Home Entertainment : Rhino Delivers Engaging Rock Instrumentals on CD

Even if you hate interminable drum and guitar solos in concert, the latest series of CD retrospectives from Rhino Records should prove engaging.

*

The theme of the five-volume series is explained in its title: “Rock Instrumental Classics.”

As usual, however, the label’s creative team hasn’t simply thrown together dozens of instrumentals in random fashion. Producers Gary Stewart, James Austin and David McLees have arranged the 90 songs in the series by era and pop genres.

“Volume 1: The Fifties” kicks off, appropriately, with Duane Eddy’s twangy guitar on “Rebel-’Rouser,” arguably the most influential instrumental record of rock’s first decade.

It is joined in the collection by such other Top 10 singles as Sandy Nelson’s “Teen Beat,” the Champs’ “Tequila” and Bill Justis’ “Raunchy.” The most notable omission: Bill Doggett’s memorable “Honky Tonk (Parts 1 and 2).”

“Volume 2: The Sixties” checks in with 18 more singles, ranging from the Ventures’ “Walk--Don’t Run” to the Fireballs’ “Bulldog” and Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas.”

“Volume 3: The Seventies” offers an even more varied field, including Van McCoy’s “The Hustle,” the Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein” and Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll, Part 2.”

The lineup on “Volume 4: Soul” is highlighted by four tracks by Booker T. & the MG’s, the legendary Memphis rhythm section that played on many of the classic Stax/Volt labels’ hits. The selections include “Green Onions” and “Hang ‘Em High.” Also featured: Hugh Masekela’s “Grazing in the Grass” and the Ramsey Lewis Trio’s “The ‘In’ Crowd.”

“Volume 5: Surf” features such old faves as Dick Dale & the Del-Tones’ “Miserlou,” the Chantays’ “Pipeline” and the Surfaris’ “Wipe Out.”

While there is an innocence and vitality to these instrumentals, you are aware while listening to them of their limits--a reminder of why it’s words and vocal character that give music its most liberating element.

But Cub Koda’s liner notes make a spirited case for instrumentals, arguing that marketing was one reason the instrumental artists’ careers weren’t as dramatic as those of singers.

“Vocals belonged to singers, and singers had faces,” he writes. “Instrumental rock was harder to market because . . . there were (for the most part) no pretty faces or heroes to trot out daily on ‘American Bandstand.’ ”