Menu
"The Lost Legends Of Surf Guitar, Vol. 1-3" (Sundazed)
I got these three CDs about 3-4 weeks ago, and have been slowly
digesting them. There are almost 60 tracks by something like 30
bands on here, so there's a lot to get a handle on. However, the
more I listen to these three CDs, the more I like them. It's quite
amazing that Sundazed was able to dig out this many songs, many if
not most of which are very rare and have not been available on CD,
and some which see the light of day for the first time.
The first thing you'll notice about these CDs is the absolutely
SUPERB packaging! It's quite stunning, in fact. Each CD comes with
its own fold-out booklet, with gorgeous original color photos of the
bands and Fender's promo material; and on the face of each CD is one
of Fender's Holy Surf Guitar Trinity: Strat, Jag and Jazzmaster.
Each CD also comes with copious and excellent liner notes: vol. 1 by
Dominic Priore, Vol. 3 by John Blair (can't remember who did Vol. 2
right now, and I don't have the CDs here). Also included are all
sorts of interesting quotes and recollections by the original
musicians themselves for example, the lead guitarist of the New
Dimensions says that the Jag with flatwound strings is really `thee'
surf guitar, and that a Strat really WASN'T a surf guitar something
that Dick Dale, Paul Johnson, Eddie Bertrand, Jim Messina, Jim
Fuller, Art Fisher and many others may disagree with! Anyway, great
kudos to Sundazed for such a wonderful job with the packaging. WAY
above the call of duty, and surpassing ever their own high standard
of excellence.
As far as the music, I would say that only a fraction of this is in
the must-have category. The best of the sixties surf music has been
released and re-released many times already, and if you wanted to
play some choice tracks to a friend unaware of surf music, I doubt
you would pick any of these songs. Having said that, there are
plenty of us around that are slightly sick and must have it all!!
For those like me, there is plenty to make us happy. Here are some
highlights of each CD.
The first CD is chock-full of great stuff, mostly focusing on bands
consisting of teens exploding with energy and, in some cases,
derivativeness. It opens with a brilliant "El Gato" by the ultra-
obscure the Chandelles (actually I have this on some other
compilation CD, but can't remember which one), followed by
a "Latinia"-inspired "Loophole" by the Royal Coachmen both great
tracks, and the latter only available on Sundazed's mostly-
vocal "Surf And Drag, Vol. 1". The fireworks continue with one of
the most perfect examples of the properly reverbed surf guitar, the
rare "Gear" by Dave Myers and the Surftones, and three previously
unissued tracks by Original Surfaris, including their fantastic
version of "Exotic". I'm not sure what the point was of including
two easily available tracks by the Pyramids (classic "Contact"
and "Penetration"-derived "Pressure"), but it's nice to hear them
anyway. And one previously unreleased track "The Rising Surf" by the
Tandems is credited to Richie Podolor AKA Richie Allen, which is an
obvious mistake, since it sounds nothing like Allen's track of the
same name however, it sounds a LOT like DD's "The Wedge" a bit of
theft going on for sure. Anyway, this is all nitpicking. This is a
great CD, and a welcome addition to any extensive surf CD library.
The second CD besides including another batch of teen-fronted bands
also takes a look at the "old-fogeys" (you know, like THIRTY-year
olds!) trying to cash-in on the new trend and sound, and features
some extremely rare diamonds! It starts off with a previously-
unreleased track by "must-be-kicking-himself-every-night-for-quitting-
the-Beach-Boys-and-thinking-he-could-have-a-real-music-carreer" Dave
Marks and the Marksmen, "Sheriff of Noddingham" even with a major
lead-guitar clam in the middle, it's a double-picking tour de force,
and quite a great track. Off to a good start! Then, a true treasure
for the Ventures fans: the original version of "The Fugitive",
recorded by the man that wrote the song, Jan Davis. It sounds great,
though a bit sloppy compared to Nokie's amazing guitar work on it.
I've never heard this track, wasn't even aware it existed, so that
was very cool. The next truly impressive moment came courtesy of the
studio-surf-guitar-stalwart, Jerry Cole his version of the
Surfaris' "Point Panic" just blows the original to bits!! Cole
sounds like he's on major caffeine (or something else?) high, and
can't seem to hold back when he starts double-picking the second
verse, and then finally breaks out into a solo that would make even
Nokie raise an eyebrow as everyone knows, for Nokie a wildly
emotional gesture (tip of the hat to Rip!). I was really blown away
by the guitar work on this track, it's fantastic. (Mental note: time
to give a listen to Jerry Cole's CD again...) The final diamond of
the collection is the original version of "The Banzai Washout"! Yes,
boys and girls, DD's version was a cover, and I didn't even realize
how close of a cover until I heard this original by the Catalinas,
featuring I think the LA studio A-team of Hal Blaine on drums, Carol
Kaye on bass, sax man Steve Douglas (who wrote the track), and
guitarists Jerry Cole, Tommy Tedesco and Glenn Campbell. It's
burning hot! I wonder if they recorded anything else
Oh, and an
honorable mention goes to Gene Moles whose "Burning Rubber" is chock-
full of drag-race noises which almost bury the very impressive guitar
work, exhibiting quite a few Nokie-isms, no doubt aided by Moles' use
of a Mosrite guitar in the liner notes Nokie is complimenting
Moles, so who knows which way the influence goes? Moles was another
guy in his thirties trying to sound like a teen, BTW, and this and
another track by him are only available on the previously
mentioned "Surf And Drag, Vol. 1". The rest of the album is decent,
but there are several tracks commonly available, notably by the
Tornadoes (though again, it's always good to hear "Gremmie, Pt. 1"
and "Shooting Beavers"!) and the at-best-mediocre Rhythm Rockers and
Jim Waller and the Deltas (though their cover of "Latinia" is at
least different and interesting). The two previously unreleased
tracks by the Surfaris are less than impressive (I think that band
was greatly overrated, anyway), and there are a few other tracks that
didn't leave much of an impression. Still, another fun CD.
Finally, CD 3 consists of tracks from the vaults of Richard Delvy,
originally the drummer of the Belairs, then the leader of the
Challengers, and eventually a successful music producer and
impresario. This CD features Paul Johnson (or Paul Johnson-related
projects) quite heavily, but is in my opinion the weakest and least-
noteworthy CD in the collection. There are some again commonly
available tracks by the Challengers (though Satan's Pilgrims fans
will love the inclusion of "Satan's Theme", the cover of which opens
the SP's debut CD). There are three great tracks by PJ and Artie,
the collaboration of Paul Johnson and Art Fisher with some fine
studio musicians, but they were issued first on AVI's "Rare Surf"
comps and later on Johnson's own label's ""South Bay Surf" comps, as
were the tracks by again quite-mediocre Vibrants. There are some
really bad songs (IMHO) by the Fabulous Playboys and Thom Starr and
the Galaxies in the former case, very clichéd R&B-based surf music
with a bad sax, and in the latter case, a band that was obviously
still learning to play the Galaxies did some great work with Paul
Johnson later, but judging from these recordings, you would never
guess it! The Progressives sound very amateurish, especially while
absolutely ruining one of the all-time great instros, the
Shadows' "Man Of Mystery". There ARE a few highlights of the CD,
among them the two rare tracks by Delvy's studio surf project
featuring Paul Johnson, the Surfriders (one of them being a
successful cover of DD's "Surf Beat" why doesn't somebody release
this entire CD?), a cracking version of "Istanbul" by the Gladiators
(never heard of `em), and a previously available but still good "Moon
Shot" by Kenny & the Fiends.
There you go. A mixed bag, but I would say that the good far
outweighs the bad, and I am glad I got these CDs. I hope this review
will get some of you to get them for yourselves. Praise Sundazed for
bestowing this minor treasure upon us!
Ivan
