New CD from Hank!

[Monty]

I GROANED too - I loathe Doctor Who....!!

why not 'Coronation Street' ?

after classics such as 'Eastenders' and 'My Achey Breaky Heart'

sounds like it's the old record company marketing and aiming at a wider public into 'covers' again as opposed to Hanks fanbase for sales purposes etc - a sign of the times re profits etc


I'm reaching...
....out for my copies of 'Shadows Greatest Hits', 'The Shadows', 'Dance With...', 'From Hank, Bruce....' both MW & F albums...and 'Rockin with Curly Leads' !

[dave robinson]

Just listened to the samples on iTunes and all I can say is that for me it is excellent !
Not a bad track amongst them and the guitar sounds are sublime - I mean all of them, not just the lead. For me it's a refreshing change and I will buy it and play it as it's on a par with Brian's John Barry album.

[Fenderman]

I want to find out who said it would be a good idea to turn the Star Wars theme into a guitar track, my brother never forgave Hank for that!
When i buy the new LP i'll be skipping stright to Russian Doll as that's my most anticipatated track!

[bgohara]

From hearing the snippets on iTunes, it sounds very nice. Up to you, of course, if you buy it - but on any album there will be tracks you like, and tracks you don't. Personally I think there is a fair bit of filler on every U2 album, but I still buy them - and sometimes I learn to appreciate them more through time.

I didn't like Star Wars at first, though it grew on me. I actually liked 'Light My Fire' and also 'Guitar Gently Weeps' - even though the treatments were quite different to the original. Personally to me, it doesn't matter whether Hank is playing covers or not - it's about whether it's a good tune, how he interprets it, and how he plays it. I agree with Justin in that often he comes up with a new riff, or a tasteful interpretation. I am really looking forward to hearing the full treatment of 'Michelle' - I was hoping he would keep the little guitar instrumental break. I've only heard the iTunes snippet - but he has kept the essence of the solo, whilst making it his own, and what a great (subtle) key change. I think you can hear the gypsy influence, both in the acoustic lead guitar and also in the rhythm - his love of gypsy jazz has re-energised him. I'm looking forward to the album - and hearing the master in action once again. He is a national treasure, and I'm delighted he is still around and at the top of his game. That's something to be thankful for and embrace - he won't be around forever.

[Dance with Shadows]

I will wait, of course, to hear the full tracks before coming to a mind.

First impression, for what it is worth. Listening to the iTunes samples was all the tracks seem to be about the same beat.

As I said I'll wait.

Can't agree with the comment about lack of echo. There is a lot of echo on most of the tracks.

Michael

[fenderplucker]

For those interested in the technology, Hank wanted an even, mellow sound for these tracks and I swapped out the CS 54 pickups from his three Strats (that he used for the reunited tour and Hank CD) for his Kinmans. The recording chain was guitar-TVS3-vintage Vox AC30 in the control room where Hank played, but feeding into the speakers of another ACX30 in the recording studio where it was mic'd up with condenser and dynamic microphones.

The comment about echo is interesting. There is quite a lot, as Michael commented, but Hank is using it now to enhance the singing of the guitar (and so has used some quite long echo times) rather than the obvious repeats of the earlier classics.

Paul.

[MikeAB]

Don't want to hear these snippets so early really - but you just have to listen don't you!

Impressed with what we can hear so far - it comes across as a 'mood' album throughout - even the good Dr's theme. Hardly 'summer' though, which is a good thing - more a late night, almost bluesy, mature and artistic effort. Looking forward to it.

I usually find Hank's tracks are better appreciated when taken out of their album context (especially 'summer'!) and put into personal playlists on an iPod - this album however sounds like it might be an exception.

[Fenderman]

I guess around release time Hank will come over to promote the album, let's see which reporter first asks 'How did you get the Strat?'. Hank must be bored witless of explaining Getting the Fender catalogue, Cliff bought it etc.
I hope he'll play on a few shows but chances are fairly remote.

[Uncle Fiesta]

... there's a high percentage of tunes that were instrumentals originally: a third, in fact ...

Good point, but on an instrumental album, it should be all of them!

I really wish people would get it into their heads that 99% of songs cannot be turned into instrumentals, they just end up sounding excruciatingly, mind-numbingly boring.

[dave robinson]

Reading some of these comments it is blatantly clear that some are not listening to the samples at all, though it's making me chuckle.
Thanks for the insight Paul on the recording set up. So are you saying that Hank has a vintage Vox now or are you talking about the JMI ?