Twangy-twang, silky-silk

Continuing my trip back through the 1963 album charts.

20/01/63 : Twangy Guitar Silky Strings - Duane Eddy


Skipping over another week where Cliff was #1 (starting a fourteen week run at the top) brings us to our second visit this year and fourth overall with Duane and I can't help but feel I've probably had enough Duane in my life now - but maybe he'll surprise me.

Well, there's certainly plenty of twangy guitar and silky strings here, but it's all very pedestrian - it just feels like Duane could have knocked this out in his sleep. And I think that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter.

We're at #13 in the charts this week on his last week of an eight week run, with this being as high as it got - for the last three weeks of the run, which is unusual. The top five this week were The Shadows (the third artist we've seen at the top all year, but not quite the last), West Side Story, Elvis Presley, Bobby Vee & The Crickets and South Pacific, with the highest new entry being Cliff Richard.

Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for the album - or any of the seventeen others he put out in the '60s, so it shouldn't feel too bad about it. We have mined his entry for interest (and padding) before but I spotted a new fact this time around for you - before his death in '24, he was the only surviving person to have charted in the first ever issue of the Billboard Hot 100 in '58. Fascinating, huh? This album didn't do quite so well in the US though, only getting to #72.

discogs.com tells us that if you're happy to take the '70 reissue, then you can pick up a copy for a mere fifty pence but if you want the original version then you're going to have to shell out a whole three quid for it. If you want to go mad, then you can have the German issue for £39.11 - but I struggle to imagine why anyone would want to do that because this was all remarkably pointless.

03/02/63 - Another woman?

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