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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Videos »

Permalink Piltdown Rides Again - The Piltdown Men

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The Piltdown Men do Piltdown Rides Again, an arrangement of the William Tell Overture a/k/a the Theme for the Lone Ranger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gev61vACRtU

I believe this must be the original of the Crossfires' Silver Bullet arrangement of the William Tell Overture.

There's another surf connection here, of course, which is that the Rhythm Kings a/k/a the Soul Kings spent part of 1960 touring the West Coast (only, I think) for Ed Cobb and Lincoln Mayorga as the Piltdown Men. The actual Piltdowns were a group of session men assembled to record some novelty "cave man style" instrumentals for Cobb & Mayorga of the Four Preps. The Rhythm Kings' "Piltdown Men" period was during their early three saxophonists and one trumpeter period. "Half the band" - I don't know which of them - were drafted suddenly in late 1960, which ended that phase of their existence. They reformed with only one sax (and one trumpet) in 1962 (plus guitars and drums, of course) and spent couple of years (1962-1964) recording for Tony Hilder & Bob Hafner before going on to a long career as a Latin dance band. It looks like they never had a dedicated bassist. Apparently Al Garcia (trumpet) and Vince Bumatay (sax) and Freddie Mendoza (rhythm) all doubled on bass.

Great tune!! Reminds me a little of Bad Manners or Madness or one of those early 80's British ska bands. Too cool.

The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587

Didn't Tommy Tedesco play in the Piltdown Men sessions? Maybe the bass if I recall.

Reverb, It's A Way Of Life!

Yep. You're right on the mark about Tedesco. Where'd you run into that? Here's what I've found. The site

http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/piltdown_men.htm

gives the studio personnel for the first few Pildown Men sessions as

Scott Gordon (sax)
Jackie Kelso (sax)
Bob Bain (guitar)
Lincoln Mayorga (piano)
Tommy Tedesco (six-string bass)
Allan Brenmanen (drums)
an unidentified individual from the L.A. Philharmonic (tympani)

Blair (2008) suggests that Al Garcia was the bassist, but I think that must be wrong. Some sites list Tedesco as another guitarist.

Discography

First wave of recordings:

McDonald's Cave bw The Brontosaurus Stomp Capitol CL15149 ??/1960

Piltdown Rides Again * bw Bubbles in the Tar Capitol CL15175 ??/1960

Second wave, taking advantage of the TV appearance of the Flintstones animations (1960-1966):

Rossini's "The Great Impostor" bw Goodnight, Mrs. Flintstone Capitol CL15186 ??/1961 and/or Capitol 4501

Gargantua bw Fossil Rock Capitol CL15211 ??/1961

A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody bw Big Lizzard Capitol 15245 ??/1962

A last wave of material with a different set of studio musicians:

Night Surfin' bw Tequila Bossa Nova Capitol 4875 11/1962

The last item is listed by Blair (2008) who considers it surf. The rest is cobled together from various web sources.

McDonald's Cave charted at #14 in the UK in 9/1960, and Piltdown Rides Again also reached #14 in 1/1961, while second wave recording Goodnight Mrs. Flintstone reached #18 in 3/1961. Brontosaurus Stomp rose to #75 in the US in 9/1960.

YouTubery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONiFo9eknSU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiQ_s_vM3Nw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CckoQK7fJiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtovKFrzA1c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzQcy4GVmS0

I'm guessing that LA pop culture in 1960 was intrigued by prehistoric man.

I've been researching Tommy Tedesco as of late. I just simply remembered is all.Man that dude was like the most recorded guitarist of all time.At least that's what some people say.

Reverb, It's A Way Of Life!

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