Big City After Dark - Missing Links Volume 2

iTunes Review

The second volume of Norton’s comprehensive four-volume anthology of Link Wray’s lesser known small label releases, Big City After Dark provides a compelling portrait of Link Wray and his Wraymen in the early ‘60s. During this period they maintained a ubiquitous presence on the mid-Atlantic nightclub circuit, blessing small venues from Pennsylvania to North Carolina with their inimitable brand of roots-rock mayhem. “Big City After Dark” is a roughshod take on the low-slung blues stylings of Jimmy Reed that finds Wray coaxing unearthly sounds from his custom Danelectro baritone guitar, while “Walkin’ Down the Street Called Love #1” is a driving exercise in Buddy Holly-derived pop that nonetheless explodes into an incandescent Link Wray solo at its mid point. Languid mid-tempo instrumentals like “The Bad and The Good” evoke the laconic simplicity of Wray’s best-known numbers.