I was sitting here thinking, although I'm not new to surf/rockabilly/guitar instrumental music, browsing these forums has really introduced me to many groups that I wasn't very familiar with before joining.

Unfortunately, unlike jazz or classical music, surf guitar does not typically have a dedicated section at most music stores. This makes it fairly hard to just browse and grab stuff. And there's really limited air play of this type of music in most communities, so I rarely hear any music before I go and buy an album if I can find one. The thing is, many of the vinyl places do have some of the groups that are discussed about in the forums, but they're mixed in with all of the other records.

So, I was wondering, would it be possible to come up with a list of must-have surf albums? Or perhaps, just a list of what's out there that people should be looking for? I think this would be a pretty good resource for people like myself who are fairly new to collecting this type of music. I remember when I was living in St. Louis that the classical station always posted a list every year of the top 100 classical albums. Perhaps we could come up with comprehensive list of albums that every surf collection should contain?

Wow, that's a tough one. Probably too tough to do this one justice, but I'll definitely list a few that I could not do without:

Classic:
The Atlantics - The Complete CBS Recordings
Jim Messina and His Jesters - The Dragsters
The Original Surfaris - Bombora
Various - Big Surf Comp.
The Astronauts - Movin'
The Chantays - Pipeline
Eddie & The Showmen - Squad Car
The Pyramids - Penetration, The Best of the Pyramids
Lost Legends of Surf Guitar - All Four Volumes

Modern:
The Huntington Cads - Introduce the New Sound
The Bambi Molesters - Dumb Loud Hollow Twang & Sonic Bullets: 13 From the Hip
The Fathoms - Overboard
Jon & The Nightriders - Stampede
Laika & The Cosmonauts - The Amazing Colossal Band
The Nebulas - Nebula One
Satan's Pilgrims - All of them
The Treble Spankers - Araban & Hasheeda
The Phantom 4 - Madhur
Pollo Del Mar - The Golden State
The Madeira - Sandstorm
The Space Cossacks - Intersteller Space & Tsar Wars
The Surf Coasters - Miserlou 10th Anniversary Best Of

Ok, I'm stopping now. This list could go on for pages...

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook

Last edited: Dec 15, 2007 23:14:59

Off the top of my melon...

• Squad Car: Eddie & the Showmen
  
• Bombora - the Original Surfaris
  
• Surf Creature (compilation)
  
• Dick Dale Best of (Rhino)
  
• Satan's Pilgrims: Plymouth Rock
  
• Space Cossacks: Tsar Wars and Interstellar Stomp
  
• Slacktone: Live in Prague
  
• Mermen: Sunken Treasure (very hard to find)
  
• Tremolo Beer Gut: Inebriated Sounds of
  
• Laika & the Cosmonauts: Laika Sex Machine
  

etc, etc...

Shawn Martin
http://www.drummerman.net
http://www.youtube.com/GKacedrummerman
http://www.facebook.com/drumuitar

my top 10 would probably be...

1. Ghastly Ones - A Haunting We Will Go-Go
   2.Compilation - Surf Monsters
   3.Orig. Surfaris - Bombora
   
2. The Centurions - Bullwinkle Part II
   
3. The Nebulas - Its Go Time!
   
4. Man or astroman - Destroy all Astromen!!
   7Eddie And The Showmen - Squad car
   8.The Dynotones - Beach Party a Go go
   9.Red ELvises - Surfing in Siberia
   10.The Nebulas - Self Titled
   

but that's just me.....

-Zanti

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All albums by The Nebulas
All albums by The Bomboras
The Ghastly Ones - A Haunting We Will Go-Go
The 'Verb - Reverberated For Your Pleasure
The High Voltage Sounds of The Reluctant Aquanauts
Eddie & The Showmen - Squad Car

The Bomboras: Head Shrinkin' Fun
The Fathoms: Fathomless
The Fathoms: Overboard
Dick Dale: Greatest Hits (Rhino)
The Ghastly Ones: A Haunting We Will Go-Go
The Aqua Velvets: Nomad
The Aqua Velvets: Guitar Noir
Various Artists: Monster Surf (I think this is the title)

Vincent

Is this something you can share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry?!?

Cowabunga!-The Surf Box (Rhino)
Legends of Guitar-Vol.1 Surf (Rhino)
Reverb Central-Live Surf (KFJC)
Unleashed-The Eliminators (Tri-Surf)
Surfing-The Ventures (Crescendo)
Walk Don't Run Vol.2/Knock Me Out-The Ventures (See For Miles)
Telstar/Ventures in Space-The Ventures (EMI)
2 All-Time Great Classic Albums-Duane Eddy (Motown)
The Best of Dick Dale & His Deltones (Rhino)

My list, with some comments, these are albums I find that I'm always in the mood to listen to:

1- The Aqua Velvets – The Aqua Velvets. Beautifully played and tastefully arranged. Peaceful surf.
2- The Bambi Molesters – Intensity! is my favorite, but really anything they do is fantastic.
3- The Blue Hawaiians – Savage Night. It can be argued that this isn't surf, but I'm a huge Blue Hawaiians fan. All their albums are superb.
4- Brazil 2001 – Fist Full of Sand.
5- Dick Dale – Tribal Thunder is probably my favorite, with Caravan and Shredded Heat being my top songs from it.
6- The Duo Tones – Surf Music Unplugged. Nice acoustic, played to perfection.
7- The Eliminators – Unleashed.
8- The Halibuts – Live at Toe's. Very fun, lively and high-energy. The interplay between the sax and guitar reminds a little of the Eliminators.
9- Huevos Rancheros – Endsville. Canadian instrumental band, their other albums don't do much for me, this album however is superb.
10- Insect Surfers – Satellite Beach. Anything they do is great, Satellite Beach has most of my favorites on it.
11- Jon & The Nightriders – Fiberglass Rocket or Moving Target. I have Stampede ordered, just haven't heard it yet...
12- King of Hawaii – King of Hawaii.
13- Langhorns – Club Gabardino or Langhorns. Both very good CD's.
14- Man or Astroman? - Intravenous Television Continuum. I like most of their stuff, this album is my favorite.
15- Meshugga Beach Party – Meshugga Beach Party. Lots of songs for the Chosen Surfer.
16- The Mermen – Live at the Haunted House. I like everything I've heard from them, Live at the Haunted House gets special mention for the surf medley and the versions of Honeybomb and My Black Bag.
17- The Penetrators – Kings of the High Speed Weekend or Locked and Loaded. Both equally good to me.
18- Pollo Del Mar – Year of the Rooster. Actually all their albums are top notch.
19- The Sandals – Endless Summer or Spirit of Surf.
20- Satan's Pilgrims – Satan's Pilgrims.
21- Slacktone – again anything, Into the Blue Sparkle is my favorite
22- The Space Cossacks – Tsar Wars.
23- Spies Who Surf – Calling All Martians. One of the first surf albums I found, kind of jazzy-surf. I like the arrangements but it certainly isn't surf in the traditional sense.
24- The Surf Kings – Coming Up for Air or Up from the Depths.

Compilation albums:

25- Spaghetti. I'm a big fan of the music of Ennio Morricone.
26- Beyond the Beach. One of the first surf albums I found, in something like a Tower Records. Introduced me to many of the bands listed above. Also has Mexi-melt by SCOTS on it.
27- Surfin' Sundays
28- Tribute to Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. Egypt Texas by the Insect Surfers is amazing.

The best part is that these lists are not complete.
Have fun!

These are my go to discs.

VA:Toes on the Nose
VA: Big Surf
Rumble: The Best of Link Wray
The Lively Ones: Surf Rider/Surf Drums
Man or Astroman: Destroy All Astromen
The Ghastly Ones: A Haunting we Will Go
The Bomoboras: Head Shrinking Fun
VA: Rare Surf Vol 1 and 2
The Ventures: in Space
The Ventures: Surfing
Dick Dale: Surfer's Choice
The Astronauts: Competition Coupe/Surfin' With (primarily the instros)
Strummin' Mental: Vol 1-3 on cd

The Exotics 1994-Current
The Chickenshack - www.wmse.org
www.thedoghouseflowers.com
www.uptownsavages.com