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Yesterday I received both the "Dumb Angel No. 4: All Summer Long"
magazine/book AND "Lost Legends Of Surf Guitar IV: Shockwave". All
I can say is, wow. The magazine is incredible, with a huge amount
of early sixties SoCal photos (most of them color), and several
excellent articles about the early sixties surf music scene (did you
know that being a fan of Dick Dale precluded one from being also a
fan of Eddie & the Showmen?? How nuts is that?? Or that DD
alienated Capitol Records at the very beginning of their association
by going behind their back and giving his favorite local DJ an
advance copy of King Of the Surf Guitar LP against the wishes of
Capitol? According to Priore, this was one of the reasons why they
failed to promote him very strongly.) Anyway, I highly recommend
this mag. It's a near miracle that something like this is
available. (There are also a lot of interesting stories on the
Beach Boys, early sixties LA art, culture and architecture, and
various exotica things that I look forward to delving into over the
next few weeks.)
A great accompaniment to this book is the recently released Lost
Legends Vol. 4 CD. Just as good as the first three, it's worth the
price of admission for three songs only: Zorba & the
Greeks' "Shockwave", the Truants' "The Truant" and the
Citations' "Moon Race" - all three on CD for the first time (I
think), and from the original master tapes no less! These three
songs are simply awesome (and well covered - the Penetrators
with "The Truant" and the incredible version of "Moon Race" by the
Boardwalkers), but there's a lot more where that came from. I
already have the stuff by the Belairs, the Avengers VI, and Al
Casey, but it's always great to hear anything by these great
bands/musicians. And the rest of the stuff, though not essential,
is a heap-load of fun and very nice to have. Finally, the artwork
is top-notch as with all Sundazed releases, and John Blair
contributes perfect liner notes to the whole package. It was just a
pleasure to read it, especially his entire discussion of Wisconsin's
surf-music factory Cuca Records. (And I really appreciated his side-
bar on the Belairs embracing the Strat - as did the Citations and
the Truants, judging by the photos - yes!) John, no photos of Zorba
& the Greeks?
Alright, that's it - I'm now back to fantastizing about living in
Orange County circa '63... (Or maybe Wisconsin???)
Ivan
I totally agree, both are great! Hopefully enough people will buy
these so that we get more issues of the mag and more volumes of the
CD series in the future.
As for the DD article and Capitol failing to promote him strongly, it
also says that DD "had a virtual zoo in his house, and could not be
counted on to tour outside the greater Los Angeles area". According
to Priore, this was one of the main reasons why his act never broke
nationally.
/ Klas
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
wrote:
>
> Yesterday I received both the "Dumb Angel No. 4: All Summer Long"
> magazine/book AND "Lost Legends Of Surf Guitar IV: Shockwave". All
> I can say is, wow. The magazine is incredible, with a huge amount
> of early sixties SoCal photos (most of them color), and several
> excellent articles about the early sixties surf music scene (did
you
> know that being a fan of Dick Dale precluded one from being also a
> fan of Eddie & the Showmen?? How nuts is that?? Or that DD
> alienated Capitol Records at the very beginning of their
association
> by going behind their back and giving his favorite local DJ an
> advance copy of King Of the Surf Guitar LP against the wishes of
> Capitol? According to Priore, this was one of the reasons why they
> failed to promote him very strongly.) Anyway, I highly recommend
> this mag. It's a near miracle that something like this is
> available. (There are also a lot of interesting stories on the
> Beach Boys, early sixties LA art, culture and architecture, and
> various exotica things that I look forward to delving into over the
> next few weeks.)
>
> A great accompaniment to this book is the recently released Lost
> Legends Vol. 4 CD. Just as good as the first three, it's worth the
> price of admission for three songs only: Zorba & the
> Greeks' "Shockwave", the Truants' "The Truant" and the
> Citations' "Moon Race" - all three on CD for the first time (I
> think), and from the original master tapes no less! These three
> songs are simply awesome (and well covered - the Penetrators
> with "The Truant" and the incredible version of "Moon Race" by the
> Boardwalkers), but there's a lot more where that came from. I
> already have the stuff by the Belairs, the Avengers VI, and Al
> Casey, but it's always great to hear anything by these great
> bands/musicians. And the rest of the stuff, though not essential,
> is a heap-load of fun and very nice to have. Finally, the artwork
> is top-notch as with all Sundazed releases, and John Blair
> contributes perfect liner notes to the whole package. It was just
a
> pleasure to read it, especially his entire discussion of
Wisconsin's
> surf-music factory Cuca Records. (And I really appreciated his
side-
> bar on the Belairs embracing the Strat - as did the Citations and
> the Truants, judging by the photos - yes!) John, no photos of
Zorba
> & the Greeks?
>
> Alright, that's it - I'm now back to fantastizing about living in
> Orange County circa '63... (Or maybe Wisconsin???)
>
> Ivan
>
