Album Review:

This is an early compilation album filled with many otherwise hard-to-find tracks by some known and unknown surf bands. The cover features some of the popular disc jockeys on the front cover; most notably Roger Christian, who wrote the lyrics to countless hot rod songs (‘Drag City,’ ’Shut Down,’ ‘Dead Man’s Curve,’ ‘Don’t Worry Baby,’ Little Old Lady From Pasadena’).

The songs range from ‘pretty good’ to ‘not bad’ to ‘utterly unlistenable.’ Nothing sticks out much, though. As expected, the best tracks are by those groups which are readily familiar - Challengers, Lively Ones - though there are few strong examples by unknown artists. One example is ‘Get It’ by the Soul Kings. These three tracks come up high above the rest of the collection, which is comprised of rather uninteresting tunes. The Biscaynes’ ‘Revellion’ is particularly horrible, and the Deltas’ ‘Surfin’ Tragedy’ (left off their own album) are both some of the poorest tracks ever laid to vinyl. Nevertheless, if you want rare deep cuts you can’t get anywhere else, then this will be sure to please.