Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt/Handy Man

Del Shannon's second and third albums appear (after a fashion) together on this Beat Goes On reissue. Actually, what Beat Goes On has re-created is the song lineup of the U.K. version of the Little Town Flirt album, which is a plus, as it contains several songs -- including "Runaway" -- that were repeated from earlier releases on the U.S. version. In either configuration, Little Town Flirt was one of the better rock & roll LPs of its period and holds up well. Shannon and his producers probably thought they were playing it safe by loading the record up with a fair number of covers, including "Dream Baby" and "Runaround Sue"; they never dreamt that one of his other covers from early 1963, of The Beatles' "From Me to You," would have put him for a moment on the cutting edge of music in England (where the record wasn't issued until later) as well as in front of the leading edge by almost a year in America. Read More