Good Rockin' Tonight

iTunes Review

Before Blue Cheer, the Who, the Kinks or even the great Bo Diddley discovered the invigorating power of the overdriven sounds of the distorted electric guitar, Maryland native Link Wray was tearing up dancefloors with his hair-raising guitar pyrotechnics, coaxing unearthly howls from his instruments the likes of which no one had ever heard. As the superb Good Rockin’ Tonight amply demonstrates, Wray was a wizard at turning a handful of chords into fiery instrumental workouts of monstrous proportions. Like the old-time bluesmen that he idolized, he was a masterful mimic who could make his guitar sound like a wailing fire engine, a roaring beast or a souped-up Cadillac, he could turn a tune as innocuous as the “Batman Theme” into a scorching guitar workout, and he could and did make an entire generation of aspiring guitarists fall in love with his distorted sound. Good Rockin’ Tonight includes many of the best sides from Wray’s early years as a guitar-slinging rebel. The incendiary recordings collected here remain his greatest claim to fame.