I can't tell you how many times I passed by on the LP above over the years. Even when I was a teenager just getting into surf music, if I saw this in a thrift store I would smell a cash-in. "Wipe Out"? Really, that's the first cut? The majority of record-buying people wouldn't realize that it was not the original version. Only a fraction of people, those who knew surf music, would see it as a red flag. I did and I knew little about surf music but I did know the original version by the Surfaris. The fact that it was a cover and that the LP cover didn't have the band members' names or even a photo of the band on it was another couple of red fllags. Until today I had never bothered looking at the liner notes. Anonymous band plus cover of "Wipe Out" equaled don't bother. For years I thought that, decades. Today, there was a clue.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
BUT, BABY, IT WAS THE LINER NOTES FAULT!
Friday, June 23, 2023
THE GODFATHER
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
Friday, June 2, 2023
AIN'T NO BODYWOMPERS I KNOW.
It's June, beach time is coming. The weather here in Southern California has been cooler than usual but the water is starting to warm up just in time. By warm, I'm talkin' 63°, a might cool but do-able without the Slurpee headache. (It peaks in the low 70s, mid-summer.) It reminded me that I'd bookmarked a song that I'd re-found, a song I first posted thirteen years ago, "Body Wompin'" by Jim Waller and the Deltas. It's a standard surf-type instrumental but notable for a couple reasons. One is that "body wompin'" is another term for bodysurfing. I know of no other bodysurfing themed song so it's automatically a keeper. Another reason is that the band was from Fresno, comprised of nineteen year-olds. Fresno is roughly fifty miles inland, a long haul for nineteen year olds. At least they knew to name an instrumental after a type of surfing that hadn't been mined. There's a few covers down there too. It's interesting to hear how nineteen year olds interpret familiar songs. Not too shabby.
Jim Waller and the Deltas - Body Wompin' mp3 at Internet Archive
Jim Waller and the Deltas - Exotic mp3 at Internet Archive
Jim Waller and the Deltas - Work Song mp3 at Internet Archive
Jim Waller and the Deltas - Church Keymp3 at Internet Archive
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
THE YEAR SURF BROKE
I've had it with cold weather. Fuck you low pressure system and fuck your atmospheric river as well. I'm in Southern California and, weather-wise, I know I'm lucky. But this is getting old. Following a weekend where temperatures in the Northeast (NYC and Connecticut) reached the high eighties while here, roughly twenty miles from the southern border with Mexico, the temperature never made it past the low sixties. Worse, two weeks ago the water temperature was at an all time record low of 52.5°F.
Remedy? The Endless Summer, the first non-fiction surf movie released for distribution in regular theaters. (Prior to The Endless Summer, non-fiction surf movies were shown in rented halls. Only the phony beach party type movies got theatrical releases.) The soundtrack is pretty good, surf music with elements you don't often hear in surf music. Acoustic guitar, harmonica and, the weirdest of all, melodica. Here's a factoid for you. John Van Hamersveld, designer of that iconic movie poster (above) would later design the package for the Rolling Stones' Exile On Main St. incorporating photos by Robert Frank and Norman Seeff (the latter on postcards included in early pressings).
The Sandals - Scrambler mp3 at Internet Archive
The Sandals - 6-Pac mp3 at Internet Archive
The Sandals - Drifting mp3 at Internet Archive
The Sandals - Theme From The Endless Summer mp3 at Internet Archive
Watch:
The Endless Summer at Internet Archive Full length, 91 minutes, 1966
Monday, June 20, 2022
SUMMER, FUCK YEAH!
I just got out of the water about an hour ago. The water temperature is 69°, the air temperature 74°. With the exception of a lack of quality surf, the conditions were about as good as June gets, and summer doesn't officially begin for a few hours. Tonight, it's a no brainer. Like it or not, surf music it is. All of the cuts below have been posted before on different posts, but never all together, and it's a real mish mash. The first one, "Penetration" by the Pyramids, is a personal favorite as is "Baja" by the Astronauts. The second and third songs (Dick Dale's "Miserlou" and the Lively Ones "Surf Rider") were both in the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction so they may be overly famliar to some of you. Still, they're excellent. There's a couple other Dick Dale songs too because, well, he's the damn King of the Surf Guitar. The rest, with the exception of "Pipeline" are lesser known tracks. I couldn't find an mp3 of Eddie and the Showmen's "Squad Car" but had to include it because they are so underrated. Eddie Bertrand is one of very few surf guitarists mentioned with the same sort of reverence as Dick Dale, and I think I remember reading somewhere that Bertrand was the only guitarist that Dick Dale himself regarded as a peer.
The Pyramids - Penetration mp3 at Snuthing Anything
Dick Dale and His Deltones - Miserlou mp3 at Snuthing Anything
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at Snuthing Anything
Dick Dale and His Deltones - Night Rider mp3 at Rocky 52
Dick Dale and His Deltones - Ghost Riders in the Sky mp3 at Rocky 52
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky 52
Aki Aleong and the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe is Turning-On the People
The Torquays - Escondido mp3 at Office Naps
The Astronauts - Baja mp3 at California Girls
Johnny Fortune - Soul Surfer mp3 at Rocky 52
Charles Write and the Malibus - Runky mp3 at Office Naps
Calvin Cool - El Tecolote mp3 at Office Naps
Eddie and the Showmen - Squad Car (streaming) at YouTube
Thursday, July 8, 2021
AND THE WINNAH IS
Some friends were posting links to a gig by the Nashville Ramblers, who rarely play out. They're playing at Tiki Oasis this year. Tiki Oasis is like a convention for people into all that tiki stuff. They have other stuff too, burlesque, exotica and assorted retro stuff and I've never been. The thought of seeing the Nashville Ramblers appealed to me enough to check out the event site. Once there I saw the other bands that are playing. One of the bands was the Toumaliners, who I'd never heard of. There's a old man's surf spot a few miles north called Tourmaline, so I figured they were a surf band, although curious as to why the picked a not-so-challenging surf spot to name their band after. What the hell, I headed to their site to see what they were all about. One song and already dismissed. A "surf" cover of a Coldplay song. What. The. Fuck. Bad idea all around. Then I looked at their photos and saw that their keyboard player had a laptop in here set up. And done.
I started thinking about contemporary surf bands and how the bulk of them always have something that they just get wrong. I don't mind if the equipment's isn't all vintage or how their dressed, shit like that. The real surf bands can still pull it off. And the ones that can't sure as hell shouldn't cover Coldplay. No surf band should. And it's not because it's not a vintage song. It's just so, well, nothing. It has no punch. It's Chris fucking Martin. There are thousands of songs that would make good surf covers. Never mind the band's name, the surf spot or the laptop. The song choice alone invalidates them for me. Adding reverb to a shitty overplayed and overrated song does not work. Unless you're mining for page views.
Here's a couple medleys by two instrumental bands that slay the Tourmalamers. Both irreverent in style (power chords?) and song juxtapositions. But they make up for it in their deal-with-it blasphemy. I'll deal with it, especially if it gets me the hell away from Coldplay.
Tourmaliners - Clocks mp3 at Tourmaliners Orig: Coldfuckingplay
Surf Manchu - Pipeline Über Alles mp3 at Internet Archive Orig: Chantays/Dead Kennedys
Lawndale - Interstellar Caravan (streaming) at YouTube Orig: Pink Floyd/Duke Ellington
Thursday, June 24, 2021
AND HE PROBABLY HATED SURF MUSIC.
Did I ever tell you about the time I met Greg Noll? Probably not since most of you don't know he is. He was a big wave surfer, a gutsy pioneer who excelled in giant surf, late fifties, early sixties. When he wasn't surfing, he made films, shaped surfboards and raised hell. And, as I found out roughly five years ago, sometimes he waited for his wife, in a truck in a parking lot at Ralphs, a supermarket.. Remind me to tell you about that encounter some time. Like you could give a shit. Really, I figured I better say something other than "Here's some surf music. Later." That's Noll in both photos. Check that one above, a half century before tow-ins. Imagine paddling into that on a log with block fin. You'd need a slug of juice too. There's a good reel with vintage clips at the Encyclopedia of Surfing. Now, here's some surf music. Later.

Friday, January 31, 2020
POST-BEACH, BACKYARD ROCK
So, if it feels like summer and the parrots are telling me the real thing is coming sooner than usual, what the hell, here's some surf. Oddball and vintage, all from the vaults of Downey Records, home of the Rumblers. What's with the song titles though? Do you think "Migraine" is gonna sell? "Theme of Etiquette"? And how about that glaring band name. "Hey man, you gonna checkout Pastel Six tonight?"
Saturday, October 12, 2019
SQUEEZE IN THERE GUYS. CLOSER. CLOSER...
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at The California Girls
Mix:
Surfin' Hangover - 50 song mix mp3 at Internet Archive
Surfin' Hangover - Song list and streaming mix
Sunday, June 30, 2019
SHUCK THOSE BOOKS
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at The California Girls
The Surfaris - Point Panic mp3 at mp3 at Internet Archive
Richie Allen and the Pacific Surfers - Surfer's Delight mp3 at Internet Archive
The Tornadoes - Beyond the Surf mp3 at ATumblr
Aki Aleong & the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Torquays - Escondido mp3 at Office Naps
Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky-52.net
Monday, March 18, 2019
MORE THAN REVERB, A MAN.
When I was in high school my older sister had a boyfriend that was from San Clemente and after interrogating him, my brothers and I found out that he had heard Dick Dale, but not really being a music fiend he was unable to give us a definitive description of what his sound was like. Nonetheless, Dick Dale was on the want list and would remain there. Then in 1975, out of the blue, a new Dick Dale LP. It was a titled as a greatest hits collection, but all of the songs had been re-recorded specifically for this release. My brothers and I didn't give a shit. We finally got to hear what Dick Dale sounded like and we were in awe. After the release of that LP, thanks to the "once on, never off" want list, in the ensuing years we were actually scoring some of his original releases. We hadn't yet seen him live.
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Miserlou mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Night Rider mp3 at Rocky 52
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Jungle Fever mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichidan
Dick Dale and his Del-Tones - Ghost Riders In the Sky mp3 at Rocky 52
Sunday, June 24, 2018
THE CUSP
Thursday, March 8, 2018
YEAH, NOT CONVINCED.
The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird mp3 at Internet Archive
The Trashmen - Malaguena mp3 at Internet Archive
The Trashmen - Miserlou mp3 at Internet Archive
The Trashmen - King Of The Surf mp3 at Internet Archive Awful
Saturday, September 2, 2017
SAY NO TO FANCY
Aki Aleong & the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Hollywood Tornadoes - The Gremmie, Pt 1 mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Astronauts - Hot Dogger mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Danny and the Seniors - Banzai Pipeline mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Johnny Barakat and the Vestells - The Wedge at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at The California Girls
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky-52.net
Sunday, July 16, 2017
TO HELL WITH FOUR SEASONS
The Sandals - The Endless Summer mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Sandals - 6 Pack mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Sandals - Decoy mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Sandals - Nine more songs at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Endless Summer radio spot mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Video:
Endless Summer clips at YouTube
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
YO STICKS, SIT YOUR ASS DOWN.
The Sentinals - Latin’ia mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Sentinals - Tor-Chula mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Sentinals - Exotic mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Sentinals - The Bee mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Visit:
The Sentinals - Profile at California Gold Coast Dreamin'
Surf music: SLO County's radical history at The Tribune
Friday, May 26, 2017
THERE'S NO SURF IN DENVER
The Astronauts - Baja mp3 at California Girls (?)
Thursday, December 15, 2016
THE GUITAR FACE MORATORIUM
Los Straitjackets - God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman mp3 at Now That's What I Call BS
Los Straitjackets - Marshmallow World mp3 at Indie Rock Cafe
Los Straitjackets - Here Comes Santa Claus mp3 at Dennis Moody
Sunday, September 4, 2016
TAKE TOMORROW OFF
The Chantays - Wayward Nile mp3 at Internet Archive
The Fentones - The Mexican mp3 at Internet Archive
The Shadows - Kon Tiki mp3 at Internet Archive
The Surfaris - Point Panic mp3 at Internet Archive
The Gamblers - Moon Dawg mp3 at Internet Archive
The Frantics - Werewolf mp3 at Internet Archive
The Beach Boys - Stoked mp3 at Internet Archive
Thursday, August 25, 2016
I CRY BULLSHIT ON THAT ONE
Bo Diddley - Aztec mp3 at Internet Archive
From Surfin' With Bo Diddley:
Bo Diddley - Piggy Back Surfers (streaming) at YouTube
Bo Diddley - Surf, Sink or Swim (streaming) at YouTube
Bo Diddley - Fiery Eyes (streaming) at YouTube
More Bo in the old links (Scroll down)