Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA The Index - Anthology - 1967 - 1969
 | The Index were from Grosse Point, Michigan, and existed during the early psychedelic era from about '67 onward. They demonstrated the seamlessness with which surf actually moved into psych. It only seamed like a step function because of Radio's switcheroo from surf to invasion to psych. Just like there is plenty of surf guitar in the music of Iron Butterfly, so there is plenty in the music of the Index. Many of their recorded tracks were instros, like "Shockwave" and "Turquoise Feline." Some of their vocals also featured surf guitar, like "Eight Miles High." Most of their early tracks were reverb drenched. For this review, I'll stick to the lone surf instro on the CD, but suffice it to say that this is a cool CD throughout. The only sad note is that it comes from pretty clean vinyl instead of session tapes, which probably have not survived. |
Picks: Feedback, Shockwave, Israeli Blues, Turquoise Feline, Turquoise Feline II, Eight Miles High, Breakout, Beck's Bolla (Beck's Bolero)
Track by Track Review
Psychedelic Surf (Instrumental)
Pure guitar feedback, sounding like the jams that happened at the San Francisco Sound Ballroom in Seattle in the late sixties... boomy, reverby, huge, and ugly.
Psych Surf (Instrumental)
Surf instro from a huge psych hall sound, semi-melodic, semi psychedelic, semi surfy. A big progression from surf to wah wah to feedback... very interesting. 30 years before Vibrasonic was a whisper, the Index were reality.
Surf (Instrumental)
A very cool blues number with a surf guitar lead. Very unusual track. The lead line is one and a half bars behind the bass line for a really nifty affect.
Surf (Instrumental)
A major wah wah psych noise instro, huge, reverby, dense... like from the back of the Fillmore.
Blues (Instrumental)
Baring no resemblance at all to "Turquoise Feline," this is a blues jam, dry and uninspired.
Surf Psych (Vocal)
This is a vocal, but the mix of surf guitar and psych and the Byrds is irresistible. Amazing!
Psych (Instrumental)
This psych instro is lo-fi ugly and jammy... unremarkable.
Beck's Bolla (Beck's Bolero) Surf (Instrumental)
Inspired but amateur and lo-fi rendition of Jef Beck's variation of Ravel's "Bolero." The feedback and reverbiness are unusual, but it's not great, just different.