Surf music : help me find my way

& there are quite a lot of 60-comps with great one-"hit" wonders. i own one, and i still play it a lot:
wail on the beach

new stuff:
is it...man or astro-man?

in the meantime, JOOLS suggests the following mix of old and new surf music, as i was completely immersed in it from august '02 - maybe a month ago.

the modern day gods:
mermen
aqua velvets

the elder gods:
the knights
ventures

nice modern day bands:
space cossacks
aqualads

if you are still looking for ukelele in surf music, go with the blue stingrays, or some other hawaiian surf band. you'll find what you're looking for on RC, though, so you can ignore everything i've said if you like and just camp out there for awhile.

Rhino has a couple of compilations (and a box set as well) of surf guitar which would be an excellent primer. I'd recommend their Instrumentals collection, described in AMG thusly (if you go to Allmusic.com, and click on Styles and type in Surf you can find a number of links):

The big hits "Pipeline" (the Chantays) and "Penetration" (the Pyramids) are here, but most of these were only regional California hits, if that. Some of them are among the greatest surf performances ever: Dick Dale's "Miserlou," the Belairs' "Mr. Moto," the Lively Ones' "Goofy Foot," the Crossfires' "Out of Control," the Original Surfaris' "Bombora," and the Challengers' "K-39." The only major goof on Rhino's part was the decision to use a live performance of "Wipe Out" by a re-formed Surfaris, rather than the classic original hit version. — Richie Unterberger

Serious surf guitarists are purists about their set up, believing you can only get the proper "wet" sound with specific Fender guitars (the Strat, Jazzmaster and Jaguar) and reverb units.

There was a big surf revival in the 90s which has tapered off somewhat now, but there are still plenty of records in the cutout bins. I thought the best neosurf band were Laika and the Cosmonauts, Los Straitjackets and Teisco Del Rey (all on Upstart records for a while). There are a number of classic surf compilations on both Rhino and Del-Fi. You want to get stuff by Dick Dale (of course), Chantays, Lively Ones, Pyramids, Astronauts. Technically The Ventures were considered an instro band, rather than a surf group, but that's a pretty fine distinction and they did do one excellent pure Surf record. Also, you might like groups like The Tornadoes (who did "Telstar") or The Shadows (who did one of the versions of "Apache") which have similar twangy reverbed guitar styles but were not considered classically surf.

Astronauts

Chad Demmon from this group ended up being a junior high history teacher in my hometown -- never actually had him as an instructor but he was cool.

They're definitely fun, though I've got a few issues with the lo-fi surf revival groups. To me the classic surf guitar era was defined by using and exploiting the best technology available - those records are some of the best sounding to come out on indie lables of the early sixties. Also, all the punk influenced neo-surf groups started to sound kind of samey after a while, whereas folks like Teisco Del Rey could pull off a stunning surf guitar version of "The Theme From Lawrence of Arabia."

My favorite surf record ever is "Scrambler" by The Sandells (later known as The Sandals). It is OOP but I think the band has copies at their website under the title "(The Original Music From Bruce Brown's) The Endless Summer."

Ned, check the 2nd relpy... ;)

http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drc900/c961/c9617828b8l.jpg

Are there any girl surf bands?

The Trashwomen sort of qualify. Had a s/t CD on Estrus which I think is out of print.

Cool, I would say they definitely qualify. Loads of (pretty poor quality) videos of them on youtube.

I can't believe there's not more? If you consider all the (bandwagon jumping) bands back in the 60s you would have thought that some manager would have formed a couple of all-girl surf bands.

So maybe I'm totally off, but I've always figured there were basically two very distinct kinds of "surf rock" -- the harmony-oriented Beach Boys/Jan & Dean kind and the guitar-oriented Dick Dale/Ventures kind. But I've been listening to a copy of the Hondells' 1964 Go Little Honda I bought for 50 cents or so a few months ago at a garage sale, and they clearly do both kinds really well -- in fact, I'd say the album is split about 50/50. Was this common, uncommon, unheard of, what? If it's not unheard of, what other bands/albums did it? (The Hondells might be a weird case, though, since accoring to Joel Whitburn their top-10-pop title track apparently featured Brian Wilson, Glen Campbell and other big names, but the album cover and tours -- and presumably some other tracks -- feature different personnel. So maybe they split both ways because the lineup changed; I'm not really sure.)

Hondells were one of the more successful studio projects by Gary Usher, who put together some classy vocal combo & Richie Podolor and Daver Allen (of the Arrows) for the guitar part. The only link to the Beach Boys is that Wilson/Love actually wrote 'Little Honda'. And theres this rumour that Wilson played drums in a later Usher project, Draculas Deuce by The Ghouls (again with Richie Podolor...btw one of my alltime favorite instro recordings). Another remarkable Usher band was The Super Stocks (hot rod vocal & instros) pretty much in the same vein as The Hondells. personal favorite is 'Oceanside', which i found to have the best sound of all 60s recordings i've heard.
If i ever get the chance, patience & time i will start to read the 800+ page bio about Gary Usher...

oh, and theres this:
http://www.garyusher.com/

i will start to read the 800+ page bio about Gary Usher

according to the web site its only 725 pages. and sold out.

The Astronauts straddled the instrumental/vocal line, too. They're best remembered for the instro "Baja," but their albums always had a bunch of Beach Boy-sounding knockoffs like "Competition Coupe."

Here's one of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fioydGPsQvs

I love The Blue Hawaiians. They're influenced by 60s surf, but they don't tie themselves solely to that.

> I'm really addicted to the sound of ukulele but can't find any good record.

Petty Booka and The Moonlighters.

i've been listening to the rock n soul ichiban internet radio via wfmu and they play tons of music like this. i'm looking for compilation suggestions? i'm digging stuff like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kyPpvyOCas

I say if you're gonna go, go-go all in!: Dick Dale

[PS - not a huge surf fan...]

Haha, aside from being named Beachcombers with a song titled "Beach Party," that linked song doesn't sound like surf music at all, more like studio hacks trend-hopping (which is often great!) Search "Beach Party" by Annette Funicello, "Please Don't Talk To The Lifeguard" by Diane Ray, but those are only the well-known tips of the iceberg.

There's a whole series called Buffalo Bop that anthologizes super-obscure early rock and roll 45s; most lean to rockabilly and R&B, but include stuff like "What Does A Lifeguard Do In The Fall."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwdXNhBfkmM

weird i never posted in this thread... soundtrack for Endless Summer is one of my all time jams:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH1K23rAYOQ

"that linked song doesn't sound like surf music at all"

yeah you're probably right. i love novelty music! thanks for the buffalo bop recommendation, these look great.

SCNR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmudLnEV48k

"Help Me Find My Way" could totally have been on Pet Sounds.

I’ve been listening to lots of obscure instro music, marveling at an era (1961) when record producers were throwing ANYTHING at the wall to see what might be a hit with America’s youth market.

Take the melody to “Three Blind Mice,” have a few (presumably) session musicians play it on some twangy, fuzzy guitars with a twist beat, and add sped-up vocals to ride the coattails of the then-popular Alvin and the Chipmunks. Give it a little more hep title: “Three Gassed Rats” (blind and gassed being two synonyms for drunk!) and call your “group” The Handclappers. (Johnny and the Hurricanes had big hits with the twistin' standards concept on things like "Red River Rock." I can picture this producer saying "well, if THAT made money, AND I combine the novelty vocal appeal...")

Well, it didn’t make them rich and famous, but my three year old loves this – and my inner child does too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_tOXLfTt0

Controversial take, but this might be my favorite surf instrumental:

Los Straitjackets - "Pacifica" live on Conan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKPJdKbRQE0

quite a few of the bands and films mentioned in the thread were included on this cracking compilation :

https://www.discogs.com/release/6471282-Various-Chairman-Of-The-Board-Surf-Soundtracks-64-74

however, that tracklisting is different, as my edition has a couple of tracks by the sandals.
wonder if they had to revise things between promo and the official release.
this is the promo tracklisting :

https://www.discogs.com/release/14334338-Various-Chairman-Of-The-Board-Surf-Soundtracks-64-To-74

Tie between "Pipeline" and "Out Of Limits" for me. I think I like my surf instrumentals spooky sounding.

Oh I def like spooky as well, but "Pacifica" is so amazingly constructed and has a bit more depth and transcendence, maybe not to "Pipeline" but certainly to "Out Of Limits" (arguably non-surf).

This, briefly mentioned on my 2014 Pazz & Jop ballot, has Dick Dale-related surfoid appeal---I've linked it so some Youtubes on other threads, got positive responses:

Omar Khorshid and His Group
Live in Australia 1981
Post-surf electric Eastern modal clarity in waves, wires (duh), and other forms.
Sound quality doesn't bother me at all, though if I knew his studio, suppose it might. Can always turn it up. The excitement of music and audience def cuts through.

"pipeline" is just amazing. it must've been a huge influence on the doors.

That version of "Pacifica" is really nice. It reminds me of one of my fave bands, Laika and the Cosmonauts, whom I'm surprised not to see here. *Instruments of Terror* and *The Amazing Colossal Band* are two of the all-time great surf albums for me.

I had tix to see Los Straitjackets support Nick Lowe in June 2020. The show was never rescheduled, and then they closed and knocked down the venue where they were supposed to play! That felt like buzzkill overkill.

Cool comp of landlocked surf recorded in Minneapolis 1964-66
https://sundazedmusic.bandcamp.com/album/surfin-the-great-lakes-kay-bank-studio-surf-sides-of-the-1960s-2

That Trashmen Greensleeves is an all-time for me.

A record a friend of mine made 40 years ago, just posted on YouTube in connection to a Toronto publication we both wrote for at the time. (Tim is on the left, closest to the possibly fake penguins.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SG7E7sc1HQ

well done! love how the tempo nearly obliterates the melody.