Link Wray - (self-titled) 1971

To most people, Link Wray is only known for his early tremolo-drenched surf rock material. For some reason, this LP has largely been forgotten. In 1971, Wray recorded this sharp & bluesy country rock album for Polydor in his studio/shack ("Wray's Shack 3-Tracks", as painted on the side). The sound owes a clear debt to The Rolling Stones, with Wray obviously modeling his vocals after the Jagger template. On the other hand, Link Wray sounds the most like Sticky Fingers, which came out only 4 months earlier, and it actually beat the Stones to the punch as far as the simplified "roots" vamping of Exile on Main St.. I have to say, this album is much tighter than anything The Stones did. Link Wray can really play a guitar (and a bass, apparently - his bass playing is unusually high in the mix), and the album is drizzled with creamy fuzz solos that will make you vintage pedalheads out there cry. Wray pushed the envelope early in his career with fuzz tone, reverb and tremolo, and his awareness of tone (even with a largely acoustic album) is still evident. His songwriting is a bit shakier, but the top-notch playing & the clarity and warmth of the production make even the less engaging tracks enjoyable. And the good tracks are real knock-outs, especially the B-side opening stomp, "Fire and Brimstone". In all, this is one of those "could've been" major label releases that failed to connect with a clearly established audience (in this case, Neil Young fans) through no apparent fault of its own. This record's definitely an all-time favorite bargain bin find and comes highly recommended to fans of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Willie Nelson, Black Oak Arkensas, and Savoy Brown.

320 kbps mp3 format provided in title link - lossless wav format here.

Mark Fry - Dreaming with Alice (1972)

This is a record that has long been shrouded in mystery. While the extremely rare original LPs fetched thousands of dollars from elite record collectors, extensive bootlegging gave the album enough notoriety to prompt a host of speculation on who this 19 year old was and how on earth he created such a masterpiece. The files offered here are transfers from a 2006 vinyl reissue by Sunbeam Records, complete with original artwork and the elusive Fry's cooperation (and liner notes!).

Dreaming With Alice is about as close as I can imagine to a definitive acid folk album; its hushed tones are both sunny and lurking, lucid and stoned. Picture a precocious adolescent Donovan producing a work equal to the eerie dollhouse folk of For Little Ones or HMS Donovan while avoiding the self-conscious artifice Mr. Leitch often fell victim to. Strains of early Incredible String Band, Syd Barrett, Pearls Before Swine, and Tyrannosaurus Rex also surface, but Mark Fry's music does more than synthesize his influences. Dreaming with Alice is gorgeously innocent and egolessly self-assured in a way that no career musician could match. This is pure ear candy for Carollesque tea partiers, twee folk strummers and navel-gazing psychonauts alike.

320 kbps mp3 format provided in title link - lossless wav format here.