Customer Reviews

Intoxica! Strange and Sleazy Instrumental Sounds from the Socal Suburbs

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I bought this CD because my lady absolutely shivers when she hears "Comanche". She will even skip over it on the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack, blaming the sense-memory recall it invokes of that uh "uncomfortable" Ving Rhames/Bruce Willis scene in the film. You know the one I'm talking about. She told me "I bet every song by that band sounds sleazy...". So I dug around and found this collection. I got it for her birthday and immediately played it when it arrived. She didn't know what to make of it, wasn't sure why I'd buy her a surf rock album, until that guttural saxophone kicked in. She freaked out, and said "You didn't!". I totally did, and they did too - the producers who put the album together did a fantastic job. The Revels are only a small chunk of the wonderful Downey catalogue. She eventually enjoyed listening to the album, with the caveat that I skip over the offending track 14 ("Comanche") whenever it comes on. I enjoy the entire album. It is one of those small chunks of rock-n-roll ephemera so removed from mainstream consciousness, yet close to anyone who has listened to later artists who were influenced by the sound. Pre-psychedelica, low-fi, unbridled, and you can tell the musicians knew how to enjoy themselves. A fantastic party album, also great for driving, but probably not mood music for love unless your name is Zedd and you have a ball-gagged gangster tied to a pommel horse in your basement. Good times...

65 minutes of music. The original analogue tapes have been digitally remastered, and the sound is clean and open. The booklet contains information on Downey Records and the artists on this release. There's also several period photographs that add depth to the story. Ace Records have done their usual good job with the notes and photos. Curiously, a similar cover photo can also be seen on an Ace Records' release by Elmore James-"After Hours" (I believe it's titled). The model is placed differently in the shot, and the guitars are absent, but the long red boa is still very evident.

This music should make collectors happy. There are a number of hard to find or rare tracks on this set, some which have never seen the light of day since they were recorded. All these tracks were recorded in the early/mid 60's in Southern California. The area was a hot bed of garage bands of all types. This instrumental collection has a bit of surf music, honking sax workouts, r&b/soul, and a number of tunes that are just left of center (the title track for example). They're individual instrumentals that you would never hear on the radio, even back in the days when groups had a better shot at airplay on the local station. There's even string laced tunes ("Dreams of Downey Part 2") by Ed Burkey-who was no slouch on the guitar when called for, and "Ghost of Mary Meade Part 2", by LITTLE CAESAR & THE ARK ANGELS. "Third Man Theme" by GINNY & THE GALLIONS (actually a husband/wife team plus one other) is a good example of this slightly whacked out music. The well known surf tune "Hava Negila" (again by GINNY & THE GALLIONS), is a different animal than Dick Dale's version. "Se Acabo", by THE DEL RIO BROS, is a hot latin percussion workout with chanted vocals. "Eight Ball", by THE HUSTLERS, has a slightly down and dirty feel to it. "Hot Licks" by THE RENDELLS, has a surf guitar sound, combined with a slightly salacious ("hot licks-ooo!) girl vocal backing. On the other hand, THE HINDUS are here with a straight surf-style tune "Frenzy", which is about as normal a song here. "Space Battle", by STORIES IN SOUND, is a combination of driving rhythms, insistent horns and piano, and some weird "space" sounds and explosions. I think by now you're getting the picture.

For the most part these instrumentals are highly individualistic. The combination of (then) current styles, along with the artists sometimes slightly woozy sounding interpretations, make this set valuable to collectors, and an eye opener to what at least one mom and pop label was recording. Wanting to make money from a hit record, the folks at Downey recorded virtually anyone who walked in the door of their back room studio. This music has a certain something (if your tastes run toward this stuff), an almost odd appeal that makes you want to hear the next track, and so on. The uptempo numbers are rump shakers, and the slightly different arrangements of the slower tracks will make you sit up and wonder just where these groups came from. But in the end this collection goes beyond mere curiosity, or rarity-it's a great collection of music from an era long gone, and from bands that had (at best) a fleeting chance at "making it".