"HANK" is OUT

[LANKY]

Summer Guitar, for me, is worth the price of the album by itself. It shows more of what we know Hank is capable of, beyond the public perception of him. It makes it all the more frustrating that "Django's Castle" is unavailable on a 'physical' CD. He's a superb jazz player - the best early indication of that was on Cliff and the Shads' "Dream" EP from 1961. Anyone who knows Django Reinhardt's music knows that it takes a really fine guitarist to get near what he achieved - Hank does that convincingly. Listen to a track from "Guitar Player" called "A tall a tall dark stranger" - performances like that show the full extent of his talent. Nothing wrong with his 'covers' albums, in fact the playing and arrangements are top-notch, but we all know that Hank can do those tunes in his sleep.

[Paul Childs]

Listening to it I think it is an improvement from Guitar Man which to me with a lot of the tracks it was slipped back to the 'Egg & chips' era of the 80s.
This new album is Hank as a solo again like during his solo period in the 90s with a mix of Strat plus a lot of acoustic blended in.
One exception, Sealed With a Kiss is more like 'Egg & chips' but still a great track. California Girls has a lot of variation but it misses the classic intro which is an important part of that song.
Overall it is a great album.

[hbmartin]

Also available on Spotify

In that case everyone can save yourselves a tenner and record it from Spotify. Why not?

Yeah, great idea, let's all save a tenner and rip-off Hank at the same time. Spoken like true fan !!!

[hoffers]

My wife picked me up a copy from Asda last night, years ago I would have been waiting at the shops at 9am on release date but nowadays my enthusiasm has dwindled somewhat, but that's down to me rather than the music.

I played the CD through once last night and enjoyed it, some clever arranging and already prefer it to Guitar Man.

The album was initially titled 'Summer Guitar' but I guess for maximum exposure was retitled 'Hank'.
Hank obviously loves the interplay between acoustic and electric guitars and mixes them accordingly on several songs.
I think it is track 1, 'Taste of Honey' where the bass line is similar to that of 'The Savage' and that's probably the only real nod back to the old days as overall the album has quite a modern, contemporary feel to it.
There are no hints of the damping technique we all know and love or the hammer-ons he deployed throughout the mid-sixties.

'Summer Guitar' is a super track and my favourite thus far.
Not sure 'Message in a bottle' can be classed as a summer song but hey ho it's okay.
'Daydream' has always been a great melody but I like ours better (Tone Raiders - Under The Influence - check it out, I've got one or two . . . hundred copies left).

'Waterloo Sunset' is a nice conclusion to a fine album.

I like the album and to say he is 73 years old, the fella deserves respect in my book.

The Gypsy Jazz album 'Django's Castle' is a strange affair because Hank actually sent me a 'proper' CD with artwork, the lot, so not quite sure why it has only ever been available as a download. In Perth there are probably 5000 CDs in a warehouse.

Hoffs

[MikeAB]

I made the mistake of reading some reviews first - mainly on Charlie Hall's site which I stupidly let influence my expectations (they didn't seem at all good).

Then I first played the CD last night via an iPod and a Bose player which normally gives great sound and it sounded really horrible - just like some of the reviews implied - I was very disappointed with the tinny sound, no bass, squeaky acoustic playing somewhere and the lead Strat guitar sounded too 'active' (?) and prominent. Half way through I gave up.

But it sounded much better on second hearing today through my iPod/PC system (strangely!?). Have now set the 'acoustic' equaliser on the iPod which also seems to make it better (still a bit unhappy with the 'cheap' synth sound on the otherwise great 'Honey' though - surely a better keyboard was available?)

I think I'm gong to really like a lot of it which is all that can be asked - as Hoffers says at 73 it's great to get more of Hank and hopefully he feels refreshed with the Strat style and sound and will do a lot more yet!

[Mark Burton]

Also available on Spotify

In that case everyone can save yourselves a tenner and record it from Spotify. Why not?

Yeah, great idea, let's all save a tenner and rip-off Hank at the same time. Spoken like true fan !!!

Spotify is a legitimate online streaming service, you cannot download or burn anything to a CD or similar. It also costs £10 per month for their premium service which allows off line listening on iphone / PC etc, I have subscribed to this for some time and I find it excellent for auditionioning new music which I may subsequently go on to buy. There are royalties paid by Spotify to the record companies who allow their products onto the service. So no-one is ripping anybody off and I do not like the insinuation.

Stick with the thread and get back to the music!

[Detailed Infinity]

Not a fan of Hank Marvin, The Shadows yes and I make the allegation that people are likely to record to PC steaming from Spotify so live with it. Back to the music

[drakula63]

As I don't have the full CD inlay, can anyone tell me who plays drums on this album? Is it Trevor Spencer...?

As far as I am aware, at least one person on this forum 'may' work for the BBC, so maybe he can give us some idea as to who we should target if we want to get Hank used as the World Cup theme (or even just as background music during the show). Although I can claim to have gone to the same school as David Beckham, I'm afraid that my influence in all matters football is nil.

I will have a look on the BBC website for ideas/inspiration...

[Stratpicker]

Chris, its BEN VANDERWAL.
No sleeve notes is one of my personal reasons for never DL'ing unless impossible to do otherwise as in DJANGOS CASTLE.
cheers
Ian

[hoffers]

Interesting that many feel the best track is Summer Guitar, the only 'original' on the album, and of course most of the tune is played on acoustic guitar . . . just saying

Bruce offered Hank the use of his original Strat for the track but he declined . . . (okay that last bit is made up.
Oh No Bruce, I was only joking please don't stick that guitar up there . . .