7 year thread bump thanks to Billy!

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Very cool thread bump!

It's an excellent performance, but my favorite part was reading Ivan's video description, which is spot on!

After many years as a surf fan I believe Dick Dale's Checkered Flag recording of the Wedge is THE quintessential surf recording. I have plenty of songs and recordings I personally enjoy more, but I still think this one track is the single best exemplar of the surf genre - like if I had to pick only one recording to explain to someone what surf is about, I'd pick this. It nails all the surf hallmarks: the guitar tone, the reverb, the tremolo picking, the glissandos, and of course Dick's technique elevates everything to premier level. He is one of the best examples of one of surf's fun paradoxes: it's capacity for really technical, nuanced melodic phrasing over what are usually very simple chords and song structures. Add to all that the drums: while they don't employ the classic surf rhythm here, the attack and rapid snare and tom rolls are also pretty quintessential.

Melodically, the Wedge is also archetypically surf - no other genre sounds anything like this song. The Spanish turnaround to close out the two halves of the song is a perfect example of how naturally surf can incorporate more 'exotic' melodic phrasing into a rock n' roll setting, which is one of my favorite characteristics of the genre. (Even though it's a blatant Malaguena ripoff it fits so perfectly in this song I've never faulted Dick for it, like the song couldn't have been better with any alternative.) God, it really is primo stuff. It's not just a song that makes you love surf music, it's music that makes you love music!

Thanks for the bump to make me revisit this glorious, iconic song!

wooza wrote:

Very cool thread bump!

It's an excellent performance, but my favorite part was reading Ivan's video description, which is spot on!

After many years as a surf fan I believe Dick Dale's Checkered Flag recording of the Wedge is THE quintessential surf recording. I have plenty of songs and recordings I personally enjoy more, but I still think this one track is the single best exemplar of the surf genre - like if I had to pick only one recording to explain to someone what surf is about, I'd pick this. It nails all the surf hallmarks: the guitar tone, the reverb, the tremolo picking, the glissandos, and of course Dick's technique elevates everything to premier level. He is one of the best examples of one of surf's fun paradoxes: it's capacity for really technical, nuanced melodic phrasing over what are usually very simple chords and song structures. Add to all that the drums: while they don't employ the classic surf rhythm here, the attack and rapid snare and tom rolls are also pretty quintessential.

Melodically, the Wedge is also archetypically surf - no other genre sounds anything like this song. The Spanish turnaround to close out the two halves of the song is a perfect example of how naturally surf can incorporate more 'exotic' melodic phrasing into a rock n' roll setting, which is one of my favorite characteristics of the genre. (Even though it's a blatant Malaguena ripoff it fits so perfectly in this song I've never faulted Dick for it, like the song couldn't have been better with any alternative.) God, it really is primo stuff. It's not just a song that makes you love surf music, it's music that makes you love music!

Thanks for the bump to make me revisit this glorious, iconic song!

Hey Ben!!! So good to see you commenting here!! It's been too long, my friend! I hope you're doing well!

I love you comments above, and find myself in almost complete agreement with them. I'd like to just add the somewhat controversial development and evolution of the track, which you may or may not know about.

The basic melody of what became "The Wedge" seems to originate in a track "Rising Surf" by the Tandems, recorded but never released back in the day. It's interesting that it doesn't yet feature the full Malaguena-ish bridge, but instead just a hint of it, and like you point out, it definitely suffers for it. Its overall energy level is much lower, too, so the overall effect of the recording is fairly forgettable.

I have heard - I'm not sure where, but probably Stephen MacParland's Dick Dale biography - that Dick's father, who was his manager in the '60s, bought the songwriting rights to this track, obviously recognizing something promising in it. Dick revised it, adding the Malaguena bridge for the first time, and released it under the title of "A Run For Life" in January '63, as his final Deltone Records single before moving over to Capitol Records. It's such a great version, too! It doesn't yet have the over-the-top brutality and energy of "The Wedge", but it does have a much more sophisticated arrangement, with the horns, a choir, and my favorite aspect, the acoustic rhythm guitar which I absolutely love on there! Finally, it's interesting that Dick claims in the songwriting credit for the track, too.

From there, we finally get to "The Wedge", released in November of '63. It now has a more streamlined arrangement (though still featuring the choir in the background), the horns dropped, the acoustic guitar replaced with a more direct electric rhythm part, and a drum part that much more upfront and key to the song, especially in the intro, played by the legendary Earl Palmer.

It's an interesting evolution to get to this possibly most quintessential surf recording! It took a little while, at each step being perfected a bit further, I would say.

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
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Ha!! I'm sure there are several other posts or even threads on SG101 about that whole thing! Should have just looked it up and linked it!

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

Great to see an old thread come back up talking the King and Ivan! The challenge of playing fast, trem picking inspired music is always fun. Ivan mentioned conditioning when trem picking. It truly is relatable to sport. I'll be 63 in February and our music is not getting any more relaxed. We did 2 hours just before Christmas after several months rest. I was shocked to realize how poorly conditioned I was going into that gig. I practiced pretty hard for a few weeks going into the gig to get the right hand and arm where it needed to be. I learned my lesson about staying in condition. We have a building schedule for 2024. I'll exercise frequently. I don't want my hand to look like this again following a gig.

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Ha! "Holy smokes! That reminds me of when I used to do roofing jobs, way back in the day, and my hands looked like that all the time, because of the gravel on the shingles."

Needless to say, I am going with a thicker pick after years of playing .73's. I always loved the tone of the.73 attack. We had played 2 hours of our most aggressive music and I should have pulled out a new pick occasionally. Wore the pick, nail and skin down. Very painful but the crowd loved it!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

I just have to ask, are you sure that you didn’t do a roofing demonstration during pert of your act? “And now, our lead guitarist will demonstrate the application of T-Lock shingles, for your education and edification.”

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

I couldn’t resist. When I was in my teens, I worked installing T-Lock shingles, and my hands looked just like that.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.