Quickly recorded in January of ’63, Dick Dale’s second album is a mish-mash of heavy surf instrumentals and various cover tunes. While still retaining a few original Del-Tones, the recordings were supplemented with members of the Wrecking Crew, such as Hal Blaine, Glenn Campbell, and Leon Russell.

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Right from the top, it’s obvious that Capitol was set on squeezing every cent out of their new investment; the King of the Surf Guitar. The commercial, ‘King of the Surf Guitar,’ which does boast some excellent playing from Dale, is marred by an all-girl chorus inviting everyone to “listen to the king of the surf guitar” because “all the kids in old L.A. love to hear Dick Dale play!” A cover of 'Lonesome Road’ boasts some great playing, while a forgettable cover of ‘Kansas City' is best skipped. Dale sounds a little more comfortable on the rock classic, ‘What I’d Say,’ which features an eccentric solo as well as his own ‘Dick Dale Stomp.’ ‘Greenback Dollar’ is a forgettable cover of the 1939 song, most recently recorded by another Capitol group; the Kingston Trio. Dale reaches back to his roots in ‘Hava Nagila,’ an Israeli folk song in the style of another middle-eastern number, ‘Misirlou.’ Whoever decided ‘You Are My Sunshine’ needed an update was sorely mistaken, while ‘Mexico’ gives Dale another chance to show off his double-picking skills. Another original, ‘Break Time, ’ again returns to the roots of surf rock while ‘Riders in the Sky’ follows suit. The last, and perhaps the strangest, track on the album, ‘If I Never Get To Heaven' is arranged very much in the style of earlier 1950’s ballads and is an odd closer to the album marketed as a bonafide surfing record.

 

While his first album displayed the art at its purest, King of the Surf shows the beginnings of surf rock’s avid commercialization. From the girl group overdubs in the first track to the uninspired rock covers sprinkled throughout, the album feels formulaic and, as a result, is only worth tracking down for the inclusion of ‘Hava Nagila’ or maybe ‘Lonesome Road.’