Ask any ’60s British guitar hero who influenced them most and two names recur. One is Howlin Wolf’s guitanst Hubert Sumlin. The other is Hank B Marvin. The Shadows’ role as pioneers was fleetingly brief and The Essential Collection stretches out the story to 1979, when really all you want is the pre-1963 stuff.
Despite how swiftly Beatledom rendered Hank’s style obsolete, his tremelo-heavy playing on the likes of “Apache”, “Guitar Tango” and “FBI” still retains the capacity to thrill. But what fool decided to include ’70s cabaret dross such as “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water”?
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