Reverb Central .:. Review .:.

This is a moderately interesting bootleg compilation from vinyl sources in mono. At the time of its release, most of the tracks here had not been reissued. there are some bright moments and some real dogs among the instro and vocal fair.

Picks: Failsafe, Panic, Hiawatha, Horror Beach, Malaguena, The Inebriated Surfer, Surf 'n' Bongos, Bullwinkle, Ho-Daddy, Ridin' The Rails, Chicken Of The Sea, The Phantom Driver, My Baby Digs Slot Car Races, Shot Down, The Challenger, The Devil On Wheels, Skateboard U.S.A., Pot Party, Make Love, Not War

Surf (Instrumental)

One of the great surf tunes, "Failsafe" is completely unique in its sound and composition. The piano plays a key role, and the double picked damped surf guitar is the rhythm. Great lead guitar tone, and the piano pumps perfectly throughout. Excellent!

Surf (Instrumental)

Major chunk and grind as the Nobles grunt through a very "Surf Beat" inspired tune with screams and drive. High spirits, frat surf thunder, and lots of chemistry. very cool.

Surf (Instrumental)

Well, this is it. The Nobles adapted the Hamms' beer commercial jingle ("From The Land Of Sky Blue Water") into a monster surf anthem. The Surfaris covered it to great effect. This is simply essential surf. Chunky, rhythmic, understated, tom tom driven, and without a doubt, magnetic. Excellent! This is the track that shows why Ron Wilson thought this was the best surf band around.

Surf (Instrumental)

A cheesy laugh opens this extremely thin sounding cut. The performance is OK, but it's so week acoustically, that it's hard to listen to.

Surf (Instrumental)

EchoPlexed version more like the song was written by Ernesto Laquoña, though it sports some glissandoes. And spirited shouts, plus some castanet-like percussion sounds.

Frat (Instrumental)

This is a spiffy beer-drenched beach rave. It's low-E chunk and growly sax provide both an ominous and comic sound. Cool to be drunk epic.

Frat (Instrumental)

Bongos romp and guitar plays a rock-riff dry against a studio jam sounding backtrack. There's raw sax in the break, but it doesn't save this track from the pedestrian heap. Completely unmemorable.

Surf (Instrumental)

This early take of the Central Coast standard is Previously unreleased. It's solid and a lot less evil than the Centurions. More surf, less bad guy, and very well phrased. A fine track.

Surf (Vocal)

This absurdly bad vocal from Bob Denver sports beat generation bongos and the chorus chanting "Ho-Daddy" while Maynard G. Crebbs performs what is arguably the first surf rap. It's so bad, it's great, if you know what I mean.

Hot Rod (Vocal)

Surf guitar under a fifties pop film vocal track. It's pretty interesting, if only for it's odd mix of styles. It's kinda infectious, in a strange way.

Barnyard Surf (Vocal)

Whoa! This sux! Sappy gimmicky lyrics, dry studio band backtrack... The sort of thing that gave rock 'n' roll a bad name.

Drummer's Go-Go Fuzz (Instrumental)

Lee Hazelwood contributes this tune to the Young Cougars' pallet. This is a very simple tune, but the duet between the fuzz guitar and the vibes-piano is very effective. Interesting and durable.

Hot Rod (Vocal)

Mediocre vocals, trendy lyrics, and a forgettable melody line.

Hot Rod (Instrumental)

Very dirty fuzz guitar lead, chord progression riffology, squawkin' studio sax, and a tame beat. Only the nastiness of the guitar makes this palatable.

Hot Rod (Instrumental)

A rough glissando opens this tuff enough instro. Choppy almost "Flamingo Express" keyboard-guitar duet rhythm track, reverbed lead guitar that sounds like Billy Strange, but is session player Tommy Allsop, and drag racing sound effects. It's a cross between studio cheese and guitar charm.

Hot Rod (Vocal)

Stylistically, this sounds like a Coca-Cola ad from the fifties. Lyrics about long black hair down his back is kinda ahead of its time, but otherwise, it's just a studio Jan and Dean-ish rod vocal of no significance.

Surf (Instrumental)

This was Davie Allan's first single titled "War Path." It was also issued as "Skateboard U.S.A." by the Buddies. It is an Indian styled surf tune of unusual brilliance. It has a great melody, and a great sound. A totally infectious single! The first of four versions of this tune, this being pretty dry, with nice string bending, and great damped picking transitions. I find this to be one of Davie's prettiest tunes, and this version is very nice.

Anti Drug Trailer (Vocal)

Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb was responsible for this B-movie audio trailer. The backtrack features a shimmering vibrato guitar. I wonder if it was Davie Allan? It's a time capsule of period propaganda.

Drug Rock (Instrumental)

This is very likely Davie Allan and the Arrows, given its similarity to one of his tunes and the grodiness of it, though there's virtually no fuzz. Drug induced riff rock of the first degree. Completely unencumbered my melody.