpe could pick some pretty bluesy guitar and had a way of vocalizing and stuttering and stretching out syllables with a twang that would have given even Jim Nabors a moment of pause. But producer Lee Hazlewood sure knew how to get the best out of him and rather than a compilation with one hit and a bunch of leftovers, we have a collection of diverse but cool material that deserves a much wider hearing. The sound on this disc is really clean and powerful, some of it in early true stereo, but it's the music that'll win hands down every time and that's the bottom line here. Maybe Ray Sharpe isn't in the Hall of Fame, but if you like Texas music with a distinct twist to it, this collection comes highly recommended. ~ Cub Koda
Ray Sharpe's biggest and only hit, "Linda Lu," only made it to number46 on the Billboard charts and his music doesn't fit into any convenient categories. He is that anomaly of anomalies, an African-American who made records that sounded like a hillbilly doing rock & roll and pop tunes. Sharpe could pick some pretty bluesy guitar and had a way of vocalizing and stuttering and stretching out syllables with a twang that would have given even Jim Nabors a moment of pause. But producer Lee Hazlewood sure knew how to get the best out of him and rather than a compilation with one hit and a bunch of leftovers, we have a collection of diverse but cool material that deserves a much wider hearing. The sound on this disc is really clean and powerful, some of it in early true stereo, but it's the music that'll win hands down every time and that's the bottom line here. Maybe Ray Sharpe isn't in the Hall of Fame, but if you like Texas music with a distinct twist to it, this collection comes highly recommended. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
Gibson heaven Excellent collection with Monkey's Uncle the best track by far. Anyone who likes Chuck Berry will enjoy this - the guitar sounds are very similar. A bonus is Duane Eddy playing on a couple of tracks. Submitted by kombinatcooper (Bangor, County Down, UK) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
50 years and going strong good, but not as good as at the skyliner in 57--liked the take on "dallas" with his gibson humming and whinning---i could sit on his porch and listen to him and jr all night long."hey little girl" and "john" are both cleaned up from the stage show ver.but its all rock-a-billy like nowbody else can do, just wish it had his ver. of ou-p0u-p-doo 1or2. liked the first cut of "linda"(they named a club in ft. worth after it) the best. Submitted by et---edtodd (lufkin,texas) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
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