Del Shannon - Greatest Hits
These 20 tracks include all the big early-'60s hits by this maverick artist, plus several obscure gems. Shannon was atypical of his era by virtue of age (26 when he had his first hit, "Runaway"), originality (he wrote most of his songs), aggression (unusually among white artists of the early '60s, most of his stuff rocked), and temperament (his songs weave an alarming pattern of misery, paranoia, desperation, vengeance, and despair). Not to mention musical innovation--"Runaway" contains what could be called the first pop synthesizer solo, "Little Town Flirt" casts the mold for the entire British Invasion, "From Me to You" was the first American version of a Beatles song, "Handy Man" transforms the bouncy Jimmy Jones novelty into a rock maelstrom, "Do You Want to Dance" anticipates the Beach Boys' subsequent rockin' reworking, "Keep Searchin'" and "Stranger in Town" could have been the soundtrack toThe Fugitive, and "Sister Isabelle" is the ultimate boy-loses-girl song--Del's gal becomes a nun, and he rails at God for beating his time. It's not 100% brilliant--"Sue's Gotta Be Mine" is a blatant Four Seasons ripoff and "The Swiss Maid" is, as the title might warn, far from yodel-free--but this package is a neat summation of the career of a tragically overlooked artist.--Ken Barnes