Playing His Best! - Bert Weedon (1950s and 1960s)

Ideated from: albums that have a track called “Stranger Than Fiction”

Weedon was the first British guitarist whose name anyone knew. Undeniably a talented player, he recorded a long string of singles, appeared on the radio, and played on sessions and was an influence on the next generation of British guitarists who would have a slightly higher profile.

The music is primarily blues, jazz, and western song, with some more overt surf rock and guitar boogie on the later singles once those were more established styles. It’s all gentrified to within an inch of its life, but there’s a certain corny appeal to how slick the actual playing is.

There’s no question about the man’s talent, though. He could shred, in his own born-in-Essex-in-the-30s sorta way.

Is “Stranger Than Fiction” a good track?

It’s fine. it’s a little bit of country-flavored fluff, done in the same aggressively boring style as all the early singles here before he found his sound a little more solidly.

Tracks I Liked

Apache - an interesting side-note i stumbled across: Weedon’s was the original recording of this tune, just a bit before the Shadows made it into a surf-rock classic that went on to have a life of its own.