Guitar in Orbit

OK, the band in the picture looks like five dorky white guys in tuxes, and not too promising, but trust this reviewer, a lot of this CD rocks. It also waltzes at times and foxtrots at others, and not everything on Guitar in Orbit comes off as your standard rock & roll, but the music is almost always exciting, or at least diverting, and anyone who likes Les Paul, the Ventures, the Shadows, Johnny & the Hurricanes, or any other guitar instrumental act of the late '50s will pretty much have to own this 22-track disc. "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" ought to be enough to sell this CD, but even on the more pop-oriented tracks, like "Vaya Con Dios," the Virtues crunch, jangle, and honk their way, adding embellishment in all the right spots to make it fascinating, and with surrounding cuts like "Guitar in Orbit" and "Guitar Twist," there's plenty of excitement to go around -- and their "Shimmy Shimmy Guitar" is a lost hit, a rousing, bracing rock & roll workout that offers a stunning guitar/saxophone duel. The Virtues will inevitably remind listeners of the Ventures and the Shadows, though they're a little more of a straight-ahead dance outfit than the Ventures and a more passionate-sounding group than the Shadows, who just happen to be virtuoso players. This reviewer actually gave the disc a second listen, a rare honor given his time constraints, though the Virtues had also earned it. Besides, any group who has the temerity to juxtapose "Night Train" and "Begin the Beguine," the latter opening with what sounds like a few bars of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love," no less, deserves the listen and the chance.