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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Music Reviews »

Permalink Surf-Age Nuggets: Trash & Twang Instrumentals: 1959-1966

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So, I was all geared up to take a nice nap after work before heading out to rehearsal until I frantically ripped open the box and saw that THIS was waiting for me!!! WOW, WOW, WOW! I'm not going to go into too much detail now, because I really want to dive right in, but upon the first few thumb-throughs, it is going to make a lot of surf geeks EXTREMELY happy!!!

Just a few initial reports/observations/stats...the whole thing comes in a nicely tactile horizontally oriented hardcover book. All four discs, cleverly printed with vintage volume knob graphics, are housed on the inside front and back covers. The first two discs contain 25 tracks and the second two, 27. From what I can see so far, most if not all of the tracks are from singles and there are even some vintage ads smattered in between (Vox Instruments, Surfing Soft Drink Commercial, Horror of Party Beach Trailer, James Bond Trailer, Baja California Radio ID and more!).

The 60 page book contains a ton of surf and surf music memorabilia alike-- cars, ads, guitars, magazines, movie posters, paperback book covers, records, stills from cartoons and TV, models, comic books, show posters, and more! There are forewards by Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Chris Isaac, and an introduction by the set's producer, James Austin. Every track receives its own blurb of notes by none other than Alan Taylor and Dave Burke of Pipeline Magazine fame. Also of note is the fact that after their credit at the end of the notes, it states "With grateful acknowledgement to John Blair whose book The Illustrated Discography of Surf Music: 1961-1965 is the surf collector's bible."
At the end of the book, there are sections for "Recommended Reading" (which immediately I can see sadly excluded The Continental), "Recommended Instro Collections" (I'm sure there will be lots of debate on this one), "Recommended Websites" (which lists SG101 fourth, after reverbcentral.com, surfmusic.com and instromania.net) and "Recommended Organizations." I could go on and on but want to get to it!!! More soon....

Insect Surfers
The Tikiyaki Orchestra
The Scimitars
Lords Of Atlantis
Fiberglass Jungle - Surf Radio

Last edited: Nov 02, 2012 13:19:47

Wow, sounds like a must own set!

surfmusic.com? Hmmm

Nice to be mentioned though.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

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

Last edited: Nov 01, 2012 20:53:45

Yeah, I know, Brian. That's a real travesty, but so it goes. I love that you always remain positive and humble-you're a good man.

I'm tellin' you, this set is a monster! Soooo much fantastic stuff to digest. Here's the first half of the track listing:

Disc 1
1. The Velvetones - Doheny Run
2. The Shan-Tones - Sheba
3. The Valiants - Jack the Ripper
4. The Vaqueros - Echo
5. Johnny McCoy & The Cyclones - Scrub Bucket
6. The Surf Teens - Moment of Truth
7. The Ramrods - Night Ride
8. The Emeralds - Earthquake
9. The Runabouts - Surfer's Fright
10. The Avengers VI - Slaughter on 10th Ave.
11. The Phantoms - X-L3
12. The Vistas - Moon Relay
13. The Scouts - Mr. Custer Stomp
14. The Vibrants - The Breeze & I (Typo on the back cover reads "The Vibrant)
15. The 4 of Us - Batman (Freefalling)
16. Chiyo & The Crescents - Pink Dominos
17. The Pace-Setters - Mustang
18. The Reekers - Don't Call Me Fly Face
19. The Lincoln Trio - Garden of Eden Part II
20. Dick Dale & The Del-Tones - Jungle Fever
21. The Vaqueros - 80 Foot Wave
22. Steve Rowe & The Furys - Minor Chaos
23. The Kan Dells - Cloudburst
24. KHJ Radio Jingle
25. The Road Runners - Quasimoto

Disc 2
1. The Emotionals - Miserlou
2. The Revelairs - The Cruel Sea
3. The Safaris - Kick Out
4. The Velvetones - Mr. X
5. Robin and the 3 Hoods - The Marauder
6. Vox Instruments Radio Commercial
7. The Rick-A-Shays - Turn On
8. The Travelers - Windy & Warm
9. The Vulcanes - Cozimotto
10. King Rock & The Knights - Scandal
11. The Reveliers - Hanging Five
12. The Hollywoods - Scramble
13. The Mockers - Madalena
14. The Royal Coachmen - Loophole
15. Rich Clayton & The Rumbles - Flip Side
16. The Losers - Snake Eyes
17. The Carnations - Scorpion
18. The Gestics - Rockin' Fury
19. Commercial: Pipeline Pete
20. The Ron-De-Voos - Pipeline "66"
21. The Torquetts - Side-Swiped
22. The Sinders - Sinner
23. The Royal Flairs - One Pine Box
24. The Nautiloids - Nautiloid Reef
25. Surfing Soft Drink Commercial

Insect Surfers
The Tikiyaki Orchestra
The Scimitars
Lords Of Atlantis
Fiberglass Jungle - Surf Radio

Thanks for the run-down, Jonpaul! I seriously might have to mosey over to K-mart and get this over the holidays.

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

Dear Santa.
I have been good this year.
Please can I have Surf Age Nuggets and a new FRV-1 in black.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thegreasemonkeyz

It's now $43.49 on Amazon!

I tell you, I think it's near a damn miracle that a collection like this would be released! I mean, these are some OBSCURE tracks! And FOUR CDs worth of obscure tracks???? It's a dream-come-true for some of us, but I still can't believe. Can this really be a commercially viable proposition?? I guess we'll find out! No matter what, THANK YOU to the producers of this!!!!

How cool that there are introductory notes in the booklet written by Mike Campbell and CHRIS ISAAK! Of course we all know that Isaak has had a serious surf influence in his music from the very beginning, usually through Jimmy Wilsey's guitar playing, but it's still very cool that he would do this.

Here's the press release about the collection:

Surf Age Nuggets, a four-disc box set chronicling the history of surf music, will headline an ambitious quartet of reissues coming on September 25, 2012 on RockBeat Records, a unit of S’more Entertainment.

Surf Age Nuggets traces the ethos and attitude of surf music from 1959 through its demise in 1966. From long boards and short hair to short boards and long hair, the collection celebrates the lesser-known purveyors of the sound. Included in Surf Era Nuggets are such bands as Dick Dale & the Del-Tones, Bobby Fuller, the Velvetones, the Shan-Tones, the Valiants, the Ramrods, the Surf Teens, the Royal Coachmen and dozens of others.

All 100 tracks are instrumentals and many are indeed obscure. There were a number of indie labels willing to cash in on the surfing movement and there was no shortage of bands ready to take the money and play. This compilation accurately reflects the first time that music, sport and teenage lifestyle came together and confirms the attitude that surfing has always been a “rebel sport.”

Surf music was perfect for everyone with its twangy mixture of basic, pure-yet-raw ’50s rock & roll, minus the teen-idol baggage. Suddenly, surfing and surf music were front and center, featured in comic books, advertising, movies and television series such as Batman, Mr. Ed and The Flintstones. The sound became pervasive and songs like Link Wray’s “Jack the Ripper” and “Rumble” perfectly capture the essence of surf music. To this day, his music is the centerpiece for television (“The Sopranos”) and films such as Pulp Fiction, Independence Day and Desperado.

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Last edited: Nov 02, 2012 15:22:08

While The Blue Stingrays' Mike Campbell does have some nice, descriptive, first-hand expressions of why Surf Music strikes a chord in so many, citing "Pipeline by The Surfaris" seems a bit inexcusable.

Interesting to note that the set's producer and compiler, James Austin, is the very same Austin responsible, with John Blair, for producing the infamous Rhino Cowabunga! box set back in 1996. But this is not just a coincidental connection, as Austin clearly states in his introduction that Surf-Age Nuggets "is meant to to be the companion to Cowabunga! The Surf Box as it celebrates the flip side of the hits heard on the radio, it's the unsung heroes of that decade."

Also interesting that Austin very specifically calls attention to what he refers to as "the last holdout" in 1966 as the scene faded--Stanton, Kentucky's The Elite U.F.O. He maintains that they in particular "demonstrate how far the genre has come by taking the basic 'Tequilla' riff from surf and then to garage/psych all in 3:20!"

Here are the track listings for the other 2 discs: (with band/single geographical origins included):

Disc 3
1. The Squires - BaTmoBile (Youngstown, OH)
2. The Road Runners - Road Runnah (Denver, CO)
3. The Rhythm Surfers - 502 (Like Getting Pinched on a 502) (Basically The Pharos, Rancho Cucamonga, CA)
4. The Ree-Gents - Downshiftin' (Gloversville, NY)
5. The Tradewinds - Gotcha (Omaha, NE)
6. The Irridescents - Swamp Surfer (Los Angeles, CA)
7. The Creations - Crash (Bridgeport, CT)
8. Jerry & The Silvertones - Ce'ny (La Crosse, WI)
9. The Monzels - Sharkskin (Kingston, NY)
10. The Horror of Party Beach Trailer
11. The Vy-Dels - Unknown (?)
12. The Countdowns - Do It (Anderson, IN)
13. Wax 'em Down - The Avantis (Hollywood, CA)
14. The Cherokees - Uprisin' (Los Angeles, CA)
15. The Royal Flairs - One Pine Box (Council Bluffs, IA)
16. James Bond Trailer
17. The Twilights - .007 (Sauk City, WI)
18. The Debonairs - High Wall (CA)
19. The Motivations - Motivate (Glendale, CA)
20. The Persuaders - Cry of Atlantis (Saranac Lake, NY)
21. The Sherwoods - Tickler (El Paso, TX)
22. The Sting Rays - One Mo' Gin (?)
23. The Tempests - Lemon Lime (Rochester, NY)
24. Bobby Fuller - Stringer (Los Angeles, CA)
25. The Vibrants, Scorpion (Manhattan Beach, CA)
26. The Newport Nomads - Blue Mallard (Newport Beach, CA)
27. The Breakers - Jet Stream (Wichita, KS)

Disc 4
1. Manuel & The Renegades - Rev-Up (Ontario/Chino, CA)
2. The Telstars - Spaghetti Stomp (Honolulu, HI)
3. The Birds Trailer
4. The Motivations - The Birds (Glendale, CA)
5. The Frogmen - Beware Below (Culver City, CA)
6. The Hollywood Surfers - King of the Stomp (Huntington Beach, Hollywood, CA)
7. The Charades Band - Sophia (Tulare, CA)
8. Calvin Cool - El Tecolote (Hollywood, CA)
9. Dave & the Customs - Ali Baba (Pomona/La Puente, CA)
10. Jim Head & his Del Rays - Harem Bells (Riverside, CA)
11. The Fugitives - The Fugitive (Plattsburgh, NY)
12. The Torquays - The Other Side (Detroit, MI)
13. Baja California Radio ID
14. The Turks - Baja (Evansville, IN)
15. St. John & the Cardinals (GA)
16. Five More - Avalanche (Westchester, CA)
17. The Mosriters - On the Run (Sheffield, AL)
18. The Elite U.F.O. - Tarantula (Stanton, KY)
19. The Buddies - Pulsebeat (Philadelphia, PA)
20. THe Vaqueros - Desert Wind (Rochester, NY)
21. The Dantes - Dragon Walk (?)
22. The Decades - Strange Worlds (Akron, OH)
23. The House on Haunted Hill Trailer
24. Kenny & the Fiends - The House on Haunted Hill (?)
25. Marlow Stewart & The Illusions - Earthquake (Bellflower, CA)
26. The Toads - Morpheus (Lawrenceville, NJ)
27. The Vistas - No Return (Rochester, NY)

Insect Surfers
The Tikiyaki Orchestra
The Scimitars
Lords Of Atlantis
Fiberglass Jungle - Surf Radio

Last edited: Nov 03, 2012 15:18:42

i must purchase a copy of this soon Cool

www.surfintheeye.com

Just ordered my copy. Too bad they didn't include the Continental magazine in their "required reading section", but not a big deal. Really looking forward to this - great track listing, and the booklet sounds amazing as well.

Sean
Double Crown Records
www.doublecrownrecords.com


Surf CD's / Vinyl / Fanzines / DVD's
Aloha Screwdriver - Lunar Wobble CD
The Nebulas - Euphorion LP / CD
Supertubos - The Fourth Drive CD
Continental Magazine - Issue #37 w/17 Song CD

JONPAUL wrote:

While The Blue Stingrays' Mike Campbell does have some nice, descriptive, first-hand expressions of why Surf Music strikes a chord in so many, citing "Pipeline by The Surfaris" seems a bit inexcusable.

Very Sad, I keep hoping that he will redeem himself, yet he keeps putting his foot in his mouth. I really like his guitar playing in
the Heartbreakers, but just seems to always be off a bit when it comes
to surf. Like the lack of Reverb on the Blue Stingrays cd.

Interesting to note that the set's producer and compiler, James Austin, is the very same Austin responsible, with John Blair, for producing the infamous Rhino Cowabunga! box set back in 1996. But this is not just a coincidental connection, as Austin clearly states in his introduction that Surf-Age Nuggets "is meant to to be the companion to Cowabunga! The Surf Box as it celebrates the flip side of the hits heard on the radio, it's the unsung heroes of that decade."

This is very cool, and makes complete sense.
I was always hoping for something like this.

Also interesting that Austin very specifically calls attention to what he refers to as "the last holdout" in 1966 as the scene faded--Stanton, Kentucky's The Elite U.F.O. He maintains that they in particular "demonstrate how far the genre has come by taking the basic 'Tequilla' riff from surf and then to garage/psych all in 3:20!"

Wow!! can't wait to hear that track.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

for those that missed it, info on how/where to get here:
http://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/19069/?page=1

Jeff(bigtikidude)

I've never heard any of these songs.
Maybe JonPaul can chime in and rate the music and quality of mastering ?

A lot of obscure stuff like the Pebbles collection was taken from 45s
because a master tape could not be found. Am wondering if this true for surf age nuggets ?

Sound samples can be heard here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/surf-age-nuggetstrash-twang-instrumentals-1959-1966-mw0002362468

DaveF wrote:

I've never heard any of these songs.

A handful of these have seen the light of day on previous comps, either vinyl or CD. Just off the top of my head, these here I already have on my iPod:

The Avengers VI - Slaughter on 10th Ave.
The Phantoms - XL-3
The Vistas - Moon Relay
The Vibrants - The Breeze & I
The Furys - Minor Chaos
The Emotionals - Miserlou
The Velvetones - Mr. X
The Royal Coachmen - Loophole
Rich Clayton & The Rumbles - Flip Side
The Gestics - Rockin' Fury
Wax 'em Down - The Avantis
Bobby Fuller - Stringer
The Newport Nomads - Blue Mallard
The Breakers - Jet Stream
Manuel & The Renegades - Rev-Up
The Torquays - The Other Side

I'd say these next five tracks from this collection are already classics, and have been covered quite a few times in the past 20-30 years:

The Creations - Crash
The Vy-Dels - Unknown
Dave & the Customs - Ali Baba
The Illusions - Earthquake
The Toads - Morpheus

and one of my all-time favorite obscuros:

The Motivations - The Birds

So awesomely dark and foreboding, and the reverb on it is just SICK!!!

It's gonna be an epic collection! I've already put my order in. Just another ten days!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Can't wait for this one - gonna be good. I love the Vox commercial.

If you google the comp and go to the FYE website, they have some audio clips of all the tracks.

JONPAUL wrote:

... citing "Pipeline by The Surfaris" seems a bit inexcusable.

How about this line then from the press release posted above: "... and songs like Link Wray's "Jack the Ripper" and "Rumble" perfectly capture the essence of surf music."

IvanP wrote:

A handful of these have seen the light of day on previous comps, either vinyl or CD.

I would say at least 50-60 of the tracks have been comped before...

TFJ wrote:

I love the Vox commercial.

Yeah, it's great but totally out of place in this context. Would have worked if they placed it as the last track though, haha.

Anyway, I'll definitely be getting this for the 40-50 tracks I don't already have although I could definitely have lived without the cluelessness going on.

T H E ✠ S U R F I T E S

DaveF wrote:

I've never heard any of these songs.
Maybe JonPaul can chime in and rate the music and quality of mastering ?

Also like Ivan wrote, I've heard many of them. However, some I only have on vinyl, so it will be nice to have the convenience of a CD to bring in the car, load onto the iPod, etc...

I listened to the samples on the Kmart website last weekend. It's the only place I could find samples of all tunes. I can't recall which one, but I know that one I had only heard covered by the Hangee IV from Italy; was stoked to finally hear the original. There's also a few grinders on there. I can't wait to get a copy. I'm holding out, hoping I get it as a Christmas gift!

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

Klas wrote:

IvanP wrote:

A handful of these have seen the light of day on previous comps, either vinyl or CD.

I would say at least 50-60 of the tracks have been comped before...

After having another look at the tracklist along with pulling out comps from my collection to compare, I would now say that as many as 70-80 of the tracks have already appeared on other comps. Although there are some great songs among the 20 or so left, I now most likely won't be getting it just for those. Still, the box set should be a great buy (at least music wise) for anyone who haven't already got too much on it. Definitely lots of great stuff included on the discs.

Tikitena wrote:

I can't recall which one, but I know that one I had only heard covered by the Hangee IV from Italy; was stoked to finally hear the original.

You're thinking of the song "Batman", originally recorded by The 4 Of Us. Great tune and The Hangee V really did it justice with an excellent cover version.

T H E ✠ S U R F I T E S

Yeah Tena, The Hangee V covered "Batman," originally by The 4 Of Us, on their Self Titled 2005 For Monsters Records release.

Interesting to figure out where we've heard some of these others previously? I managed to find a few:

Surf Creature Vol. 2
The Velvetones - Doheny Run
The Vulcanes - Cozimotto

Surf Guitars Rumble Vol. 2
The Torquays - The Other Side
The Reveliers - Hanging Five
The Creations - Crash
The Ron-De-Voos - Pipeline "66"
The Monzels - Sharkskin
The Emotionals - Misirlou

Surf Guitars Rumble Vol. 3
The Irradescents - Swamp Surfer
The Safaris - Kick Out
The Rick-A-Shays - Turn On
The Road Runners - Road Runnah
The Mockers - Madalena
The Gestics - Rockin' Fury
Marlow Stewart & The Illusions - Earthquake

Diggin' Out
The Newport Nomads - Blue Mallard
The Vistas - Moon Relay
The Gestics - Rockin' Fury
Dave and the Customs - Ali Baba

Surfer's Mood Vol. 1
Dick Dale & The Deltones - Jungle Fever

Surfer's Mood Vol. 3
The Royal Coachmen - Loophole
The Velvetones - Mr. X
The Vibrants - The Breeze & I

Surfer's Mood Vol. 4
The Decades - Strange Worlds

Sleazy Surf Vol. 2
The Mockers - Madalena
The Velvetones - Doheny Run

Lost Legends of Surf Guitar Vol. 1
The Royal Coachmen - Loophole

Rare Instrumentals Vol. 9
The Frogmen - Beware Below

Surfin' in the Midwest Vol. 1
The Vaqueros - 80 Ft. Wave

Surfin' In The Midwest Vol. 4
The Valiants - Jack the Ripper
The Kan Dells - Cloud Burst

Surf Mania, Some Kinda Fun...With Songs We Taught The Untamed Youth Vol. 1, New Wave Surf Party
The Surf Teens - Moment of Truth

Strummin' Mental Part 4
The Breakers - Jet Stream
The Tradewinds - Gotcha
The Dantes - Dragon Walk
The Hollywood Surfers - King of the Stomp
The Ron-De-Voos - Pipeline "66"
The Losers - Snake Eyes
The Emeralds - Earthquake
The Road Runners - Quasimoto

Strummin' Mental Part 2
The Emeralds - Earthquake
The Tradewinds - Gotcha
The Breakers - Jet Stream
The Ron-De-Voos - Pipeline "66"
THe Losers - Snake Eyes
The Five More - Avalanche
The Motivations - The Birds
The Sherwoods - Tickler

Strummin' Mental Part 3
The Reekers - Don't Call Me Flyface

Strictly Instrumental Vol. 1
The Reekers - Don't Call Me Flyface

Strictly Instrumental Vol. 3
The Fugitives - The Fugitive

The Surfer's Beat
Calvin Cool - El Tecolote

Insect Surfers
The Tikiyaki Orchestra
The Scimitars
Lords Of Atlantis
Fiberglass Jungle - Surf Radio

wow good work JP,
but still worth getting the box set, right?

Jeff(bigtikidude)

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