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I saw Stevie a dozen times in Austin, when I lived there in the mid-80s. His
playing was
transcendental. Never seen a better guitar player before or since. I cried the
day he died.
And I like his version of PIpeline too.
G
--- In , "Chris" <chris@b...> wrote:
> Lot of surf guys
> > don't care much for SRV, but here's one reason to be grateful to
> > him! (BTW, their version of Pipeline was nominated in '88 for a
> > Grammy as Best Instrumental of the Year.)
>
> So, what's wrong with SRV? Why don't we surf guys like him? I
> know I might be in the minority, but he's one of the reasons I play
> guitar, and i like the SRV DD version of Pipeline. I know Aqua
> Bill will harrass me for that last part.....
>
> How about a Surf version of "Testify"?
> Chris
>
>
>
> --- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
> wrote:
> > March 1997 issue of Discoveries magazine carried a condensed
> version
> > of Stephen McParland's book on Dick Dale. McParland, as I think
> most
> > of you know, is a major authority on all things surf- and hot-rod-
> > music related, and has written many, MANY books on these subjects
> > (which are available through his website in Australia). Anyway,
> this
> > Discoveries story is quite lengthy, but it's a fantastic read.
> It's
> > a story of Dick's life, and the focus is on the music and
> recordings
> > (I suspect the book has more personal information). I've been
> > reading this the last couple of days, and there are many
> interesting
> > bits. I thought I'd share just two things from Gary Usher, who
> > passed away several years ago, but who was responsible for almost
> > single-handedly starting the whole hot-rod craze, co-writing with
> > Brian Wilson and creating the Super Stocks, etc. He worked with
> Dick
> > on two sixties albums, "Checkered Flag" and "Mr. Eliminator", and
> > then again in the seventies and the eighties (on the movie "Back
> To
> > the Beach"). They knew each other very well, and here's how Usher
> > describes Dick:
> >
> > "Dick was not that good of a singer, yet, he had a very good soul
> > voice and he sang good hard rock songs like 'Peppermint Man' very
> > well. Those sorts of songs were tailor-made for him. I'm telling
> > you, Capitol lost a giant star. They lost millions of dollars by
> > losing Dick Dale. If they had left him alone and let him do his
> own
> > thing like he had done before, just helped him out and not
> directed
> > him into the hot-rod thing with people like me, then he would have
> > made it big. He had started the trend - surfing music - and what
> > does hie do, he signs with Capitol and they take him out of his
> > environment, his own little scene and put him into someone else's
> > scene! I have never seen such mismatch in my life. If Dick had
> done
> > more songs like 'Peppermint Man' and good hard-driving
> instrumentals
> > like 'Miserlou', he would have had it made. He needed to have the
> > right produdcer - definitely not Jim Economides, or myself -
> handling
> > him and directing his career. There's no doubt in my mind that
> Dick
> > Dale and Capitol was a real tragedy. Also, Dick was one of the
> > nicets guys I'd ever met. He had a great concern for animals and
> > inside his heart he was very soft and tender. He had a way of
> > reaching out and touching his audience. He cared a lot about
> people;
> > more so than most people that I've met in the record business. I
> > don't think people give Dick Dale enough credit for starting the
> West
> > Coast scene. They'll never know how instrumental he was; the
> > influence he had on Carl Wilson or the influence his band had on
> > Dennis Wilson. He influenced Brian Wilson and really influenced
> me.
> > It was a case of signing with a monster label and being assigned
> to
> > an ignorant A&R man who just really didn't understand what was
> going
> > on. I wish I could have done more for him."
> >
> > Finally, here's a funny bit on Usher producing "Pipeline" by DD
> and
> > SRV for the '87 movie "Back To the Beach" (which incidentally is
> > cheesy as hell - the movie, that is - but a whole lot of fun - I
> > highly recommend it if you haven't seen it). Usher again:
> >
> > "With 'Pipeline' the first recording was much strong than the
> version
> > they ended up using. Stevie Ray Vaughn insisted I take out the
> drum
> > machine and synth bass and other synth parts in favor of 'live
> > friends.' I refused! Therefore, David Kahne, a Columbia
> producer,
> > went in behind my back and replaced the aforementioned with the
> > recording that found its way onto the soundtrack. It was quite
> > typical of the way the whole project was run."
> >
> > Drum machine and synth bass on Pipeline???? Yuk!!! Lot of surf
> guys
> > don't care much for SRV, but here's one reason to be grateful to
> > him! (BTW, their version of Pipeline was nominated in '88 for a
> > Grammy as Best Instrumental of the Year.)
> >
> > Ivan
> >
> > PS One of my favorite bits in Back To the Beach (which, again,
> came
> > out in 1987) was the following exchange between Frankie Avalon and
> > Annette Funicello (their characters in the movie had been living
> in
> > Ohio and are back in SoCal for the first time in many years):
> >
> > [They pass a nightclub with a marquee that reads: "Tonight
> > appearing: Dick Dale and at least 2 Del-tones!"]
> >
> > Annette: "Oh look, Dick is on tonight! Let's go say hi to him!"
> >
> > Frankie: "Honey, we could come back in the year 2000 and say hi to
> > Dick!"
> >
> > C'mon, Dick, let's try for 2020!!!
