THE 45 RPM REVIEWS

    IT’S ALL very well reviewing all of those great albums that appeared during the first big swell of surf and hot-rod music, between 1962 and 1965 … but what of those magnificent one-off singles, or the not-so-successful releases that didn’t make it onto a 12” platter – and following their removal from the radio play lists (assuming they even got that far …) simply disappeared back into obscurity and the memory banks of the faithful few. Why should they be overlooked ? Or how about the ones that DID make it onto an album, only for that to disappear into the vaults of time aswell ?

Subsequently, it gives us great pleasure to present to you what we consider to be some of the very best of the ‘45rpm's’ from the beaches and strips around the U.S.

OK, so a few choice items from of our selection are perhaps not quite as forgotten as the others, and the numerous compilations from recent years have a tendency to feature regular favourites, but they still all deserve their recognition.

When deciding on the actual selection for review there had to be one rule in evidence – they had to be relevant to either the surf scene or the drag-strip … or at a bare minimum have maximum summer-effect throughout, and although it was so tempting to stay faithful to a few particular and personal favourites, such as the wonderful collaboration between Gary Zekley and Dean Torrence on “Other Towns, Other Girls”, or the Honeys exquisite “The One You Can’t Have”, neither of which appeared on an original album back in the 1960’s, they both failed to contain any reference to the surf, strip or summer – and so were justifiably excluded. It’s a hard life …

Therefore, in no particular order we present the following selection …

A-D

E-J

K-R

S-Z

"Sun-tans, beach clothes and starry nights ..."