Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA The Surf Coasters - Surface Impressions
 | Ah, yes. The Surf Coasters continue to be among my faves. This Japanese trio continues to get better, adding sophistication, whammy action, punk, jangle, and multi-tracking guitars for that Astronauts sound, but with major edge. This CD is cleaner sounding and less compressed, but is still clearly the Surf Coasters. |
Picks: Spit Fire, Tally-Ho, Pulser Girl, Astral Circle, Thunder Wave, Adagio, Walking With The Wind, IDAHO, Twistin' Away, Computer X-tacy, Electric Sky, Bitter Sweet Samba, A Piece Of The Moon
Track by Track Review
Italian Surf (Instrumental)
Opens with amusement park or Italian market place squeeze box sadness and kids screaming with joy. Then along comes way distorted bass into a really strong melody not unlike "Intruder." Fiery!
Surf (Instrumental)
Paul Johnson's tune, or mighty heavily influenced. I can't tell which it is, since it is the same and different (similar). Very cool.
Pulser Girl Pop Jangle (Vocal)
Jangly tune with vocals. A pop song-oh NO!
Space Surf (Instrumental)
Cool space surf chunka chunka. Three guitars make it powerful as well as aurally full. There's just a touch of sax added. Infectious.
Surfadelic (Instrumental)
Derivative, but very HOT! A rave up with lightning fast picking and a wah-wah pedal solo that makes for a psychedelic surf hybrid.
Piano SophistiKat Classical (Instrumental)
Piano gently opens an airy sophisticated eighteenth century society feeling thing, joined eventually by acoustic guitar for a sweet duet. I guess they wanna show they don't have to rock. Oh yes you do!
Pop Jangle (Vocal)
Another vocal pop jangly number, faster and cooler than the first.
Ugly Feedback Punk (Vocal)
Ugly feedback gives way to a raving punk vocal number. I knew they were punks in a prior life!
Surf Pop (Instrumental)
Surf tune with a very poppy melody, whammy action galore, and glissandoes in abundance, plus cool solo guitar tones.
Fuzzabilly (Instrumental)
A Los Straitjackets in Japan styled tune, not so much sound wise, but structure wise. Fuzzy and clean guitars counter each other. There's even stereo panoramic action with the guitar solo, something that's been missing from records for about 20 years. I can work, and does here.
Pop Jangle (Vocal)
Jangly up tempo pop song.
Popabilly (Instrumental)
A Los Straitjackets-like tune with organ and edgy guitars. Poppy, hot, and up tempo.
SophistiKat Classical Ensemble (Instrumental)
Like "Adagio" with bass and strings added, plus electric guitars that are strangely reminiscent of Los Indios Tabajaras. Ends with the same sidewalk pizzeria sounds at the CD opened with.