Shortest Pipeline review ever: Just go out and buy this CD. OK?

Ah, you want a bit more. Very well then….

Warren Bennett and Dick Plant, for they are the Vibratos, have crafted as good as an instrumental CD as you are likely to find this year. The word crafted is used deliberately for this is, admittedly, unlikely to appeal to those whose tastes veer towards, say, Link Wray, Dick Dale and others at the rawer end of the instrumental spectrum. Fourteen tracks in a variety of moods, often with a lot going on, but with each element well-thought out and exactly in place. The material is well-chosen, with the originals sitting very comfortably alongside the work of John Barry, Jim Webb, Paul McCartney and others.

Western themes are always a fruitful source for the instrumentalist, and an inspired merging of two from the pen of Dmitri Tiomkin, the TV theme Rawhide and Gunfight At The OK Corral from the big screen, gets proceedings off to a fine start. Dick Plant's twangy guitar takes the lead role, and the track benefits from live drums by none other than Brian Bennett. The obligatory sound effects do not detract in any way from the appeal of the track. Warren Bennett's title track is already known from its inclusion in the Local Heroes CD some years ago. An acknowledgement of the place of the 2 Is coffee bar in British rock history, it is a piece which manages to suggest the golden days of pre-Beatles instrumentals, without sounding dated. The composer plays all instruments on this track.

Jim Webb's Galveston is one of those vocals which always appealed to this reviewer because of the deep twang of the instrumental break, and seemed a likely candidate for the instrumental treatment. Dick's Gretsch is augmented by six-string bass in an attractive arrangement. The first Barry composition of the CD is from a film which indicated that not all movie spies were like James Bond, and not all spy film scores were like Bond scores. A moody piece, with Dave Bishop contributing atmospheric sax, and Bennett senior once again on drums. The first of Dick Plant's originals has a jaunty rhythm underlying the composer's Telecaster, but this is a more substantial piece that the title might suggest. DP handles all instruments on this one. Back to Barry with one of his TV themes, with Warren in the driving seat. It has to be said that the Tremeloes version of Cat Stevens Here Comes My Baby seems a very unlikely candidate for an instrumental CD, but it is remarkably successful, due in part to the choice of the electric sitar to handle the lead line.

Proving the versatility of John Barry in his film scores is the jazzy theme from The Knack which here has Warren picking out the melody. Jezebel is another vocal which cries out for the instrumental treatment. The Silhouets got there first but the Vibratos treatment has a real quality to it with sweeping guitar lines by DP over WB's drums. White Horses always conjures up memories of Jacky's breathy vocals, but it's a good tune and in Warren's hands it becomes a good instro, though this is one track where the drums do sound a little artificial in places. Macca's Nightingale was originally an Everlys vocal but lends itself to the arrangement used here. Again, the (Dutch) Dakotas may have got there first, but the Vibratos have produced a good version here.

Appropriate sound effects lead into one of Barry Gray's less familiar Gerry Anderson themes. Not as memorable or instantly catchy as Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet, it features driving drums, cheesy organ, pumping brass in spots, plus Warren's Rickenbacker handling the melody. Dick Plant wrote, and plays all instruments on The Trucker which has an insistent guitar figure in the background which suggests a juggernaut rumbling through the night. The last track is another John Barry piece, and by all accounts should have been on Marvin At The Movies. The most overtly Shadows/Marvin track, with Warren's Strat standing in for Hank's. Absolutely beautiful, and a fine closer to the CD.

No, the Vibratos are not in any way a substitute Shadows. There are many sounds here which are nothing like the Shadows, although perhaps a more adventurous latter-day Shadows would have produced something like this. It is simply a well-chosen, melodic collection with a high standard of arranging and playing, and no track outstays its welcome. If that is how you like your instrumentals, this can be recommended without reservation. Warren has promised another one which will be even better. That should be worth waiting for. For the trainspotters, sleeve notes detail who played what on each track, though you will have a little chuckle at some of the contributors.

SIG, guys.

(CD available from Waffles Music, but all credit card orders to Leo's Den – www.leosden.co.uk