Link Wray "Rumble! The Best of Link Wray" [1993]

Who says you need to re-visit Elvis, Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis to get an accurate depiction of the genesis of rock 'n roll? All the lunkheaded trashiness of the era that finally put Patti Page's doggie in the window to sleep for good exists on Link Wray's seemingly endless, mostly instrumental compilation "Rumble!" Even worse -- Link Wray never bothers leaving the shithole roadhouse he's mangling his generic blues numbers in, making the listening experience of this album one long, annoying night drinking whiskey with fat chicks. This might be seen as pro-Link Wray's integrity, but in reality it speaks of an amazing level of visionlessness, even among white American guitar players. Why anyone even knows who he is now has less to do with Wray's drunken laziness than with the ineptitude of future rockers like AC/DC and The Cramps, who adopted his cranked-out, cranked-up approach because it was apparently easier than learning how to play anything good. So feel free to consider this guy as influential as you want -- just don't confuse it with something worthwhile.