SQUEEZE IN THERE GUYS. CLOSER. CLOSER...

Okay, I ran across this surf mix. The first song is Dick Dale's "Let's Go Trippin'" and I've heard that one a million times, so I skipped ahead, right to the end of the song, then heard the beginning of the second song, "Surf Rider" by the Lively Ones.  It was good to hear again. In just the first few bars, I thought about how their Surf City LP used to be in just about every thrift store in town, and they were always kind of a second tier surf band. You didn't go looking for their records, you just kept running into them for practically nothing. You had to buy. But they never really got a lot of attention, not until they appeared in the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction. They've probably got more attention from that then they had during their entire recording career.

So, that's what I thought after hearing just a few bars of "Surf Rider". I can't go through a fifty song mix worth of commentary in this mood, so I'm cutting out. But dig the mix. There's a lot of classics, the Belairs, the Astronauts, Eddie and the Showmen, the Sentinals, the Pyramids and a bunch that you probably don't know. "Mr. Moto" is there. "Baja", "Penetration". Beats what you got.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
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

NO MATTER WHAT, IT'S ALWAYS WET

I don't know how many of you live in Southern California, probably very few, and even fewer that get in the ocean on a regular basis, Those of you who do, you know what kind of summer we had. Insanely warm water, unusually clear days (no June gloom), and a handful of good swells to boot (including the all time south swell a couple months ago). It really hasn't let up. There's yet another swell that is just now starting to die down, but still, with 72 degree water (about six degrees higher than normal) entirely do-able. If you know, you know, this shit never gets old.

After going the whole summer with only sporadic postings of surf music, you'll have to indulge me. I was poking around and found that a post at Big O with over forty obscuros is still up, and if you missed it the last time, and you're into oddball surf music, you know what to do. The bonus is that they're all ripped from vinyl, so there's the well played surface noise that us pre-mp3-ers find so comforting, You surf music dabblers can just check the few single songs scavenged from other sites below, but if you want to hear "Siboney" by The King Pins, or "High Wall" by the Debonaires, stuff like that, you really should head over there.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
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 Torquays - Escondido mp3 at Office Naps

Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
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

The mother lode:
Surfer's Mood - Forty plus songs, all at Big O Archive (Roio) Go there to get 'em.

GET WET

Hey! It's almost summer! I've been out of school for a zillion years but there's still something about this time of year that has me lame ducking my way through finals that I don't have, and anticipating a solid three months of accelerated goofing off. Back when schedules didn't really exist, it meant just sitting around on the beach, getting in the water, going for a soda pop or rolled tacos, and then repeating the process the rest of the day. Nights were spent hanging out with friends and maybe the odd kegger. Back then, that would be my routine just about every day for the duration of the summer. It's still the ideal around here and, to be honest, has stunted my growth in a number of ways. But, it's hard to argue with the pleasure of walking home barefoot, with salt and sand caked all over you.

So, here's some surf stuff. The one that I really wanted to point you towards isn't really surf music in the classic sense. It's "Boss," by the Rumblers, a song that sounds like the missing link between the Northwest sound of bands like the (Fabulous) Wailers, and surf music. I don't know what it is, whether it's the driving beat, the sax, or possibly a key change; but there's something about it that just sounds so sinister. (If you only listen to one song below, that should be it.) The others down there are a nice mix of different takes on the surf sound, with some familiar names and some oddballs; some with organ, some with almost fuzz, and some absolutely soggy with reverb.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
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
Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
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 Astronauts - Quiet Village mp3 at Goof Spot
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky-52.net

GOON CHORDS

To kick off the summer, here's a mix of surf instrumentals, oddballs and a couple of semi-related songs with vocals. First off, you have to begin with the man, Dick Dale, because he's the first to come to mind, and he's practically the template. From there, it gets a little mixed. There's a few second tier bands (the Lively Ones, Aki Aleong), a couple spaghetti western covers (Banzai Surf and the Ventures), session players (Al Casey, Sandy Nelson), a Martin Denny cover (the Astronauts' "Quiet Village"), an English band (the Shadows), a Japanese guitar player playing Beethoven (Takeshi Teruchi), contemporary bands (Los Sttraightjackets, Banzi Surf, Django Twango, the Surf Coasters), an unusual cover of "Pipeline" (the Incredible Bongo Band), a vocal number by the Sunrays (who were managed by Murray Wilson, after his sons were done with him), a Brian Wilson produced girl group (Spring, featuring his wife Marilyn and her sister), and the last song (in this house, unremarkable), by the 101'er's, Joe Strummer's pre-Clash band, (surf only in title, and vocals). Wax'em up.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Dick Dale - The Victor mp3 at Django Twango
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at The California Girls
Aki Aleong & the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Astronauts - Baja mp3 at Django Twango
Sandy Nelson - Casbah mp3 at Django Twango
The Shadows - Perifida mp3 at Django Twango
Los Straightjackets - Tailspin mp3 at Django Twango
Django Tango - Goldfinger mp3 at Django Twango
The Surf Coasters - Miserlou mp3 at Django Twango
Banzai Surf - For A Few Dollars More mp3 at Django Twango
The Ventures - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly mp3 at Django Twango
The Astronauts - Quiet Village mp3 at Goof Spot
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky-52.net
Incredible Bongo Band - Pipeline mp3 at Paradise Soul
Takeshi Terauchi - Theme from Beethoven's Fifth mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Sunrays - I Live For the Sun mp3 at Pretty Goes With Pretty
Spring - Down Home mp3 at Obscure Sound
The 101'ers - Surf City mp3 at Math.Uni.Edu