I can't get enough of spy. It seems like there is still a lot of spyish sound melded into many of the current surf bands.

I'm a sucker for all things spy. Recently I've started collecting 60's spy-themed board games. (Some of which are quite fun!) The music has become kind of an obsession for me over the last year, and I listen to it almost as much as I do surf.

okonacat
I've always felt you could pretty much swap a Surf lead guitarist's gear for that used by a Spy lead player, and not miss a beat.They both tended to favor reverb and tremolo. Anyone have any thoughts?

Well, I'd respectfully disagree here. As far as 60's spy cash-in and exploitation LPs are concerned (not to mention old spy movie soundtracks), aside from the Ventures, Billy Strange, the Clee-Shays and Al Caiola, lead guitar was rarely utilized. In almost all cases, the melodies were carried by horn or string sections. It's strange there wasn't much of a crossover between first-wave and the spy craze, seeing as they occurred at almost the same time. (Though the Euro and Eleki bands sure latched on.)

In case anyone reading this doesn't own the following comp on RPM records, I cannot recommend it strongly enough:

image

-Warren

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

I know there are people who talk about Spy as a special genre, but does anything characterize it apart from the non-musical associations? I'm guessing yes, or there wouldn't be original spy songs by all those bands. But what is the common factor?

FWIW, see The Spy Set.

Apologies for the sound quality (mini digital camera in video mode). The "Spy Set" is an Invaders set piece, often played, and always popular with the audience. (Even if the rest of the show doesn't do much for them. Poor souls.) I just thought I'd like to memorialize something the Invaders will probably never actually record. Future forgotten sound. This is not necessarily the occasion they would have chosen to see memorialized, and no doubt they'd have preferred a better recording job. Trust me, the sound was much, much better than this, and on a given night a given song might be (even) better for one reason or another.

MattCrunk
Man, I never realized Spy was considered a different genre from surf. Just seemed to me to be a cool, recurring theme within surf kitsch. Kinda like horror or hotrods.

I wanted to say that, but chickened out.

Other candidates: "songs redolent of Mexico." Or songs that use the riff from "What'd I Say?" Or - here's a micro-theme or micro-genre - "covers of Heart Full of Soul." This reminds me of a remark I've seen about Flamenco "palos," along the lines of, "Some palos consist of a single song." Or just a standard chord progression.

The Blues are a bit like that, too. In fact, a lot of music is. Somebody does something new. People like it. Others cover it or immitate it more loosely, if that's possible, and we're off and running with a new sub-genre of whatever it was. So, naturally, any school of music is divided into sub-genres.

In the case of spy music, even though I'm not really sure what defines it, I think it is a real kind of music. It clearly orginated outside of surf or instrumental rock music, presumably, given the examples, as actual theme music for spy or police movies. But the process of immitation and development applied there even before the music was adopted en masse by rock instrumental groups who then proceeded to extend it without reference to actual movies. Does anybody know what the first spy or police movie was with a recognizable "spy music" theme?

Anybody for Golf Music?

Harking back to something I suggested a while ago, I think a lot of surf music falls under the heading of a very widely used "Western movie/TV show theme music" genre. But this approach was used so early (think of Pipeline), and has been developed so pervasively, that examples are perceived as typical surf music and not at all "Western" sounding. At most there's a subliminal hint of the connection in the song name (Rescue at Maverick's, Saga of the Floating Cowboy Hat). Or in the original song name , when the name has been changed (Liberty's Whip > Pipeline).

In some cases there are actual musical or non-musical "Western" connections for a surf song of this type, e.g., Ghost Riders in the Sky (actually a "Western" song), or take the theme song for the cowboy movie or show of your choice, e.g., the Crossfire's Silver Bullet. This is because the flip side of this underlying basic "Western genre" is that almost any non-surf music for a Western movie or show will be particularly appealing to fans of surf music.

My $2K.

huzzah!
i love it, every time i log onto surfguitar 101 i find some new thing i have to dig deeper and deeper into. now i'm sitting at my computer at 4 in the morning, when i have to be at work at noon, downloading billy strange via iTunes, which i was actually suprised to see had a decent selection. more spy suggestions please, stuff i can find!

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spskins
I saw Impala's once a year reunion show here in Memphis last month and was reminded how their spy and stripper songs were really their forte. They have added a trumpet player who also doubles on keyboards, but the horns, especially the sax are key. The only surf song they played the whole night was Diamond Head.

Totally agree. If you want to hear what really good spy music done by a surf band sounds like check out Impala's 3 CDs. Their spy stuff was simply brilliant, and the sax made a big difference.

Ivan

Ivan
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MattCrunk
Man, I never realized Spy was considered a different genre from surf. There is a difference?

Big difference. You can play surf if you can know some easy chords and the minor and major scale. Spy requires a knowledge of jazz chords and much more intricate scales, especiially the melodic minor. This comes the roots of the each genre: teenagers vs. big bands and studio cats.

--fd

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I don't suppose there is an idiot's guide to playing spy music out there?

Slingerland61
I like it when surf bands take little "genre-detours": Spaghetti Westerns, Garage, Fuzz, Stripper... then back to Surf. Shows some depth and makes for a more interesting listening experience.

Yep, me too.

Ryan
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