5 “SURF” RELATED RECORDS WORTH LISTENING TOO
As recommended by Signor HAVN/LOS PLANTRONICS
This
piece was written for a German fanzine as a part of a promo-package for a Los
Plantronics tour in 2007. Feel
free to comment!
The 5 selected records below are made by one three quarters Shawnee
Indian, a teenage band from Peru, a guitar crusher from Sweden, a legend from Athens,
Georgia and some excellent musicians from Canada. All of them have inspired me
one way or another. Go check ‘em out!
From the 60’s:
LINK WRAY – Early Recordings
(Swans singles 1963-64) LP
Ace Records
Batman Theme, Ace of Spades, Cross Ties, Jack The Ripper, Hidden Charm,
I’m Branded, The Shadow Knows, Fat Back, Run Chicken Run, Black Widow, Scatter,
Turnpike U.S.A., Mr. Guitar, Rumble
Link Wray was born as Fred Lincoln Wray, Jr. on March 2, 1929
in Dunn, North Carolina and was three quarters Shawnee Indian. He served his Military
service in Korea where he got tuberculoses and lost one of his lungs *
Link Wray was the first proto punk. In addition to having maybe
the coolest name in the history of the guitar, he created some of the greatest
instrumentals in the history of axe-ology, including his hit “Rumble”
(1958), as well as “Jack The Ripper” (maybe
the coolest instro ever recorded in my opinion)’ and “Run Chicken Run”. He was a pioneer in the use of distortion,
reverb (sometimes), power chord-ery and “Do
it yourself” ethics. He formed his own label Rumble Records and was selling
copies of “Jack The Ripper” out of the trunk of his car until he was
picked up by the Swan label. He was every inch the tough guy, leather jacketed,
slick haired paragon of cool.
The instrumental
masterpiece, “Jack The Ripper”, is a reason alone to buy a Link record if you don’t already have
one. Listening to it is like having your mind blown apart and then reassembled
haphazardly by a mad scientist. No vocal song can do that to your mind! The
song is somehow possessed with an eerie energy, pushed forward by minimalist
drums and bass (like a Martian heartbeat) with a spare and haunted production
to top. Link’s guitar veers wildly
from echoey washes, to high-pitched leads and chicken scratch plucking, all
straining his amp to its limits. The opening guitar melody would
later be echoed in the opening riffs of Led
Zep's "Moby Dick", another famous instrumental. The rest of
the album is just as good, - (no fillers) and the best is; Norton Records
released 20 songs from the Swans recordings over ten different 7” singles. Buy
‘em if you see ‘em!
Link
was also a helluva singer even with just one lung functioning. He had a strong
voice with a rough but honest quality to it (see track “Hidden Charm”), but it
was with his raw and ravaged instrumentals from the early '60s, which single-handedly
made the guitar the ultimately cool instrument of choice for a whole new
generation. Link Wray - created the blueprint
for everyone from The Who to The Cramps with his flame-throwing
sound – and he proceeded to outdo himself with this Swans recordings.
A lot of Link’s recordings are
widely used in movies and soundtracks, se list below:
Soundtracks:
Riding Giants (2004) includes
the song - "Rumble",
Confessions of a
Dangerous Mind (2002) - "The Swag"
Blow (2001) - "Rumble"
The Lone Gunmen (1 episode, 2001) - "Switchblade"
Roswell (1 episode, 2000) - "Jack The Ripper"
The Sopranos (1 episode, 1999) - "Rumble"
Independence Day (1996) - "Rumble"
Twelve Monkeys (1995) - "Comanche"
Desperado (1995) - "Jack The Ripper"
Roadracers (1994) - "The Shadow Knows", "Genocide",
"Rumble"
Pulp Fiction (1994) - "Ace Of Spades", "Rumble"
This Boy’s Life (1993) - "Rawhide"
Johnny Suede (1991) – “American Sunset” plus others
Sid and Nancy (1986) - "Good Rockin' Tonite"
Streets of Fire (1984) - "Rumble”
Breathless (1983) - "Jack The Ripper"
Pink Flamingos
(1972) -"The Swag"
Link Wray passed
away on November 5, 2005. Both Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen started their concerts the following night with a
version of Link’s “Rumble”
to pay tribute to their teenage hero.
Personally I had the chance to see him live twice. First in Oslo, Norway
1995 and the second time in Chicago, USA in May 2005, the very same year he
died. He was 76 years old wearing black sunglasses and a leatherjacket and he
was playing loud as hell! That’s the way to go!
THINK LINK!
* Southern Culture On The Skids recorded an
instrumental called “Links Lung” on their For Lovers Only album.
LOS SHAINS – El Ritmo de Los
Shains (10” LP)
Electro Harmonix
Bule Bule, Shain’s A Go Go, Feber, Agente Secreto, Hoy, El Bano Del
Pajaro, Hang On Sloopy, Telestar ’65, El Sabor De La Miel, Vamos, Ciudad De
Rompentes, El Monstruo, Misirlou, Tenemos Que Irnos De Aqui, Ella No Esta Alli
What we have here is a Peruvian surf-frat-a-gogo masterpiece from 1965! Los Shains was one of the best and most important bands
to come from Peru in the mid-sixties together with Los Saicos and Los Yorks.
The album, “El Ritmo de Los Shains”, pays tribute to The Trashmen, The Readymen,
The Novas, The Ventures (at their wildest) etc., - it’s demented garage surf
trash at it’s best played by Peruvian teenagers! Half the album consists of instrumentals, some songs are sung in Spanish (which I dig the most!)
and some in English. The Spanish label Electro Harmonix promotes the album with
these words:
“One of the rarest and coolest
GARAGE albums of all time is finally available for you. With no one even 18
years old, the group had enough good taste to cover such CLASSIC ROCK&ROLL
songs as “Wolly Bully”, “Birdbath”, “The Crusher” (yeah, yeah…the NOVA’S!!!),
“Secret Agent Man”, “Fever”, “Misirlou”, “She’s Not There” and a few others….in
Spanish and in a very FRANTIC manner…Russel from the Mummies- reckons “This is
the record I’d kill for…send me 10 copies, por favour!!!”.
You will find Los Shains tracks
on cool compilations like Strummin’ Mental and Teenage Shutdown. If you’re into
this kind of stuff, try some more frat-beat-instrumental bands from Peru such
as Los Holy’s, Los Dolton’s, Los Belkings,
Los Jaguars, Los Darts and the excellent compilation Sons of Yma.
From Peru to Scandinavia, we present a modern day surf classic:
ROBERT JOHNSON &
PUNCHDRUNKS - Fried On the Altar Of Good Taste (2000) LP/CD
Silence Records
Sputnik
Monroe, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ali Pang, Surf As Houdini, Arabesque,
Sam Spade's Wedding, Something For Sophia Loren, Galveston Giant, Rope-A-Dope,
Rocket True Temper 20 Oz., Rubber Room, Escape From New York, Sham, New Interns
Watusi
Robert Johnson is a Swedish guitarist who has belted out Link Wray licks since the early
eighties in the band Bottle Ups, but this is Robert Johnson at his peak, song wise and production wise.
This is the only true instrumental album in this lot. It’s not really a
surf album because it’s so much more. It has a great inventive blend of genres,
from loud Link Wray and surf guitar instros to
space age, exotica and suave movie themes. The production is excellent, crisp,
intense and clear and the mastering is top notch. The album title is perfect
and the cover is great.
I said earlier that this is not really a surf album, but there’s some
killer surf tracks here in “Surf As Houdini”, “Sam’s
Spade Wedding” and “Rope-A-Dope”. Add plenty of nods to
Link Wray in “Sputnik Monroe”, “Rocket
True Temper 20 oz.” and in the psycho-killer “Rubber Room”. There’s
some cool chosen cover version by John
Barry, Mancini, John Carpenter and several exotica
numbers. If you think surf groups can’t rock, - are too retro-is or too tame, then try this album! It’s highly
recommended!
With Los Plantronics I played
a gig with Robert Johnson & Punch
drunks once in the late nineties. The show that evening was promoted as a
duel-contest and to be honest - Robert
Johnson won that evening 2 to 1…
Another instro-band from
Scandinavia worth checking out is Kåre
& The Cavemen and the album Jet Age (1997) featuring Eur boy from Turbonegro. It’s a bit easy listening at times but contains some
fine guitar-playing and arranging. They also made another instro album called Long
Day’s Flight ’till Tomorrow (1999) before the band turned into some kind of Brit-pop
(Jikes!).
Now to Athens, Georgia U.S:
DEXTER ROMWEBER – Chased By
Martians (2001) CD
Manifesto Records
15,000 Lives, Guybo, The Seeker, To Lose You, Bombora,
Hold Me Baby, Tombtone Boogie, Late At Night, The Curse Of The Little Bastard, Rockin’
Maybelle, Use To You, Do The Lurd !!, Witchdoctor, One Night When I, Walkin'
With Scary Hillbilly Monsters, My Search, Saint Louis Blues, Feel Like Going
Home
Dexter Romweber is labelled as an icon of the American music underground and was the guitarist of
the legendary guitar and drum duo Flat Duo Jets who started in the early
80’s, way before anybody was doing the duo thing and Jack White was still peeing in his pants. His first national tour
in 1990 was as opening act for The
Cramps. Flat Duo Jets made 9
albums of pure psycho-surf-rockabilly-garage-punk, before he decided to go
solo.
Chased by Martians is the 2nd
solo album and comes with 8 instros and 10 vocal numbers. So far, this is my
favourite Dex album. There’s a unique blend of psycho-surf instrumentals,
rockabilly swing and punk lounge!! He has a great voice, check out the opening
track “15,000 Lives” and the closing number “Feel Like Going Home”
and you know what I’m talking about. But there’s some great instrumentals on
this album, check out the trashy cover version of the Original
Surfaris' "Bombora” and his own compositions "The
Curse of Little Bastard", “Tombtone Boogie”, “Do The Lurd”,
Withcdoctor” and “Walkin With The Scary Hillbilly Monster”.
Dex is now a subject of
a new documentary movie, Two-Headed Cow, which chronicles his
legendary career. The movie includes testimonials by Jack White, Neko Case, Cat Power and Exene Cervenka amongst others, all of whom cite Dex as a major personal influence.
And now to Canada:
THE SADIES – Pure Diamond Gold
(1999) CD
Bloodshot Records
16 Mile
Creek, Rat Creek, It’s Nothing To Me, Medicine Ball, Higher Power, Only Good
One, Starling Auto, I Tried Not To, Reward Of Gold, Friendly Devil, Spark
Catcher, Stinking Creek, Venison Creek, Walking Boss, Locust Eater, With A
Splash, Cloud River, 16 Mile Creek Breakdown
The Sadies are a bunch of nice characters and brilliant
musicians from Toronto, Canada who has backed up anyone from Jon
Spencer
and Andre Williams to Neko Case and Buffy
St.Marie.
Luckily Los
Plantronics
had the chance to play with them this May (2008) and it was a case of “see and
learn”! I witnessed one of the best concerts that I have ever seen….
On Pure Diamond Gold from 1999
The Sadies turned into a
country picking surf unit with a major slab of spaghetti western instros. Of
the 20 tracks here, 13 are instros, some quite fit for a surf set. There are
also a handful of schitzo vocals, sorta garage/cowboy hybrid tracks. It was
this CD which got me hooked on Sadies.
Pure Diamond Gold seems somehow like a cow-punk
version of Pulp Fiction, see also the
album cover (made by artist Jon Langford), four moody men in dark suits.
This is a very cool CD, but you should also check out every other
release by The Sadies. Did I say
that they’re brilliant musicians?