Holy shit, it's summer! You know what that means: force feeding you surf music to keep me in the mood. Make no mistake, at this end it's a matter of priorities and surf music takes care of two: surf and music. I've listened to a lot of surf music and Dick Dale is still my favorite. He may not be rated by other aficionados as the best (Eddie and the Showmen are strong contenders) but he was the first, and he actually waxed up. There are other reasons he's my favorite but we don't have to go into that right now. I'll gush about his character later. There will be more Dick Dale posts this summer.
These are from his first self-released LP Surfer's Choice. He was just
starting to use reverb. "Let's Go Trippin'", despite being an all-time
surf classic, has no reverb at all. "Surf Beat", another song that ranks
on my all-time intro list, is awesome. He starts the song and yelps
something like "yeahh, lokumoa" or possibly "yeahh, look 'em over"; I've
been listening to the song for decades and have never been
certain of what's said. And a couple beats later, it's another mangled
message. That's the part of Dick Dale that I like, His vocal delivery. Like his "Take i'
off!" in ":Take It Off", and "Shake an' stomp!" in "Shake n' Stomp". He doesn't try to be pretty.
Listen:
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Surf Beat mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Take It Off mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Shake n' Stomp mp3 at Internet Archive
Dick Dale and the Del-Tones - Let's Go Trippin' mp3 at Internet Archive
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