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I've been buying stuff like mad lately (much to my wife's dismay), and I've
been on a winning streak:
The Volcanos: Surf Quake
Incredible! I bought this to do research for the upcoming surf show in Indy,
and this is awesome. Great trad sounding surf. I had not heard very much
about these guys at all...quite the hidden gem. Truly great stuff here. I've
got their 2nd CD on back order right now. I can't wait to see them live.
Highly recommended.
The Torquays: Somewhere in California
Can't say enough about this one either. Great trad sounding surf music. A
zillion new original tunes. Some new textures added with acoustic guitar.
The Penetrators had their Scottish surf song, now the Torquays have an Irish
one. Great writing and playing.
The Shadows: Shadows are Go!
More research for the Indy show. This is a greatest hits type collection of
Shadows stuff. Ivan now has me hooked on the Shadows. If you want to take a
break from surf and trade your reverb unit for an echo unit listen to this.
Great melodies and guitar playing. The Shadows beat me to my lifelong dream
of being immortalized as one of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's marionettes
(Thunderbirds are Go!).
The Nebulas: Nebula One
I think I already crowed about this one. It kills! Fast aggressive trad
sounding stuff. Must have.
The Atlantics: Complete CBS Recordings Vol 2
This is very interesting. The Australian instro band from the 60's, heavily
influenced by The Shadows. If you like the Space Cossacks, you'll dig this.
Some of the cuts are kind of dull but the good stuff is well worth it. Ivan
tells me volume 1 is better, and I now have it on backorder.
Pollo Del Mar: Live From Japan (Town)
Hilarious packaging, very well done. I love these guys. When I want to take
a break from trad surf I throw these guys on to put me off balance. They
kind of have a new and different edge to the surf sound. Its still rooted in
surf but they have their own distinct take on it. Great original songs,
great playing, love their melodies, and some great covers: The Linus & Lucy
song, Zeppelin's 4 Sticks, and a Nirvana song.
The Treblemakers: The Doomsday Device
I have had this on backorder 4 different times from CD-Now. Finally got it.
It is an amazing Bomboras style disc: The Farfisa organ is hot, some songs
have bad-ass fuzz guitar, some songs are more surfy. All great stuff. I take
it back, this disc is even better than The Bomboras, IMHO. I am really
enjoying this one. Another must have. Lawn Mower Drag '99 floors me.
Slacktone: Surf Adventure Tour - Live In Prague
I've been dying to hear this one and it does not dissapoint. You must own
this. I cannot believe the pure, precise, blindlying fast, exacting
aggression that Mr. Wronski gets out of his Jaguar. Just listen to The Bells
of St. Kahuna. It makes me want to give up the guitar...just toss it in the
trash. Wow. I am speechless. The covers are all hot, especially The Wedge
and Misirlou. And they prove they can play those complex multi-layered
Slacktone originals live. Dave sounds like he has 3 hands. Dusty is
amazingly fast and hot, and Mike is rock solid. Nice liner notes and photos
for Mike Sullivan too. I think Ferenc did the packaging again too. Great
job.
I would love to hear what other people are listening too, and/or your take
on the above discs. I can't get enough of this stuff. I'm going to have to
check into Surf Music rehab.
BN
