Album Review:

The Markets were a studio group created by Micheal Z. Gordon that had a saw a string of minor instrumental hits throughout the early to mid-sixties. Their first single, 'Surfer's Stomp,' charted at #31 in 1961, and 'Balboa Blue' rose to #48 a year later, meriting an album release. 

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The album begins with the two aforementioned hit tracks, which are fine tunes with a strong pounding beat beneath rather tranquil melodies. 'Survival Stomp' follows suit with much of the same instrumentation and feel of it's predecessor, while an adequate cover of Dick Dale's 'Let's Go Trippin'' breaks some new ground. However, with the addition of  'Stompede,' the Marketts sound begins to sound rather formulaic, and a cover of the Dovell's 'Bristol Stomp' does nothing to break away from the mold. The album's not without its good moments, though, as Benny Goodman's 'Stomping at Savoy' shines under the Marketts' treatment and an instrumental take on the Beach Boy's 'Surfin'' actually works pretty well. Subsequently, the corny 'Stomp, Look and Listen' offers nothing new musically, while the addition of a banjo does nothing to help 'If You Got to Make a Fool Out of Somebody'; an odd selection for a surf-themed album. The group concludes the album with two numbers firmly rooted in the stomp genre; 'Here Come the Ho-Dads' and 'Stompin' Room Only.'

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Surfer's Stomp doesn't offer much outside of the two charting singles and a couple of rewrites. That said, it is really only of interest to the completists - casual fans of the genre should skip it.