CD Odyssey Disc 897: Dick Dale

I’m feeling a little worn out on this fine summer Thursday, and I’m ready for the weekend to begin. Before we get there, let’s get to another music review.

Disc 897 is….Mr. Eliminator

Artist: Dick Dale and his Del-Tones

Year of Release: 1964

What’s up with the Cover? This picture looks like Dick Dale is sitting behind one of those cardboard cutouts where you can pretend to be sitting in a race car. This would be a feature for kids at Daytona or something. Dick probably paid 25 cents to have his picture taken here, and I bet there was a line of kids waiting in line with their moms waiting for him to be finished so they could have a turn.

How I Came To Know It: I really loved Dick Dale’s other “ho-dad” album “Checkered Flag” and went back looking for more of the same. “Mr. Eliminator” was it.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Dick Dale albums (plus one compilation album that doesn’t stack up). In every race there is a car that must come in last, and “Mr. Eliminator” is that car. Because this is the last Dick Dale album in my collection, here’s a recap:

1. Checkered Flag: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 688)
2. Summer Surf: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 394)
3. Surfer’s Choice: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 756)
4. Mr. Eliminator: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
5. Surf Beat: best of (not rated but reviewed at Disc 757)

Ratings: 3 stars

In 1963 Dick Dale struck hot rod lightning with “Checkered Flag,” one of my favourite albums of all time. “Mr. Eliminator” is proof that lightning never strikes in the same place twice. It is a good record, but it doesn’t have the same magic as the record released just one year prior.

All the elements are there. Dick Dale’s signature surf guitar sound wails across the tracks. In fact, some of the best tracks on this record are the instrumentals, which are all about Dale and his axe making magic.  The album begins with the title track, which features not only a groovy guitar riff, but some pretty sweet drumming action as well. Like most of Dale’s songs, it is over in just over two minutes, leaving you wanting more.

Fortunately, there is more, as the record features a fistful of instrumentals, including the furiously fast “Flashing Eyes” and the Mexicana-flavoured “Taco Wagon” before it hits the album’s instrumental height with “The Victor.”

“The Victor” has an arrogant disconnect in the guitar and a deep well filled with confidence and aggression that simply says “I drive fast.” I was fortunate enough to be on the bus when I heard it, with my foot far away from any inconvenient gas pedal.

On many other Dick Dale albums, the songs with lyrics paint a great picture of whatever beach crowd he is idolizing. On his surfer records, the songs are full of tanned lads sneaking off to secret surfer spots to hang ten and mocking the gremmies and the ho-dads (the slang term for the cool kids at the beach who were more into cars than surfing). On his other hot rod record, “Checkered Flag” he flips the script, and sells up these same ho-dads, racing up and down the strip looking for fast cars and adventurous women.

There are definitely moments of this latter tradition on “Mr. Eliminator.” The best example is “Blond in the 406” a classic track about a fast girl in a car faster than even Dick Dale’s hot-rod persona can muster. The resulting pursuit is a lot of fun, and Dale’s admiration for a girl who can out-duel the boys down on the strip is a welcome bit of gender equality for 1964.

“My X-KE” is a fun song about a Jaguar that warns:

“Look out Stingrays and Cobras too

I’m gonna show you what this car can do.

My X-KE, My X-KE

She cost me a fortune yessiree

Dual exhaust and four on the floor

Man this car is sure a go…er!”

I’m more into American muscle these days, but the mid-sixties Jaguar X-KE is a pretty sweet ride, and well deserving of any car enthusiast’s love.

Unfortunately, despite a lot of good stuff on “Mr. Eliminator” there is just a bit too many hokey tracks to pull me all the way in. “50 Miles To Go” might as well be “50 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” for all its musical interest, and “The Squirrel” is the kind of kitsch that would be fun if I were eight years old, but doesn’t have enough to catch my attention of a grown-up.

The record is still solid, and for musicianship alone I’m tempted to give it 4 stars, but it suffers from standing in the tall shadow of “Checkered Flag.” The instrumentals made me long for better ones on other albums, and apart from the two exceptions noted above, the songs with lyrics were lacking the standard of excellence I’ve come to expect from a master like Dick Dale. I guess he spoiled me with his own greatness.

Best tracks:  Mr. Eliminator, The Victor, Blond in the 406, My X-KE

CD Odyssey Discs 756 and 757: Dick Dale

Every time I think I know a lot of music something comes along to remind me I’m just wading in the shallow end of a very deep sea. Earlier this week I met a couple of nice folks from New Zealand who traded me musical recommendations from their home town. So far I’ve checked out Fat Freddie’s Drop, Dave Dobbyn and Fly My Pretties – all pretty good stuff, so thanks to Helen and Morgan!

I gave them some Canadian recommendations as well but it was a few beers in so I’m a bit fuzzy as to exactly what – Blue Rodeo, Tragically Hip and Lindi Ortega for sure, and probably a few more. My friend Andrew added “D.O.A.” the list as well.

It is fitting this next review feature surfer music, since surfing is a truly international activity whether you are in Raglan, NZ or Tofino, CAN.

Disc 756 and 757 are….Surfer’s Choice and Surf Beat

Artist: Dick Dale

Year of Release: Surfer’s Choice: 1962, Surf Beat: singles from 1958-1962

What’s up with the Cover? Bonus two-cover action for this double album set. “Surfer’s Choice” has a classic sixties approach, with the song titles listed on the front of the album, along with exhortative advertising about how great the record is (“With Dick’s Great Hits”). Also, Dick rides a wave and looks sexy doing it.

The other album is “Surf Beat” which still features a sexy Dick Dale, lovingly laying his hands on his board. He looks skyward, no doubt praying “May no gremmies ever ding you, beloved board!” to the surf gods in the sky.

How I Came To Know It: I must have picked this album up a hundred times in the record store before I finally bought it when I couldn’t find any other Dick Dale albums I didn’t already have. Ironically, it is Dale’s first full-length LP but because of that on-cover advertising (“With Dick’s Great Hits”) I thought it was a compilation album. When I finally bought it I got both Dick’s greatest hits and his first studio album, so I was right either way.

How It Stacks Up: All Dick Dale is equally awesome, but I’ll put “Surfer’s Choice” 3^rd out of my 4 studio albums. “Surf Beat” is a compilation, so it doesn’t stack up. I know – back in the late fifties lots of songs were just singles, but just because they did that kind stuff in 1958 doesn’t mean I should condone it. Make albums!

Ratings: Surfer’s Choice gets 4 stars but Surf Beat is a compilation of singles, so no rating for that one.

Disc 756: Surfer’s Choice

Despite “Surfer’s Choice” being one of the most innovative and influential records of the 1960s, it never even cracked the Billboard top 50. What the hell were you thinking, people of the sixties?

It all starts with the way Dale plays the guitar – so distinct we still call the style “surf guitar” when we hear it. Lots of reverb and incredibly fast picking up and down on the strings makes it sound like a hive of bees is serenading you. It captures both the ebullience of a cresting wave and the cool soothing diffusion of sound you might experience if you could play an electric guitar underwater and not electrocute yourself.

Dale’s voice is the classic crooner style of the era, and while he doesn’t have the same range of many of his contemporaries like Frankie Valli he still gets the job done, and he sings with gusto.

When Dale is trying to do the sixties crooner thing, such as on “Peppermint Man,” “Lovey Dovey” or “Night Owl” he doesn’t interest me as much. Fortunately on “Surfer’s Choice these songs seem included as more of an afterthought to please the mainstream listener. Not that it worked.

 The album is at its best when the surf guitar sound is flying, punctuated here and there with a saucy saxophone. Words are not necessary. Listening, you know songs like “Surf Beat,” “Surfing Drums” and “Let’s Go Trippin’” are all about freedom. The freedom of the beach, the freedom of the wave, and the unbridled freedom of a generation that was riding high on life and not yet scarred by Vietnam or stagflation.

“Surfing Drums” manages to throw in a drum solo as well as saxophone letting you know there are lots of ways this music can shout “yeehaw!” Even the slower pace of “Death of a Gremmie” can’t get you down. I guess in a crowded surf spot one less gremmie isn’t the biggest tragedy…

Even when there are words, they are sparse, as on “Take It Off” where the music occasionally breaks every couple of bars so Dick can exhort you to ‘take it off.’ This song is also all about freedom, and hearing it I can see girls in bikinis go-go dancing by firelight up and down the beach. It’s a great image.

Dale takes on the folk classic, “Sloop John B” as well, and although I expect this is controversial, I like it better than the Beach Boys version that came out four years later. Dale’s is a little bit slower, and tinged with just the right amount of regret. Even the odd rat-pack style string section he uses works here. I’m sure the Beach Boys were listening.

The most famous song on the album is “Misirlou Twist” which is just that – a twist on the single “Misirlou” released separately. “Misirlou Twist” is twice as long, but the extra content detracts from the song’s great riff. I must reluctantly side with the single on this one.

The album ends with “Let’s Go Trippin’” which may be the finest example of surf music ever made. The guitar cuts its way up and down the progressions hitting the high notes with bluesy enthusiasm. The saxophone is a clinic on how to use that instrument in pop music that was sadly never learned by the epidemic of crappy eighties music that would follow twenty years later.

“Surfer’s Choice” is just another great Dick Dale album, so consistently good that if you were to only own one, you’d be just fine with this one. Of course, if you only want to own one Dick Dale album you’re an idiot.

Disc 757: Surf Beat

“Surf Beat” isn’t actually an album, but rather a collection of Dale’s early singles from 1958 to 1962. Being earlier in Dick Dale’s career, the album only lands that sweet surfer sound in fits and starts; I expect he’s still learning just what it is all about.

Instead, there is a lot of the crooner stuff that I don’t enjoy as much. It is still good stuff, but if I want this kind of fifties/sixties pop music I prefer Buddy Holly. It just feels like it is trying too hard to please the masses.

The exception to this rule is “We’ll Never Hear the End of It” where Dale steps up his game. This is a sorrowful tune about young foolish lovers and (I suspect) teen pregnancy. Rather than bow down to the admonishment of their elders, this is a song about forging ahead, reveling in the recklessness of young love. By the end Dale makes an honest woman of his girl, and puts a ring on her hand. I love the slow rhythm of the melody, sad and uncertain, even as the lyrics give the song its stiff upper lip.

Dale’s signature guitar sound pokes its head up even on the most by-the-numbers tracks; the shadow of things to come. The songs are presented in chronological order, which I appreciate because you can actually feel the music evolve as you listen to the record.

It isn’t until the latter half of “Surf Beat”s 14 tracks that surf guitar really starts to hit, but when it does, it is as good as anything on Surfer’s Choice. In fact, some of the songs would later appear on that studio debut, among them “Surf Beat,” Let’s Go Trippin’” and “Shake ‘N’ Stomp.” I’ll leave those off my favourites list, though, since I’ve already got them on the LP

The one repeat that is better is the classic surfer song “Misirlou” (rediscovered for the movie “Pulp Fiction” in 1994). Overplayed thought this song has become in recent years, there is no denying how awesome it is.

“Surf Beat” for me is a bit of a disappointment, but it isn’t because it is bad. It’s because I know the greatness of “Surfer’s Choice” and the albums that would follow. I take solace knowing that without these early singles, Dale would never have learned the lessons he needed to be great later. You gotta walk before you surf, man.

Best tracks (Surfer’s Choice): Surf Beat, Sloop John B, Take It Off, Surfing Drums, Shake N’ Stomp, Let’s Go Trippin’

Best tracks (Surf Beat): We’ll Never Hear the End of It, Misirlou

CD Odyssey Disc 688: Dick Dale

Today is my brother’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Virgil! He was born in 1963 – the same year this next album came out. Considering how few albums I own from 1963 (this is only the second one I’ve ever reviewed) that’s one hell of a cool coincidence.

Disc 688 is…. Checkered Flag

Artist: Dick Dale and his Del-Tones

Year of Release: 1963

What’s up with the Cover? Dick Dale plays the part of race car driver, complete with sexy grease smear on one cheek. It is always interesting to me how records from the fifties and sixties will print the songs on the front cover (seen here) or include claims about how great the music is (sadly not seen here). Albums as pure art would come later, but in 1963 album covers also doubled as advertisements.

How I Came To Know It: I knew about Dick Dale from his surf guitar music, but when I saw this in the store it reminded me of my youth, growing up with songs about drag racing (I had a few on a skateboarding record when I was a kid). I took a chance that Dick’s racing music would be as good as his surfer tunes.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Dick Dale albums and I really like all of them, so it is hard to choose. That said, I’m going to put “Checkered Flag” at the top, bumping “Summer Surf” down to #2. A win for the Ho-Dads I guess (more on that later).

Rating: 5 stars

The California beach scene in the early sixties was full of young people into two very different hobbies – both very risky in their own way. There were the surfers, hitting the waves and hanging ten and there were the greasers, who were into fast cars and street racing. “Checkered Flag” is a record that gives the greasers their due.

Hot-rod music was a real thing in 1963, and I can’t think of a better album that shows it off than this one. Every track is a lesson in how to pack the feeling of howling down the road in an overpowered death machine into a two minute pop song.

Although not as omnipresent as on surfer records like “Surfer’s Choice” or “Summer Surf,” Dick Dale’s signature guitar sound is still on display. This is particularly true on the instrumental tracks, including “Surf Buggy,” “Mag Wheels,” and my favourite “The Wedge.” “The Wedge” is a furiously picked guitar piece that ranges up and down with the speed and skill of a Spanish guitar instrumentalist, but with a rock edge that defines Dale’s guitar sound.

On “Ho-Dad Machine” Dale slows his guitar down into an almost funky groove, but never loses that signature reverb sound. This is a song for cruisin’ the strip along the beach, checking out bikini-clad girls and giving surfers scornful glances. The car-loving ho-dads and the wave-worshipping surfers were known to often be in conflict for rule of the beach, or at least that’s what I read on the interwebs.

In fact, given that Dale is so well known as a surfer musician, it is amazing that he is so good at capturing the experience of the street-racer so effectively. The racing songs on this album make you feel like you’re right in the car with them. The songs have an urgency that makes you want to press the pedal down (thankfully I listened while walking).

They also have a fine touch of humour as Dale gives variations on the racing theme, whether the singer is playing the part of someone of someone getting beaten (“Grudge Run”) or showing up an overconfident opponent (“It Will Grow On You”). The latter song is about a beetle that has been supped-up into a ‘sleeper’ This is a car that looks like nothing special, but is fast as stink. I knew this term before I could even ride a bike, let alone drive a car. I guess that says a lot about the neighbourhood I grew up in.

Dale has a teen idol voice that is underrated, if for no other reason than his hands get all the attention. His singing style really works telling these songs; Dale comes off like a beautiful bad boy that every girl wants to bring home to scare their mothers. His backing band, the Del-Tones, have great doo-wop vocals on the tracks that call for them. The album also features a lot of saxophone (three different players) and they add another layer to the music that makes everything more festive and frantic. This was E-street band sound layering before the E-street band existed.

While this album is decidedly a hot-rod record, Dale never turns his back on surfers. Two of the songs are about beetles (a surfer favourite), and “The Wedge” can refer to an engine or a wave, depending on how you see it. By the time you get to the final track (in a breathless 25 minutes, you’re not sure if “Night Rider” refers to racing in the streets or surfing after dark. Dale helpfully keeps it as an instrumental, so you can have your cake and surf it too.

If the album weren’t perfect enough, there are two bonus tracks on my edition which are great surf songs. “Secret Surfin’ Spot” is a classic track about not giving away where you go surfing, lest the ho-dads and gremmies start filling the place up and crushing your groove. Of course, if the ho-dads did show up, they’d probably be listening to “Checkered Flag” anyway.

For years I’ve wanted to learn to surf, and to own a 1971 Dodge Charger. This album makes me feel like I’m living both dreams. I’m not sure if that qualifies as “changed me somehow” but this record is just too damned good not to give it 5 stars. When something is this thoroughly enjoyable to listen to from beginning to end, you gotta give it a perfect score. 

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 394: Dick Dale

I had an amazing dream last night.

I dreamed that both of the cats we’ve lost in the last two years (Othello and Inigo) came to visit us in the living room.  It was one of those hyper-real dreams, full of tactile sensation and emotional depth.  I knew it was odd that they were back, and I knew they couldn’t stay.  I followed them around the house giving them both pats until I sensed it was time for them to go, and then I woke up.  I felt both better and worse at the same time.

H.P. Lovecraft had a lot of strange notions about cats, and how they exist in other dream-like dimensions that we are unaware of.  It would be great if he turns out to be right, but even if he’s wrong, it was a nice dream.

Disc 394 is…Summer Surf

Artist: Dick Dale and his Del-Tones

Year of Release: 1964

What’s Up With The Cover?:  In the days of records, they would often list all the tracks on the front, so when you flipped through at the store you could see everything without pulling it out.  This album does that.  Below the titles, Dick Dale looks ultra-cool standing amid a bunch of surfboards, one of which looks pretty dinged up.  When I first looked at this cover I thought he was standing in a living room looking out the window, and the surf board on the right was one sides of the drapes.

How I Came To Know It: I think I first became dimly aware of Dick Dale from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack (reviewed way back at Disc 102) but it has only been more recently I’ve gotten interested in ‘surf guitar.’  I read a little bit about it, and went back and forth, but it was ultimately my renewed interest in muscle cars that drove me to buy 1963’s “Checkered Flag” and from there I was hooked. “Summer Surf” came very shortly thereafter, and more are on the way.

How It Stacks Up: I only have two Dick Dale albums, and if you’ve been reading along, you’ll already know which two.  More will follow, but for now, I’m going to say the two I own are equally good.

Rating: 4 stars

Ever wonder how we got from Chuck Berry to the Ramones?  At least one of those paths goes through Dick Dale, and his surfer guitar sound.

“Summer Surf” has elements of that early rock sound which makes sense, since in 1964 it is still relatively early in the life of what we think of as modern rock and roll.  At the same time, for music that is currently 48 years old it has a definite edge to it.

This is music for people who want to party, regardless of the era.  Unlike modern rock, it doesn’t feel the need to overtly shock you with lyrics, or go negative.  It is upbeat music for cool cats that just want to hang out at the beach with their girls and maybe a cooler of beers.

His signature rolling, rapid-fire reverb guitar sound is in strong evidence, with the momentum-laden “Banzai Washout,” the western-inspired “Tidal Wave” and the swing-like “Thunder Wave,” all brilliant instrumentals. 

This is what is great about Dick Dale that I didn’t notice on the first couple of listens.  Yes, he has rightfully placed his star brightly among rock and roll’s most famous axe-men for his own style, but he is not content , and is constantly experimenting with rock and roll. 

On “Summer Surf” he takes his sound in yet another direction, melding it with traditional Spanish guitar on “Spanish Kiss,” and works in inspirational gospel arrangements on “Glory Wave,” a song that compares riding a big wave to an experience in religious ecstasy.  Or maybe vice versa – it works either way.

In every case, he doesn’t just noodle about trying new things at his listeners’ expense.  He writes good songs that just get more interesting the more you play them.

This album isn’t all about the guitar, either.  There is plenty of horn section, piano and even a little harmonica to mix it up, all played with a groovy playfulness.  Dale’s guitar shows off just enough to leave you wanting more.

Of course, through it all, he remains loyal to the culture of surfing.  On the aforementioned “Glory Wave” he sings:

“I’m gonna ride that glory wave today

I’m gonna walk on the water like the good book say.”

The language of surfing is rampant throughout, with references to ‘hocking your woody’, and ‘genuine hot doggers’ that ‘shoot that curl all day.’  Even his Mom hangs ten on the playfully fun “Mama’s Gone Surfin’”.

The album closes with a couple of bonus tracks, “Who Can He Be” and “Oh Marie” that are  a lot more traditional fifties rock.  I enjoyed having these as well.  Even though I’m usually down on bonus tracks on an album, these ones fit in nicely, and showed another side of Dale worth a listen.

I was tempted to call this album a concept album, but really it is just a sub-genre of music that the cool kids dug back in 1964.  Just listening to it made me feel cool, 48 years after its release.  It is still cool, because good tunes don’t wipe out, man, they just keep riding that wave.

Best tracks:  Surfin’, Banzai Washout, Glory Wave, Mama’s Gone Surfin’, Tidal Wave.