DEL SHANNON - 'And The Music Plays On' (Sunset Records SLS 50412) 1978

If you're a fan of Del Shannon's late 60s period when he was recording beautiful but ignored psychedelic baroque pop this is an album for you. Most of these unreleased gems (a few managed to gain a release via 1967/68 singles) have recently been unearthed once again on a CD titled 'Home And Away'...the title of the proposed album at the time but Liberty Records decided they didn't like the material Del had recorded so it never saw the light of day.

This album on Sunset Records, a label from England, came out in 1978. Bearing in mind that at this point in time England was all about punk rock and new wave groups I'm not sure if this release would have ever been noticed or written about in the music press. Who wanted to buy old music from the 60s? So once again, the greatness of Del went unnoticed.

Things have moved on now of course and Del Shannon has seemingly become fashionable once again, and I for one am absolutely delighted. I consider him to be a genius with one of the best male singing voices of the 60s.

I could have selected any song on this album to represent it as the quality throughout is superb. Each and every cut has it's merits. I'm gonna go for 'Cut And Come Again' because it was never released as a single and wrongly lay in the vaults for over ten years before being released on this LP.

The song was written by Billy Nicholls, who was an Immediate signing and released some records in his own right. Billy actually recorded his own version of 'Cut And Come Again' but the song was retitled 'Come Again.' You'll find it on his 'Would You Believe' album....