I’ve had a stressful few days. I won’t get
into the details since this is a music blog, not a daily journal. I’ll just say
life can get complicated sometimes and existential angst can sometimes get
downright real.
At those times, a little surf guitar is a
welcome salve. And on that note…
Disc 1307 is… Bustin’ Surfboards
Artist:
The Tornadoes
Year of Release: 1963
What’s up with the
Cover?
The band gathers on the beach for some musical fun in the sun. They’ve managed
to locate a couple of fetching young lasses to keep them company. This party
looks like an all-around good time, so long as the amps don’t short out when
the tide comes in.
How I Came to Know
It: I can’t remember for sure.
I’ve liked sixties surfer guitar for years but I think this particular band was
a mix of hearing “Bustin’ Surfboards” on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack (reviewed
way back at Disc 102) and my friend Randall bringing a track or two over
years later (I can’t remember which, but I liked it).
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Tornadoes album, so it can’t
really stack up.
Ratings: 2 stars burt almost 3
I always imagine that surf guitar is what the
cool kids were listening to in 1963. Listening to the Tornadoes’ “Bustin’
Surfboards” certainly made me feel like a cool kid, but it also left me wanting
more.
The record begins with the drug-hazed riffs of
the title track, a song that demonstrates that sometimes in music less is more.
“Bustin’ Surfboards” is a conversation between a snare drum and a guitar
where the beat is what holds down three-quarters of the song, but the sparse
guitar licks are what you remember later. This is a clever song built for
shooting a tube or maybe just twisting on the beach in front of a bonfire.
Whatever is going on, it is chill and – like all
the songs on the record – filled with a lot of reverb and a meandering groove. That
meandering groove occasionally lost me, and there were times I found myself
thinking that the Tornadoes were just a jazz band posing as a surfer band. The melodic
progressions were very jazzy, and the horn and drum in particular sounded
experimental when I just wanted to chillax.
Rightly or wrongly, I also found myself comparing
their work to the king of the surf guitar himself, the immortal Dick Dale. That’s
not fair, of course. Dick Dale is a generational talent who rewrote the rules
on what you can do on a guitar. Still, the styles are close enough that they
demanded comparison, and when it happened, I found myself longing for Dale’s
signature sound.
Despite that unfair standard, the Tornadoes
still manage some brilliant moments. My favourite is “The Gremmie.” It tells
the tale of a bad surfer (a ‘gremmie’ in the parlance of the times) desperate
to hit the waves on a borrowed surfboard. Despite being primarily an
instrumental the song manages a full narrative. It starts with the cool and
easy groove of saxophone and guitar licks that speak of a sunny day and some
good waves. Along comes the gremmie, asking for a chance to surf with someone else’s
board. When he finally does, the song shifts to demonstrate the cacophony of
his bad surfing, while never losing the groove. The whole fun (and hilarious)
tale is accomplished with three lines of dialogue and 2:33 of furious
musicianship.
I also liked the energy of “Moon Dawg”
with a light chorus of “ooh aah” leading into a guitar lick that feels
like a cross between Dick Dale and Chuck Berry. It is brilliant stuff.
Unfortunately, the album also has its share of
schlock, particularly the covers of Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Red
Foley’s “Old Shep”. In both cases, the Tornadoes’ efforts to translate
these thirties standards into something modern come off sounding disconnected
and labored. Slightly better is “Bumble Bee Stomp” a song inspired by Korsakov’s
“Flight of Bumblebee” which is better if you know the source material, but
still a bit indulgent.
Overall, the record has some great moments,
and there is no denying the musicianship the Tornadoes bring to every song. Unfortunately,
for me surfer music is first and foremost about the visceral experience and
while it is here, the jazz elements of the record prevent me from becoming
fully immersed.
Best tracks: Bustin’ Surfboards, The Gremmie, Moon Dawg, The Gremmie
Part 2
No comments:
Post a Comment