Link Wray is Rumble. He is the grandfather of distortion and the argued inventor of the power chord. He paved the road for more flavours of rock than you can name.
However by 1971 Wray had somewhat faded from relevance. His brand of hip shaking rock'n'roll was out of vogue. In a world of proto-prog, funk, soul and heavy metal, where was the place for this six string slinger?
The answer, it turned out, was going unplugged. Capitalizing on the burgeoning roots music culture, Wray retreated to his farm in Maryland to record eleven tracks of riotous country bound rock and folk. The marvelous if little known result was the self titled album Link Wray. The finest cut is easily Fire and Brimstone, today's Best Song Ever.
The songs kicks open the doors with manic twangs of slide guitar, booming and bopping bass, cooling washes of wah-heavy electric. Then the boot stomps on hard wood floors start pumping through. Rocks get shaken inside of tin cans. Finally, rising above it all, are Wray's impassioned screams backed by a chorus of rock and roll angels.
This is the apocalypse burning it's way through the undergrowth and tearing out of the woods. It's roaring. It's rollicking. It's Fire and Brimstone, and it's been out of your life for too long.
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