Most young guitarists would probably point to the Gibson guitar which bears his name as Les Paul's principal claim to fame, not realizing that contemporary studio technology, white "blooze" and rockabilly are all more or less attributable to the series of recordings Les made in the early Fifties with Coleen Summers—a k a Mary Ford. As collected in this timely reissue, the Paul/Ford legacy is an imposing—if zany — one. The genesis of every lick played by every lounge guitarist is here, along with a variety of studio tricks. As the unusually informative liner notes boast, Paul was a habitual tinkerer who managed, in pre-stereo days, to overdub as many as 12 guitar parts on a single record. In addition, he manipulated tape speeds so as to change the register but not the fundamental tonality of selected tracks, achieving impossible, burbling runs which turn tunes like "Lover" into ridiculous, surreal excursions. The occasional synthesizer-like leads and second leads scattered throughout the album are simply guitar parts manically speeded up. "Deep in the Blues" is less gimmicky. It's uniquely heavy for its time, with thick chords and simple, twangy melody lines, a prototype for subsequent white blues instrumentals. The introduction to "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" is metal rockabilly, years out of synch with its time, and the choked-string picking with reverb on the same number is reminiscent of some of the things Kingston's great session guitarist Huke Brown does. Mary Ford's singing isn't featured very extensively and doesn't manifest a fraction of Paul's sense of humor when it is. In all, a seminal, hilarious, virtuosic, enjoyable trip down memory lane. (RS 176)

BOB PALMER