Customer Reviews

The Birth of Surf

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"The Birth of Surf" is clearly the definitive document outlining the beginnings, and the pinnacle, of instrumental surf music. Each song is a headliner! The liner notes are generous and informative, while the mastering work is beyond reproach. Enormous thanks and congratulations go to Alan, Dave and the staff at Pipeline Magazine for a job well done. Everyone here at DWM Music Company has enjoyed this CD immensely.

There are no Jan And Dean or Beach Boys stuff here and while they are both legends in their particular musical field, this collection does'nt suffer from their absence.

It kicks off with Duane Eddy And The Rebels and finishes with Bob Hafner.

In between are 3 of the greatest surf tracks, Miserlou by Dick Dale And The Del-Tones, Pipeline by The Chantays and to top them all, Wipe Out by The Surfaris.

I certainly had not previously heard of most of the acts like The Fireballs, The Blazers, The Pyramids, The Illusions, the list continues.

What they all have in common is the surfing ethos and they are clearly enjoying making their music.

The sounds are twangy guitar, saxaphone, drums and virtually no vocals, all delivered at high speed and with great energy.

If you like late 1950s to early 1960s music, don't let this one pass you by!

Both volumes are excellent compilations. Everything done by Ace Records is great! Be sure to purchase both Birth of Surf volumes.

Ace did it again, with this wonderful Cd. Surely ranks among the better compilations in the genre; packed with surf age instrumentals that are worth to reissue. Needless to say that ACE took care of the sound quality as well as good track information in their usually elaborate booklet. Good news for fans of this music genre who don't want to spend too much on collecting albums from all those separate bands that emerged in the early sixties.

Other surf rock, or surf instrumental compilations I recommend for those who love the surf rock sound are:

ACE RECORDS

Toes On The Nose

The Birth Of Surf, Volume 2

Big Surf (OOP)

Rare West Coast Surf Instrumentals

RHINO

Cowabunga 4CD set (OOP)

Rock Instrumental Classics Volume 5, Surf

Sundaze Records

Lost Legends Of Surf Guitar Volumes 1-4

Rare Surf 1-6

If you buy all those, for sure there will be some overlap, but not a lot. It will be worth it!

Jimi Hendrix had a line in his song "Third Stone From The Sun" that "you'll never hear surf music again ..." Wrong! This is an excellent compilation of surf tunes from its golden age, probably the only genre of music that can be said to be inspired by a sport, and is an essential addition to your music library if you are into guitar dominated rock instrumentals. The reverb is to the max. It's a shame that when polls are taken of the great rock guitarists that Dick Dale is usually omitted, as his take on "Miserlou" makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. A great booklet showcasing the various bands whose tracks are on this CD is included. Crank it up and take a drive down PCH with the top down. P.S.: After getting this disc I also got Volume II, and which is equally infectious and worthwhile, even though a lot of the cuts are of a lesser notoriety as opposed to what are contained on Volume I.

This is the best one cd of Surf Music! All the songs are great and this is how Fender guitars are meant to be heard: dripping with reverb... Listen to the fabulous "Earthquake" and you'll know what I mean.

Classics one and all. If you are into the venue, you have to own this disk. All 20+ cuts will have you on the edge of your longboard.