Customer Reviews

Wipe Out!

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The Impacts were a surf group from California that originally lasted from 1960 to 1964. The band included Merrell Fankhauser on lead guitar, John Oliver on bass guitar, Steve Evans on rhythm guitar, Martin Brown on pedal steel guitar, Joel Rose on saxophone, Steve Metz on drums, and Jack Metz on vocals. The group's main claim to fame was recording the first version of the song "Wipe Out."

(1) WIPE OUT - This song doesn't have any drum solos and only has the basic melody of the tune that, with some important changes, would later become a major hit for the Surfaris.
(2) FT. LAUDERDALE - This is a rocker, with great interplay between the lead guitar and sax.
(3) TEARS - This slow ballad sounds like a throwback to the fifties.
(4) REVELLION - I especially like the way Merrell holds the last note of this rocking song.
(5) BLUE SURF - This bluesy ballad is perfect for slow dancing.
(6) IMPACT - A drum solo kicks this tune off in high gear, and the Impacts keep firing on all cylinders from start to finish.
(7) STEEL PIER - This mid-tempo rocker features the pedal steel guitar to great effect, and also boasts some great drumming.
(8) TANDEM - This is another mid-tempo rocker that features great interplay between the band members.
(9) SEA HORSE - This is a mid-tempo ballad that lazily lopes along.
(10) BEEP BEEP - This lively song, with its musical and spoken chorus of "beep beep," comes close to being a novelty song.
(11) LISA - This song sounds like Duane Eddy meets Link Wray, and could easily have been the theme song of a juvenile delinquent movie.
(12) CHURCH KEY - The Impacts turn in a solid version of this classic surf instrumental, which virtually every surf group has covered.

This is the very first Impacts album (and only from the early sixties and for several decades) and the first album by my friend singer-guitarist Merrell Fankhauser. It has a great collection of surf tunes. See other reviews for song by song descriptions. Back in the early Nineteen Sixties Merrell with his band the Impacts recorded the original version of the surf song "Wipe Out." The Surfaris recorded the famous hit version of "Wipe Out". The controversy that arose due to this situation is a long story. After the Impacts and "Wipe Out," Merrell formed many other bands. These Psychedelic rock bands had little commercial success but eventually developed a cult following. These bands include The Exiles, HMS Bounty, Fapardokly and Mu. Original copies of the one Fapardokly LP are among the most valuable of collectable albums, they can cost hundreds of dollars. Jeff Cotton the fantastic slide guitarist from Captain Beefheart's Magic Band was also in Mu.

In more recent years The Impacts have made a reunion CD, "The Impacts Surfin' 101". It is great and worth searching for. Most of Merrell Fankhauser's solo material is of a laid-back psychedelic Hawaiian style. Much of it rather beautiful. He also from time to time releases a surf music or bluesy rock album. He currently has a series of four CDs so far called "Rockin' and Surfin'" Love them. Nearly all of these LPs and CDs are from small labels and hard to find. Most of the albums associated with Merrell have been reissued as CDs though mostly on small European labels. Many though can be purchased directly from Merrell Fankhauser and his Ocean Records on his Web Site.

An update:

During August 2011 I was able to obtain an original LP copy of this album, Del-Fi Records DFST 1234 (Stereo). I am not sure what it is; hearing this in analog was like a whole different experience. It may be the lack of compression. The bottom end is especially interesting. These guys really had their #&%@ together. I hear some really interesting things going on here and there that I don't remember hearing in rock music until many years later. For example at one point I hear a really advanced passage on the bass that makes me think of 1968 San Francisco sounds. Also the drummer is better than I remember from listening to the CD. Maybe I should lay-off listening to mp3's on my PC and stick to good quality CD's and LP's on my powerful stereo receiver system. :-)

Oh, by-the-way Merrell himself tells me that on some Compact Disk releases of the Impacts! Wipe Out, Del-Fi CD DFCD 71234 2, sides 1 and 2 from the LP are in the wrong order. So what you actually hear on the CD is Wipe Out, Fort Lauderdale, Tears, Revellion, Blue Surf, Impact, Steel Pier, Tandem, Sea Horse, Bee Bee, Lisa, Church Key. But this may have been corrected on later Del-Fi CD pressings and was corrected on reissues put out by other labels, including probably the one currently on sale by Amazon. That may clear up some confusion.

THE IMPACTS WERE ANOTHER SOCAL SURF BAND FROM THE EARLY 60'S THAT USED TO PLAY AT THE BALBOA BALLROOM ALONG WITH A LOT OF OTHER GREAT BANDS FROM THAT TIME (DICK DALE AND THE DEL-TONES, THE CROSSFIRES, SENTINALS, TORNADOS, AND A LOT OF OTHER ONES AS WELL.) AND RECORDED ON THE LOCAL DEL-FI LABEL ON LOW BUDGET RECORDS. THIS IS A GREAT CD OF EARLY 60'S SURF MUSIC, INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF WIPE OUT.