Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA The Teen-Beats - Surf Bound
 | The Teen-Beats were a great band from Las Vegas, Nevada. They played from about 1960 through maybe '64. This LP contains early singles, a couple of unreleased things, a track or two from their later incarnation as the Nevegans, and a live 1962 radio broadcasts from the Knights Of Columbus Hall in Las Vegas over KENO. |
Picks: Route '66, Slinky, Stalkin', Lullaby Of The Leaves, Caterpillar Crawl, Rawhide, Tequila, Mr. Moto, Russian Roulette, Surf Bound, Mystified, High Roll, One-Armed Bandit
Track by Track Review
Surf (Instrumental)
"Route '66" functions as an opening theme, with Steve Miller yakking over part of it to introduce the show and the band. The performance is romping and rocking with reverb and spunk.
Surf (Instrumental)
Link Wray and his Raymen cut "Slinky" originally, and with reverb in tow, the Teen-Beats bring it forward into the brine. It's tuff and sultry as the warm Las Vegas nights demanded. The drums are great and the rhythmic pulsing is hypnotic and sweaty.
Surf (Instrumental)
"Stalkin'" is a very Link Wrayish number, slow and sultry, tortured and darkly moody. It gets the blood boiling.
Surf (Instrumental)
The Ventures brought Bernice Petiere and Joe Young's "Lullaby Of The Leaves" into the rock'n'roll spotlight. The Teen-Beats play the Ventures' arrangement, but with reverb. Spunky and twangy.
Surf (Instrumental)
The Strangers' ultra raspy "Caterpillar Crawl" is nicely roughed out, with grodie sax and reverbed twang. Really cool arrangement!
Surf (Instrumental)
Link Wray's raucous "Rawhide" is splashed and rocked up with ample spunk and sax edge. The drums are great here, pounding out one hell of a beat!
Surf (Instrumental)
The reverb splash and sax rasp add up to a dark and dangerous version of Chuck Rio's hit "Tequila." KLAS' Steve Miller yaks over part of the performance.
Surf (Instrumental)
With chorus and effected guitar, the Teen-Beats rock out on Paul Johnson's classic "Mr. Moto" like there's no tomorrow. Echoed and pounded, the song is uniquely arranged and full of energy.
Surf (Instrumental)
"Russian Roulette" is an updated version of "Surf Bound" with a much surfier sound and much better audio quality. Superb arranging and production, likely from Wenzel's Music. Utterly infectious rolling beat and guitar lines that are perfect for a drive with the top down!
Surf (Instrumental)
The melody of "Surf Bound" remains utterly infectious, with it's circular transitions and semi-Middle Eastern sound. This early version sports effected guitar and a great sax. The echoed lead lines create a kind of desert surf feeling.
Surf (Instrumental)
"Mystified" is a slow moving and very moody piece with a soft rolling beat and long sustained lead notes, along with big cymbals and dramatic tom-toms, along with a distant foggy feeling. Very cool!
Surf (Instrumental)
This is totally cool! A great beat and utterly infectious rhythm, with incredible energy and great drums! Also called "Downey Surf," this amazing track simply rocks! It's really hard not to like it! Much like "Russian Roulette" in character, "High Roll" is essential listening.
Surf (Instrumental)
With R&B underpinnings, and a soft spoken kind of happy soul, "One-Armed Bandit" rolls a long with cool sax injections and a simple and pleasing guitar line. Nice track.