Australian Surf
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 9:44 am
I've been on another major surf music kick lately and as such, I raided my local indie music shop for what they had in stock that I didn't have, as I was flush with grad money. One of the discs that caught my eye was Board Boogie: Surf 'n' Twang From Down Under. This got me interested as it is vintage early-60's surf music from a new locale. Needless to say that this was one of the discs that I walked out with along with some Super Stocks, Jerry Cole, Cornells, and others. Being prompted to put it on in the car by my better half, I immediately took notice of some differences between the surf music from down under compared with that of the American surf.
One of the biggest differences is the very apparent lack of heavy reverb on many of the tracks. In American surf, the reverb is so heavy that it sounds like dropping water, while it's very sparingly used here. Does this amount to a lack of the equipment such as the Fender Reverb tank, or is this something more stylistic?
That leads me into the other point: some of the music is much more akin to the British instrumentals, reminding me at times of the Shadows and sometimes the Ventures of the U.S. in style and sound. This is not a bad thing actually, as the disc shows an evolution of the sound from the more staid instrumental stylings that are more polished to a wilder take on the surf genre as it proliferated. The guitar work is all very well done and some of the tracks have that very polished, clean sound that the instrumental bands were more known for than their surfing counterparts.
The flipside of this is that the tracks that really do go full-tilt into the surf sound shock the ears at first. That's when there is a great deal more of the crashing reverb that drips off of the guitar.
The music here is a grab bag of bands such as the Joy Boys, the Nocturnes, the Resonets, the Aztecs, and the Playboys, among others. There is one track that even features what I'm guessing to be a Ric 12, based on the sound. It's a tune called "The Mean One", by the Playboys.
Overall, this disc is one of the better compilations that I have seen recently and really does a great job of bringing out some of these obscure bands that haven't had the exposure of others in the digital age.
One of the biggest differences is the very apparent lack of heavy reverb on many of the tracks. In American surf, the reverb is so heavy that it sounds like dropping water, while it's very sparingly used here. Does this amount to a lack of the equipment such as the Fender Reverb tank, or is this something more stylistic?
That leads me into the other point: some of the music is much more akin to the British instrumentals, reminding me at times of the Shadows and sometimes the Ventures of the U.S. in style and sound. This is not a bad thing actually, as the disc shows an evolution of the sound from the more staid instrumental stylings that are more polished to a wilder take on the surf genre as it proliferated. The guitar work is all very well done and some of the tracks have that very polished, clean sound that the instrumental bands were more known for than their surfing counterparts.
The flipside of this is that the tracks that really do go full-tilt into the surf sound shock the ears at first. That's when there is a great deal more of the crashing reverb that drips off of the guitar.
The music here is a grab bag of bands such as the Joy Boys, the Nocturnes, the Resonets, the Aztecs, and the Playboys, among others. There is one track that even features what I'm guessing to be a Ric 12, based on the sound. It's a tune called "The Mean One", by the Playboys.
Overall, this disc is one of the better compilations that I have seen recently and really does a great job of bringing out some of these obscure bands that haven't had the exposure of others in the digital age.
