Guitarist Wes Dakus and the Rebels emerged from Edmonton, Alberta, in 1958 as Canada's answer to America's Link Wray and Duane Eddy. But the mainly instrumental band made little impact outside of Alberta and other areas of Western Canada, despite airplay by stations across the country. In fact, most Canadians have probably never heard of them.
Many of Dakus's recordings were cut at the studios of producer Norman Petty in Clovis, N.M. Petty also recorded Buddy Holly and another mainly instrumental band, The Fireballs, in that facility.
Dakus's records were released on the Quality label in Canada and by various companies in the U.S., including Dot. Cavalier Twist was issued by Quality in 1962. The MP3 comes from a cassette compilation that was packaged with a Canadian-published instrumental discography in 1986.
Cavalier Twist
Cavalier Twist is available as a legal download from iTunes in Canada, the U.K. and Japan, but apparently not in the U.S.
In 2006, Super Oldies, a Minnesota-based company run by a former Canadian DJ began issuing all of the recordings of Wes Dakus and the Rebels on CD. There are now three volumes (Vol. 1, which includes Cavalier Twist, is pictured above). The only place these seem to be available is the company's website. I can't personally vouch for the quality of the product or the reliability of the company. The website is simple but professional and care appears to have been taken to put out well-packaged, remastered CDs aimed at collectors. The tracks also seem to have been properly licensed for CD release and there are glowing testimonials, including one from a former member of the Rebels. But the CDs do run $18 apiece, so I would probably proceed with slightly more caution than ordering from Amazon, for example.
Having said all that, this YouTube video of Dakus's recording of the lounge music favorite Taboo indicates that the technical quality of the Super Oldies CDs (from which this audio is lifted, according to the poster) is excellent. You be the judge.
Readers, please note the important information on the Super Oldies CDs in the comments below.
The Super Oldies CDs are licensed from Wes Dakus & the only source that the songs appear of this quality, off master tapes. Not only top audio, but detailed booklets packed with info & memorabilia, well worth their price. The iTunes link in fact is an unauthorized offering of these tracks, and from vinyl sources.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this very useful information. I'm amending my posting to make sure readers take note of it.
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