Customer Reviews

Locked & Loaded

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you miss those days when Dick Dale, the Surfaris, Chantays, Pyramids etc. ruled the "airwaves", you will love this disc. All tracks are guitar instrumentals that are true to the original spirit of "surf guitar", but with all the advantages of modern recording technology.
"Checkpoint Echo", "Triple Dog Dare" and "Midnight Run" stood out for me after one play, but all tracks are good. A couple of numbers are slower and moody, but mostly the music here is taken at a frantic pace, and very exciting.
I should also mention the great cover--remember when vinyl album covers became an art form ? Well, this would have been a great "album cover".
For guitar instrumental fans, this is a treat !

Not Surf Beat, Banzai Washout or Pipeline again, but original album full of speed of a hurricane, even with peace of a lake in its eye, but always with strong melodies, simply the best instrumental (surf) album I have ever heard. (....)

One of the better instrumental-guitar bands out there is the secret-agent-obsessed Penetrators. A lot of style and pizzazz goes into every facet of their packaging, thanks largely to "Rip Thrillby", who in addition to lead guitars also did the terrific cover art and is a website designer in his "secret identity". (Check it out, The Penetrators have one of the BEST-designed websites of any "local" band I've ever run across!) But NO gimmicks are needed in their music-- it's just great!

These guys have had a LOT of appearances on singles, EPs and comp albums (many hard-to-find) and several of the better songs have turned up here (a few re-recorded) including "Redlined", "Speed Bump", "Triple-Dog Dare" and "Mariner 4". My faves on LOCKED & LOADED are definitely "Checkpoint Echo" and "Southern Surf Syndicate Theme".

...

Man when I bought this album it blew me out of the water. This is a great surf cd. These guys are Surfin Spys. The band is Rip Thrillby(lead guitar), Spanky Twangler(Rhythm guitar), Trace Luger(Bass), Illya "Stix" Stechkin(Percussion).These guys are from Alabama. If you want a good melody with a Spy twist then this album is for you. If you also like Los Straitjackets and James Bond Movies then give it a shot.

I ordered it from Amazon, and their efficient order fufillment people found it. It's a surprisingly effective album, with solid and melodic guitar work. Checkpoint Echo is a classic piece, and Deception Bay is a nice slower-tempo number. Solid, straight-ahead surf music, no covers, goth-surf, or rap-surf.

It is too bad the lead guitar player died. This is group is fantastic. Some of the best surf music ever produced.