THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997 TAG: 9701210039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 77 lines
DAVID RICHMAN calls it ``a best-case scenario,'' and it would go like this:
``The Screaming End: The Best of Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps'' so rattles the people who pick inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland that, shamed by their neglect, they finally place the Norfolk-born Vincent with the other heroes in the $92 million glass palace on Lake Erie.
Richman is 30 years old; he's allowed to daydream.
But hats off to the young producer and his bosses at Razor & Tie, the indie label that is releasing the remastered, 20-song collection today. It's long overdue, too.
``I didn't know who Gene Vincent was when he was recording,'' Richman said from his New York office. ``A friend of mine in high school had an album and he turned me on. I forgot about him for a while - I think a lot of people have just forgotten about him. Hopefully, this record will get attention.''
That Vincent, who died in 1971 at age 36 from bleeding ulcers, is among rock's forgotten heroes is indisputable.
He won a spot on radio station WCMS' ``Country Showtime'' program in 1956 because of his Elvis covers, but it was a song he'd written that hit with listeners. A demo of ``Be-Bop-A-Lula'' was soon sent off to Capitol Records. The timing was perfect. Capitol was looking for a piece of the rock 'n' roll action with its own Elvis; in Vincent, the label got him.
If most accounts of rock history are to be believed, Vincent's chapter begins and ends right there, with ``Be-Bop-A-Lula.''
Fact is, he and the tight, spontaneous Blue Caps - Hampton Roads natives Dickie Harrell (drums), Jack Neal (bass), Willie Williams (rhythm guitar) and the influential Cliff Gallup on lead guitar - enjoyed a nice run from 1956 to '57, cutting a handful of albums and appearing on TV (``The Ed Sullivan Show'') and in the movies (``The Girl Can't Help It'').
Which is why ``The Screaming End,'' one of Vincent's nicknames (``The Black Leather Rebel'' was another), is so welcome.
Included are singles and songs from his first two albums: ``Bluejean Bop,'' ``Bop Street,'' ``Who Slapped John,'' ``Race With the Devil,'' ``Jumps, Giggles & Shouts,'' ``Cat Man'' and ``Crazy Legs'' (also the title of Jeff Beck's 1993 tribute album to Vincent). All rival anything Buddy Holly and the yet-to-be King were doing at the time.
The set benefits immeasurably from the care taken during the remastering process. In 1990, Capitol put out a similar collection; however, after transferring the original masters to digital tape, the technicians fiddled with the different frequencies to create a simulated stereo sound.
Printed prominently on the back of the Razor & Tie release are the words ``Contains Only Original Mixes.''
``That's the one thing I love about our project,'' said Richman, a drummer himself. ``It's true to the way (the masters) sounded - raw but really punchy. I thought it shouldn't be adulterated.
``The tapes sounded that good. It's a testament to the energy of the band. Giving the time frame, they were a raging rock 'n' roll band when there were not many raging rock 'n' roll bands around.''
Vincent may not be much more than a footnote in the United States, but his popularity hasn't waned overseas. Nor has the band's.
Harrell and back-up vocalist Tommy Facenda (a later addition), both of whom still live in Portsmouth, fly to London this week with guitarists Paul Peek and Johnny Meeks (also later additions) to perform with Vincent impersonator Graham Fenton. It's their fifth reunion tour since 1982.
Things are also looking up Stateside. Recently, the four played to a sellout audience at Hollywood's Brown Derby. They also attended a ceremony at Capitol Records, where a portrait of Vincent and the Blue Caps was installed.
``I'll be damned,'' Harrell said last week when told of ``The Screaming End.'' ``I must say, it should have been done a long time ago. As far as I'm concerned, Gene was always ahead of his time.
``About two weeks ago in Parade (magazine), someone wrote in wanting to know why Gene Vincent only had one hit and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I wrote back and said, `My friend, Gene is not in the Hall of Fame, and he had more than one hit.' . . . He deserves it, he really does. In this business, there are a lot of things people deserve that they don't get. And a lot of people who don't deserve them, who do.'' ILLUSTRATION: File photo