Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are names in every artistic field that are synonymous with excellence, so much so that it is understandable that we perhaps overlook their contribution to the world as we search for the next big thing. Whether this a generational effect in that as we get older the more we move away from those to whom we consider the pioneers of the art, seeking instead the heroes who speak for way we feel emotionally in today’s world, who really can say, but it is always worth reminding ourselves, and those of any age group which we interact with, that greatness is forever, that Gold is a constant force.

It is in the works of a master that we find such artistic jewels, like finding a series of paintings by John Constable or reading through the collected works of Charles Dickens, such elemental prose is eternal, indelibly stamped in Time, and it is to Hank Marvin that Time insists we add to the list of those to whom we owe a debt of thanks.

The three C.D. album retrospective of Hank Marvin’s output is one that Gold is arguably fitting to carry, recognised rightly as one of the Godfathers of the willing guitar sound, Gold is more than a compilation album that reflects a person’s memory, it is a time capsule of sincere homage, and one that is open to all to who see beyond the current fad.

Time is a willing companion when it is being used to create the sense of infinite joy, but it is also to the unexpected that beauty really hits home, and whilst some of the songs that carry the vocal signature are rooted in the mind-set of the fan and casual listener alike, it is the instrument in which Hank Marvin has offered a glimpse of musical salutation that makes the album such a powerful and progressive fanfare for the ears. Hank Marvin’s take on classics such as The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Sealed With A Kiss, Moon River, Ticket To Ride, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, the excellent Peter Gunn, California Girls, the James Bond Medley, Hotel California, Waterloo Sunset and stunningly in his version of Jean Michelle Jarre’s Oxygene (Part IV), that the sheer depth of aptitude shows through.

Of course, it is with the songs that he performed notably with the Shadows and Cliff Richard that will forever see him linked to the top musicians of the last seventy years, but Gold is a moment of sheer bliss that deals around the usual and one that is enhanced by the inclusion of Brian May and Mark Knopfler on a couple of tracks. A defining sound of a generation and one that has traversed across the decades, maybe not always in vogue, but then fashion is such a fleeting mistress that it maybe should be concerned with what lasts forever and what is worth celebrating, and for Hank Marvin Gold is a festival of crucial and critical observance.

Ian D. Hall