One of my favorite surf pieces is Delano Soul Beat. This was written by Vince Bumatay, Al Garcia, and Art Rodriguez of the Rhythm Kings. Its namesake is the town of Delano (del-LAY-no), CA, north of Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley. The Rhythm Kings were from the Tulare-Delano area.

Delano Soul Beat was recorded a number of times by Hilder bands. It's hard to be sure how many times, becauses separate appearances, essentially all of which I have never heard, might or might not be the same version. In some cases where I have heard the different instances they actually are somewhat different! However, it is probably safe to assume that most of these instances below are the same version shopped to different record companies, most essentially rack jobbers.

I thought it might be interesting to compile information about the Delano Soul's appearances in one place, as a sort of example of how Hilder handled the material he recorded. The first part of this is a straight lift from John Blair's Illustrated Discography of Surf Music, 4th edition (2008).

<u>The Rhythm Kings</u>

Delano Soul Beat : Rhythm Kings : Original Surfin' Hits : GNP Crescendo 84/S-84 4/63

<u>The Soul Kings</u>

Delano Soul Beat : Soul Kings : Surf's Up! At Banzai-Pipeline : Northridge 101 4/63

Delano Soul Beat : Soul Kings : Surf's Up! : Reprise R/S-6094 6/63

The Soul Kings are just the Rhythm Kings under a different name, according to the liner notes by Ray Baradat of the Charades for 1999 CD Exotic and Rockin' Instrumentals 1963-1964, with Tracks by The Charades, Bacchus Archives BA1135. However, the different names might represent different sessions. Or they might sometimes mean different sessions and other times be just arbitrary. At this point I'm not sure anyone knows.

<u>The Charades </u>

Delano Soul Beat : Charades : Battle of the Surfing Bands : Del Fi DFLP/DFST-1235 : 3/63

Note that the Charades proper - originally the Latin Knights - were a vocal combo. Their accompanying instrumentalists were called the Charades <u>Band</u>, according to Baradat. Since their version of Delano Soul Beat is an instrumental with "chat" over it, I'm not sure if this song would be a Charades song or a Charades Band song. The Charades Band had personel in common with the Rhythm Aces, one of the precursors of the Rhythm Kings, and the two groups - the Charades and band and the Rhythm Kings often performed (and maybe recorded?) together.

<u>The Original Surfaris</u> (sometimes labelled as the Surfaris)

Delano Soul Beat : Surfaris : Beach Party : GSP 6901 : ?/63

Delano Soul Beat : Original Surfaris : Shake, Shout & Soul : Impact 2 : ?/63

Delano Soul Beat : Surfaris : Surf Party : Ava 28/S-28 : 2/64

Delano Soul Beat : Original Surfaris : Wheels-Shorts-Hot Rods : Diplomat D/DS-2309 : ?/64

Delano Soul Beat : Original Surfaris : The World of Surfin' : Almor A/AS-108 : ?/?

Delano Soul Beat : Original Surfaris : Hot Rod Drag Races : Almor A/AS-109 : ?/?

Delano Soul Beat : Surfaris : Surfing : Guest Star G/S-1433 : ?/?

<u>The Surf Teens</u>

Delano Soul Beat : Surf Teens : Surf Mania : Sutton SU/SSU-339 : 6/63

<u>Bob Vaught & the Renegaids</u>

Delano Soul Beat : Bob Vaught & the Renegaids : Surf Crazy : GNP Crescendo 83/S-83 2/63

===

I can add a few footnotes to these.

There seems to be only one Renegaids version of DSB, but it is a full 8 seconds longer on the original Renegaids LP Surf Crazy than it is on the recent CD Surf Crazy, GNPD 2245, which is an extended re-issue of the old GNP Crescendo S-84 Original Surfin' Hits. The original Original Surfin' Hits actually lacks Delano Soul Beat.

The CD reissue of the Surf Teens' Surf Mania calls the song Delano Surf Beat. Blair has the original LP calling it Delano Soul Beat. There's probably a typo there somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

The Charades version listed above for Del Fi DFST-1235 Battle of the Surfing Bands is not the same version as the one on the (relatively) recent CD Please Be My Love Tonight (Collectables COL-5728). For example, the chat from the vocalists is noticeably different.

I haven't actually heard (any of) the Original Surfaris versions!

<u>The MORT Band</u>

There's a fun recent cover called just Delano Soul that appears at

http://www.myspace.com/themortband

Sorry, Jeff! This got out of hand ...

Last edited: Jun 16, 2009 19:10:46

Oh, damn! I just knew I wasn't main stream enough! But, Jeff, that surf & soul thing is just too good to ignore.

Still, I resemble that last remark. I focus on those killer European bands a lot, too.

Ha!!!!

I have a tad of OCD but nowhere near the amount that Tuck does.
I just am not that into following all the stuff that one producer did.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Sandy
Way to go,Tuck! Fascinating and thorough, as usual. You should be named the official historian of early surf music. Always a pleasure to see what you are doing next.

Thanks for the support, Sandy! I appreciate it, though in all honesty I think that title has been handed out already to a few other guys who actually deserve it! Bob Dalley comes to mind ... He didn't happen to do, or at least publish, an interview with the Rhythm Kings, so I didn't get to quote him this time, but there's a good candidate for official historian. Other names come to mind. We do need somebody to interview the current wave of guys. Maybe Jeff?

Jeff's a good guy, and a more valuable one to surf music past and present any day than I ever could be. He and I just don't see eye to eye on what's worth doing. Some people just want bliss to just be bliss and not think too much about the details. They go to the shows. Others want to know how to repeat the process or elaborate on it. When they figure it out they want to perform or arrange for somebody else to perform. Me, I start wondering why I feel blissful, when it started, who was responsible, how they did it, etc. And when I think I might have figured it out, I have an urge to talk about it. It's not the same kind of fun as the music per se, but it's still fun for me.

I don't really think it's OCD behavior to look into things the way I do. I think of it more as not having ADD ... However, I don't mind Jeff kidding me about it. If I was the only person who thought like this, there wouldn't be anyone for me to quote. And, I notice that in spite of all the rum Jeff's consumed he managed to skip forward to the end and notice me kidding him.

===

What I really wanted to talk about was Delano Soul Surf!

So I'm surfing the web trying to determine the origin of Intoxica and all of the bands who covered it.

This is what I found out (in no particular order BTW):

1. Revels (first)
   
2. Al Garcia & the Rhythm Kings
   
3. Sentinals
   
4. Centurions
   
5. Original Surfaris
   
6. Jim Waller & the Deltas
   
7. Surf Teens
   

In the process, I came across this amazing Myspace post on the Rhythm Kings...

(BTW, their version is my favorite. You can find all the others on iTunes with the exception of the Revels)...

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=74306017&blogId=499754604

If that author and Tuck aren't the same person then they should be.

Tuck
We are the same person, but only on those days when I'm talking to him. I need to fix that to reflect some corrections in dates and the fact that the Garcia brothers are still alive and living (and playing) in Bakerfield. I think you can still hire the Rhythm Kings to play a gig folks. It'll be mostly Latin stuff, but pretty hot, I suspect. However, I need a new home for it, because I am mostly out of MySpace now.> Great work sir! I found loads of really cool and interesting information on your myspace.

You should think seriously about made some few interviews and write a complete study on the Hilder/Hafner/Knowles works and the "Pachuco Soul" story. You have a really great knowledge on the matter.

Thanks from Spain.

JC
You should think seriously about made some few interviews and write a complete study on the Hilder/Hafner/Knowles works and the "Pachuco Soul" story. You have a really great knowledge on the matter.

Thanks from Spain.

Thank you very kindly. It is just obsessively collecting facts from other people and lining them up. I believe Bob Dalley is working up some of this stuff (starting with the original sources, which are mainly the terrific Rhythm Kings CD liner notes by Ray Baradat) and so something about all this will eventually appear in the revised Surf Guitar book.

Ray himself is alive and well, of course, and if anyone could write the Pachuco Soul story it would be him, I think. He knows or knew all the (other) principals. He has interviewed the Garcias in the past (and very generously shared some of this with me) and he still jams with them.

How could I have missed this!

Supertones Soul Beat 1
Supertones Soul Beat 2

On All for a Few Perfect Waves. Not to overlook this from MORT.

MORT's Delano Soul Beat now on ReverbNation (yet another MySpace refugee).

Actually, this is not the same version they used to have up on MySpace, I think, though it is still pretty MORTal.

Honorable mention to

Soul Beat Pt II

by Jim Waller & the Deltas. I suppose Delano Soul Beat is Soul Beat Part I. Or am I missing an earlier precedent? Probably.

Incidentally, thanks Whorehay! Between bouts of sanity, I will.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Last edited: Nov 15, 2011 16:11:03

We have a plethora of instrumental goodies, but I know it's not all "surf." I just like music and have to be in a special mood for vocals.

Heck, I have a ton of those Trojan ska/reggae comps and I tend to gravitate toward the instrumentals for their raw jazzy solos.

"Turn the knob to 10 and break it off!" -Baja Marty