Thursday, November 30, 2017

Unheard Link Wray Song "Son of Rumble" Finally Sees Light of Day



Link Wray is definitely one of the mostly unsung pioneers of rock n' roll. In 1958 he put out a hit instrumental song titled Rumble. It was a special song because during this time distortion was not a thing yet, but Wray using clever methods such as stabbing his amplifier with pencils managed to acquire a rather unique overdriven quality to his sound. Wray came up with all kinds of psychedelic effects long before the existence of pedals as well. His contributions have been noted because Wray is now up for induction into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. In order to boost awareness of the nomination, Black Keys guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach has released an unheard song of Wray's by the name of Son of Rumble (which can be heard above) on his personal record label Easy Eye Sound.

Easy Eye Sound intends to release the song as a 7 inch single on April 13th for Record Store Day, but in the mean time they have released the song on YouTube and even created an animated video to go along with it.

The video has a great deal of late 50's visuals to treat the eye all in black and white. From pin-up girls to motorcycles to guitars to playing cards to other trippy visuals and photos of Wray there is definitely a lot to take in. However, it seems to add to the experience because it matches the psychedelic overtone of the song perfectly and makes you feel like you're being drawn into another dimension created in another time.

The song itself contains many similar themes to the original Rumble, but it is very much its own thing. For one thing, the song is a lot more upbeat and electric guitar focused than the original and also features a great deal more in the way of reverb and tremolo. Definitely innovative for the time period. It goes back and forth between chords and single string picking rather seamlessly. This is acid trip music before there was even such a thing.

Son of Rumble definitely could have been a hit to some degree or another back when it was originally recorded. It's a shame that Wray never released it in his lifetime. Fortunately we have people like Dan Auerbach who know and appreciate people like Link Wray and can bring us old music that we may never have heard or known of otherwise.

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