There weren't too many really good
rock & roll
albums released in America (or anywhere else) in 1961, and considering that
Runaway With Del Shannon
was slapped together to take advantage of the single
"Runaway"
's number one chart position, it comes off amazingly well. A handful of cuts off of this album, including
"Lies"
and
"Jody,"
frequently end up on anthologies of
Shannon
's work, but there is a bit more here to appreciate. The opening track,
"Misery,"
is a catchy
Doc Pomus
/
Mort Shuman
number that shows off
in the same pained,
romantic
mode as
"Runaway,"
"Day Dreams"
"(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame"
are similarly successful, though the latter song fared far better a few months later in the hands of
Elvis Presley
. Some of the rest is a good deal less appealing, especially when
tries straight
crooning, as on
"The Search"
or
"I'll Always Love You."
"I Wake up Crying"
and especially
"Wide Wide World"
are successful album tracks, and the latter, at a somewhat quicker tempo, might even have made a good single. The stereo version of the album (and the accompanying master) was considered lost for many years and went for large amounts of money, but it finally reappeared on CD properly during the 1990s. ~ Bruce Eder