Del Shannon - Home & Away

Like so many rock & rollers swept off the charts by the rising tide of psychedelia, Del Shannon turned on, tuned in and dropped out via 1967's lysergic pop suite Home & Away, a surprisingly effective and engaging LP cut during his brief affiliation with Rolling Stones Svengali Andrew Loog Oldham. While titles like "Runaway '67" certainly seem to lend credibility to Liberty Records' decision to shelve the sessions, on further investigation the record is a compelling interpretation of Shannon's signature heartbreak pop, viewed through the looking glass of Oldham's Baroque, candy-colored orchestrations -- Shannon's otherworldly vocals achieve a new maturity and poignancy here, substituting their traditional romantic longing with the desperation of an artist struggling to remain relevant and vibrant in a brave new world. EMI's 2006 reissue represents the definitive presentation of this long-lost material, assembling the proposed album in full and adding five unreleased mono mixes. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide