The Giant of Rock 'N' Roll

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Not quite as raucous as its predecessor, The Giant of Rock & Roll was Ronnie Hawkins' second of two LPs cut for Fred Foster's Monument label, and more than the first album (Rock & Roll Resurrection), it's not to be missed -- using a lot of the same musicians as on the first record, but with a better selection of material, it gives us Hawkins doing not only some first-rate rock & roll but also successfully covering songs by Gordon Lightfoot ("Home from the Forest") and Jesse Winchester ("Brand New Tennessee Waltz") -- and this was probably the only point where Hawkins intersected in repertory with Joan Baez and such relatively unlikely material as Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover," the latter very successfully, as well as bringing a fine original, "Lonely Hours," to the table. Some of the content represented a softer, more subtle side of Hawkins' work that was seldom played up by his reputation, but it worked. And this time out, in contrast to the earliest album, the moments of more restrained performance and sophisticated production do fit in with the rest of the material -- indeed, one of the highlights of the album is a rendition of "Bo Diddley" that seems like it should have two or three times more players and singers than it needs, but works anyway, and brilliantly. The result isn't anything earth-shattering, except perhaps for hardcore Hawkins fans, who were (and still would be) delighted by the range he displays here; but it shows that Hawkins still had a lot of what made him a great recording artist (and much more than just a straight-ahead rock & roller) in 1974.

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