All of the two dozen cuts on this anthology were issued between 1959 and 1964 on
Titan, a small Los Angeles indie. Actually, a few of these -- particularly the pre-1962 cuts -- are not
surf instrumentals so much as the pounding
instrumental rock that was influential in the birth of
surf music. But who's talking? Just one of these was a national hit, and a modest one at that --
the Strangers' aptly named
"Caterpillar Crawl" made it just inside the Top 50 in 1959. As a whole, the compilation's OK but nothing more: period
instrumental and early
surf music. Interestingly though, a few fairly big names pop up here and there.
Joel Hill of
the Strangers eventually landed in
Canned Heat and
the Flying Burrito Brothers in the 1970s, and plays some pretty wicked
blues-rock guitar on the 1959 single
"Hill Stomp," one of the few cuts here that transcends the generic.
Davie Allan of
"Blues Theme" fame is heard on his 1964 single,
"War Path"/
"Beyond the Blue"; these are among the better tracks in their sub-
"Apache" style.
The Playboys, heard on a not-bad 1963 single, are actually the same
Playboys of
Gary Lewis & the Playboys fame.
Ray Hunt of
the Surfmen would later join
the Soul Giants, who would eventually evolve into
the Mothers of Invention after he was replaced by
Frank Zappa.
Gary Usher, represented by a couple of dippy 1961
teen idol-type sobbers (which have vocals, despite the title of this CD), would become an important figure in California
rock as a producer and songwriter for
surf,
sunshine pop, and
folk-rock acts going all the way up to
the Beach Boys and
the Byrds. Also, a young
Ritchie Blackmore plays on
the Lancasters' single
"Earthshaker"/
"Satan's Holiday," which was cut in England by a studio band and sold to
Titan by producer
Kim Fowley.
"Satan's Holiday" is a fine, menacing tune, with part of the songwriting credit going to
James Phelge,
the Rolling Stones' friend honored by half of the
Nanker-
Phelge pseudonym
the Stones used on early group compositions. All that doesn't add up to much more than some interesting trivia; the music itself is mostly routine, of interest virtually exclusively to
surf/
instrumental rock specialists. ~ Richie Unterberger