Guitars Galore - George Barnes

Jeepers Creepers

Guitars Galore
George Barnes
Mercury Records PPS 6020
1961

Here is another obscure Barnes release. Also see Guitars By George Barnes and Guitar Galaxies.

This is a rocking, jazzy and swinging disc featuring stellar Mercury engineering. This entry follows Guitar Galaxies and competes nicely with the finely engineered light-pop records that Enoch Light was producing at the time on his Command label.

From the back cover: Four guitars tuned in the key of F, designed by Barnes, were built for this session by the Guild Guitar Company. As Barnes explains, the F guitar offers a range pitched four notes higher than the standard guitar range making it possible to play with the trumpets; even up to F above high C. Leader Barnes used the F guitar throughout the date.

Several years ago Barnes had the opportunity to use a special reverberative Chamber. The result was similar to the pizzicato effect of strings in a large hall. As he was planning Guitars Galore, he remembered the effect and ordered portable reverberation amplifiers. Their use was controlled by individual foot switches with each unit. The reverberation, tremolo, and reverberation-tremolo could be turned off and on at will by the player's foot. The ordinary vibrato effects of playing on a stringed instrument are enhanced by the color derived from these more versatile amplifiers.

Side one

Singin' In The Rain
Have You Met Miss Jones
Jeepers Creepers
Runnin' Wild
Indiana
Guitar Galore

Side two

Liza
Sugar
Waitin' At The end Of The Road
Too Marvelous For Words
Should I
Pickin' Plenty