Board Boogie – Surf’n’Twang From Down Under (VA, Big Beat)

Prior to anything else, I must confess I don’t know much about Australian Sixties surf Music apart from the Atlantics and therefore this Big Beat’s compilation is working as some kind of breakthrough on the subject – introducing Australian bands such as the Joy Boys, the Nocturnes, the Resonets, the Aztecs, the Playboys, the Surf Riders, the Fabulous Blue Jays, the Dee Jays, the Sunsets and Laurie Wade’s Cavaliers.
My first impression when I started listening was as if the Shadows were on speeds and start playing their own repertoire with twice or thrice the speed, using, let’s say, Eddie & the Showmen guitars and amps. Can you see where I’m coming from? What I mean is, the kind of melodies and arrangements sound a bit like the Shadows but played much faster and with a brighter sound - much more reverb in general. After some more auditions, however, paying more attention to detail, the songs start gaining their own identity and they’re just amazing. I can almost feel the smell of the sea on a hot beach covered with an immense blue sunny sky. I guess this is just my idea of happiness.
The release information of each song on the back cover of this Cd can be slightly confusing, in particular for someone, like me, who wants to try and find some of these records. Otherwise the liner notes of the Cd are great. Definitely one must have on anyone’s collection genuinely interested in Sixties Surf Music and instro rock.

It's a solid comp with some really good songs ... just don't expect anything that's as great as The (60s) Atlantics were.

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

Brian
Thanks for posting the review!

Does this comp have any Denvermen?

I'm afraid not Brian, only has the bands I've mentioned on the review. Might do some research about Denvermen as I didn't know that name either.

The Surf label bootleg with the Jesters also has the Adrian & The Sunsets album Breakthrough.

I think the bootleg Denvermen 2-on-1 also has the Avengers VI album.

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

The Shadows were a huge influence on Australia instro music in the 60's due to the english connection.

The US and Japan had the Ventures. Everywhere else it was the Shadows.

The Denvermen are an example of this mixture of the surf and the Shads.
Even the new Atlantics sound like they are just rewriting Shads tunes sometimes.

Good luck on chasing down these bands. I live here and I hadn't heard of half of them. !

Freshwater Surfin'

The Murray Basin
Australia

There's a surprising amount of this stuff out there, but you need to dig. Australia and England's take on surf music was very Shadows influenced... the best of the lot being The Atlantics as Warren mentioned.

Atlantics "Bombora"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmMeqid_fmU

There's also Dave Bridge. He sounds more like The Shadows than what we call surf music here in the US, but they definetly called it "the surfing sound" over there.

Dave Bridge “Tornado” …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arLvtgIf1sw

and “The Swan”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTok7giMYi8

I have a video of Dave doing "Mystery Wave" but I couldn't find it on YouTube.

And here's The Renegades doing “Kahuna” to some cool early sixties surfing footage. Again, illustrating that they definetly considered this Shads influenced style very much surf music...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ois9wgw_o

And finally here's The Denvermen doing "Surfside". Sounds like it could almost be a Shadows song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmLl-gkjwWk

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Yeah, great stuff Norm, thanks!

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"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Great stuff, guys! I really like this compilation, definitely a winner! Many great Atlantics-and-Shadows-inspired tracks! For something in a similar mould, check out W&G Instrumental Story CD (I think it's also for sale on bim-bam.com):

Also a nice comp of old Aussie instros, though many of them are much more rock'n'roll rather than surf or even Shadows inspired, dating back to the late '50s (mostly the tracks by the Thunderbirds). Still, the original great version of "Bajjad" (as covered by the Apemen) is here as are another handful of great high-energy instros as only the Aussies could write them and play them! (My picks are, going from memory, the Strangers' "Cry of the Wild Goose", the Cherokees' "Thundercloud", the Tayman "Wayward Wind" and the Phantoms' "Stampede".)

Oh, one more recommendation for an Aussie instro band: the Joy Boys. They started off as a backing band for a r&r singer Col. Joye, but branched off into instros, and recorded quite a lot of tracks. Peter Hood, the Atlantics' drummer actually said they were the Atlantics' biggest local influence, and his drumming in particular was modeled on the Joy Boys' drummer. Their '63-'64 stuff is really great, definitely in the similiar mould as the Atlantics, but still with a distinctive style and sound.

This is the only instro track by them that I could find on YouTube - Southern 'Rora from '62, predating the emergence of surf and more high-energy stuff that was popularized by the Atlantics. A nice song, nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCUmydBs8Ag

The Joy Boys's material is definitely worth tracking down.

Ivan
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Sorry, one more. You can hear 30-second snippets of all the songs on this great comp right here. Enjoy!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
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The Madeira on Facebook
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The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Great tip Klas, thank you very much!
Cheers,
Fred