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Be What You Want To

Link Wray

Initial release : November 1973

Polydor PD 5047

Jerry Garcia plays on four tracks of this LP.

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album cover

Tracks

  • Be What You Want To (Link Wray)
  • All Cried Out (M Deborah / M Curtis)
  • Lawdy Mis Clawdy (Lloyd Price)
  • Tucson, Arizona (Doug Wray)
  • Riverbend (Link Wray)
  • You Walked By (Link Wray)
  • Walk Easy, Walk Slow (Link Wray)
  • All The Love In My Life (Link Wray)
  • You Really Got A Hold On Me (Link Wray)
  • Shine The Light (Link Wray)
  • Morning (Link Wray)
Musicians

The musicians on the album are;

  • Link Wray - vocals and guitar
  • Teresa Adams - cello
  • Paul Barlow - bass
  • Robert Lee Black - pedal steel
  • David Bromberg - guitar
  • Jules Broussard - tenor saxaphone
  • Commander Cody - piano
  • Lance Dickerson - drums
  • Greg Douglass - guitar
  • Mimi Dye - viola
  • John Dzerigian - guitar, backing vocals
  • Jerry Garcia - pedal steel
  • Tom Harrell - trumpet
  • Tom Heimberg - viola
  • Peter Kaukonen - guitar
  • William Kirchen - guitar
  • Kip Maercklein - bass
  • John McFee - guitar
  • Chris Michie - guitar, backing vocals
  • Jules Rowell - valve trombone
  • Nate Rubin - violin
  • Tom Salisbury - piano, clavinet, backing vocals
  • Rick Schlosser - drums
  • Jack Schroer - saxophone
  • Andy Stein - fiddle
  • Bruce Steinberg - harmonica
Additional backing vocals on various tracks are provided by;
  • Roger Calkins
  • Lou CasaBianca
  • David Coffin
  • Henry Coleman
  • Shirley Coombs
  • Keith Crossan
  • Frank Demme
  • Lou Demme
  • Diane Earl
  • Ken Fishler
  • P. J. Friedman
  • Robert Frost
  • Sheilah Grant
  • Zella Hurd
  • Jeff Husband
  • Carl Johnson
  • Tommy Kay
  • Greg Keeney
  • David Kerran
  • Barbara Mauritz
  • Dorothy Morrison
  • Ray Odell
  • Ray Payne
  • Jerry Segur
  • Betty Smythe
  • Diane Vaughns
  • Denis Welch
Garcia plays on four tracks on this album. The musicians on these tracks are;

All Cried Out;

  • Link Wray - vocals and guitar
  • Tom Salisbury - piano, backing vocals
  • Jerry Garcia - pedal steel guitar
  • Chris Michie - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
  • John Dzerigian - electric guitar
  • Greg Douglass - electric guitar
  • Kip Maercklein - bass
  • Rick Schlosser - drums
  • Jules Broussard - tenor saxaphone
  • Jack Schroer - saxophone
  • Tom Harrell - trumpet
  • Jules Rowell - valve trombone
  • Nate Rubin - violin
  • Mimi Dye - viola
  • Tom Heimberg - viola
  • Teresa Adams - cello
  • Barbara Mauritz - backing vocals
  • Dorothy Morrison - backing vocals
  • Diane Vaughns - backing vocals
Tucson, Arizona;
  • Link Wray - vocals and guitar
  • Tom Salisbury - piano, backing vocals
  • Jerry Garcia - pedal steel guitar
  • Chris Michie - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
  • John Dzerigian - electric guitar
  • Kip Maercklein - bass
  • Rick Schlosser - drums
  • Shirley Coombs - backing vocals
  • Zella Hurd - backing vocals
  • Barbara Mauritz - backing vocals
  • Dorothy Morrison - backing vocals
  • Diane Vaughns - backing vocals
Riverbend;
  • Link Wray - vocals and guitar
  • Tom Salisbury - piano, backing vocals
  • Jerry Garcia - pedal steel guitar
  • Chris Michie - electric guitar, backing vocals
  • John Dzerigian - electric guitar
  • Kip Maercklein - bass
  • Rick Schlosser - drums
  • Shirley Coombs - backing vocals
  • Zella Hurd - backing vocals
  • Barbara Mauritz - backing vocals
  • Dorothy Morrison - backing vocals
  • Diane Vaughns - backing vocals
Walk Easy, Walk Slow,
  • Link Wray - vocals and guitar
  • Tom Salisbury - clavinet
  • Jerry Garcia - electric guitar
  • Chris Michie - electric guitar
  • Kip Maercklein - bass
  • Rick Schlosser - drums
  • Jules Broussard - tenor saxaphone
  • Jack Schroer - saxophone
  • Tom Harrell - trumpet
  • Jules Rowell - valve trombone
Credits

  • Producer - Thom Jefferson Kaye
  • Horn and string arrangements - Tom Salisbury
  • Recording and mixing engineer - Mallory Earl
  • Assistant engineer - Dan Osoke
  • Technical advisors - Vernon Wray, Doug Wray
  • Album design and photography - Bruce Steinberg
  • Art Direction - Ron Nackman
  • Recorded at Wally Heider's Studio, San Francisco
Notes

A number of the tracks on this album were included on the Link Wray compilation double CD, Guitar Preacher, The Polydor Years. The essay in the booklet that comes with the compilation provides a brief comments on the recording of Be What You Want To;

When Link came back to Polydor, it was with Be What You Want To in 1973. [Bob] Feldman insists that, had he not been ousted from the picture, the second album would have been a supergroup session, and that Polydor's parent company would have bankrolled an accompanying movie. Then someone had the idea of recording Link in Nashville with the Allmans, but he ended up in San Francisco with producer Thomas Jefferson Kaye. To that point, Kaye's chief claim to fame was that he had produced Loudon Wainwright's Dead Skunk.

After the back-beyond-basics of the first album, Kaye went to the other end of the production spectrum, opting for a very full production with an assortment of rent-a-guests like Commander Cody, Jerry Garcia and David Bromberg. Like Link Wray, Be What You Want To also stood a chance of breaking through, although for different reasons. It was very much of its time in a Leon Russell-ish kind of way. Asked about it later, Link was dismissive. "It was commercial," he told Sounds magazine in London, "but it wasn't me. When people buy a Link Wray album, I want them to buy it because it's Link Wray, not because Commander Cody's on it.

In an interview in 1997 Link Wray spoke about his time with Polydor and why musicians like Garcia played on his LPs at that time;
That was 'cause I had a big record company then, and they wanted to put all them big superstars on it so they could sell records . . . And none of them people wanted to get paid for doin' it. Like Jerry Garcia, he said, 'I love Link Wray. I just come to play, I don't even give a shit about gettin' paid.' And it was the same with John Cipollina from Quicksilver Messenger Service, Boz Scaggs, Commander Cody and all them guys who was on those records. They just come out and supported me and said, 'We really love your music, Link. We was listenin' to you when we was learnin' to play gee-tar.' And the record company ate that up.
Related releases

The four tracks that feature Garcia were included on;


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