ALBUM REVIEWS : A,B,C

Note : Due to regular updating these reviews are not in strict alphabetical order

The Astronauts were a great little band – excepting that they weren’t really a gen-u-ine ‘surf group’, hailing as they did from the distinctly un-Californian climate of Boulder, Colorado (remember how Mork and Mindy had to dress up to keep out the cold ?).

They had formed during the early part of the decade, gigging at local clubs whilst still attending college, but it wasn’t until April of 1963 that they headed out west to the sunshine state under their new contract with RCA Records, having previously convinced RCA A&R director, Steve Sholes, that they really DID play surf music. RCA Records had the whole “Surfin’ With …” album already planned by the time they arrived in California and all they needed to do was turn up, plug in and play.

The debut album, “Surfin’ With The Astronauts”, follows a similar pattern to many of these early ‘surf’ albums … a number of specific surf-orientated tunes filled out with a choice few classic r’n’b covers, and this is no exception. Lee Hazelwood’s driving “Baja” and Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” both sit uncomfortably alongside a cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins “Susie-Q”, and a passable take on the Beach Boys recent success with “Surfin’ USA” fares little better – but there’s no denying that this band could really play, and the production by Al Schmidt is clear and precise. The instrumental numbers that take over the majority of the play list highlight the capabilities of each band member, and the self-composed “Kuk” is another of the many highlights, although it’s debatable as to whether the Colorado innocence of the band really understood the lyrical concept of Henry Mancini’s “Banzai Pipeline” … but at least it rocked, which was more than Mancini’s original.

Interestingly, for the band’s second album “Everything Is A-OK”, RCA chose to ditch the surf image and release a ‘live’ show from one of the bands many club gigs, featuring a selection of pop and r’n’b covers of the day. But for their third offering they once again climbed aboard the California-bandwagon and joined the many local bands taking the hot-rod craze into the recording studio. The subsequent “Competition Coupe” album rates as one of the very best auto-orientated releases from this era featuring twelve crackin’ good auto-themed gems, competently performed and played by the five-piece band, with production once again by Al Schmidt.

Of note, 7 of the 12 cuts, all co-written by legendary sax-man Steve “Shutdown” Douglas, also feature on the MGM release by The Vettes (released three months earlier), whilst the superb Gary Usher / Roger Christian composed title track had also appeared the previous November, performed by Usher and his studio team, and credited to The Timers. However, these versions by The Astronauts are without doubt the more polished recordings, and whilst the two new instrumental offerings from the pen of Lee Hazelwood are sadly not in the class of “Baja”, the remaining two ‘newies’, both vocal compositions from the group themselves, drive along in top gear alongside “Little Ford Ragtop” and “’55 Bird”. All told, this fine release ranks high up there alongside the great auto-offerings from the more established Beach Boys and Jan & Dean stables … but it just sounds that little bit too clinical to be a classic.

It's also woth mentioning that a dozen or so outtakes resulted from these RCA sessions that didn't make the final cut on these two albums (including a rare Bruce Johnston composition - "Quasimoto") - but look no further than the 1991 Bear Family release "The Astronauts Rarities" (BCD15556) for further examples of how this tight little band could actually play. They really COULD churn out those surfin' instros along with the best of them.

Note: And as a footnote to the debut albums release, the surfer of the front cover of the album was actually a gen-u-ine beach-bunny with her curvaceous figure airbrushed out !

Founded in 1957 by the Bahari Brothers, the Crown Records label was reknowned for issuing cheap, budget cash-in offerings, and had a fairly sizable catalogue to its name by the time it dipped its toes under the tread for a series of hot-rod tie-ins during 1964.

The Blasters album was the third such release to come out of the stable (following on from albums by The Hot-Rodders and Jerry Kole & The Strokers), and was by far and away the best that the label had to offer from the genre, and whilst very similar in structure to its predecessors it differed immensely from the first of those albums due to the strong performances and polished production.

As with all of the labels releases, there were no writing, performing or studio credits anywhere to be found on the package, although it is known that ace session guitarist (and future Rockabilly Hall Of Fame inductee) Jerry Cole (Kole) made significant performing and production contributions to these Crown releases, although specific roles have yet to be ascertained as to who played what on which release ... but one thing IS certain, whoever is/was playing the guitar on the awesome "Steering Wheel Stuck" really knew how to play that thing ! It's Clapton, Hendrix, Page all rolled into one ... five years ahead of it's time ... and the throbbing bass riff that runs throughout, well to the fore, compounds the astonishment that this was still 1964!

Elsewhere, the opening vocal number "Hot-Rod Center", the hook-laden "Don't Count On The Looks" and the drivin' "Little Willy's Dragster" all justift their standing in the draggin' vocal stakes ... but once again it's that wild, wild gee-tar that makes you sit up and take note. Awesome stuff ...

Up and coming recording industry giant Mike Curb was the man behind these two fairly lightweight motorcycle offerings, issued in the wake of the Hondells success story. Curb had worked alongside Gary Usher for a number of the Hondells releases, albeit through record company request more than choice one is led to believe, and following Ushers departure from Mercury Records to Decca he began to capitalise of the market ‘his’ Hondells had opened up.

The two albums created under the name of The Buddies were a collaboration between the experienced marketing mind of Nick Venet (who will forever be acknowledged as the man who signed the Beach Boys to Capitol) and the youthful Curb, still only twenty years of age, and yet despite his relative youth Curb was learning quickly. The opening number to the Buddies debut album (confusingly credited to The Buddies AND The Compacts) was a version of the Hondells/Beach Boys “Little Honda”, and yet all Curb did was to lift the rhythm track from Usher’s version of the song and overdub new vocals on top … blatant plagiarism, and yet it didn’t end there, as “The Surf Is In” from the second album once again just utilized the backing track from the Hondells “Ridin’ Trails”. In addition, when it came down to filling the album out with the appropriate instrumentals, often featuring raw sound of Davie Allen’s mean guitar, Curb took a selection of the recordings he had provided for the Hondells albums, and simply retitled them, occasionally adding a vocal track on top – subsequently “Sidewinder” became “Little BSA”, “The Lonely Rider” became “Sickle Riders Nightmare” and “Cycle Chase” became “Yamaha” AND “Mean Little Monza” …

With the benefit of hindsight one could state that of the ‘originals’ that graced the two Buddies albums, issued just weeks apart, there are few that could really hold themselves up against the more illustrious, and competent, rival recordings, and perhaps only “I’ll Surf Around The World” from the second album contains the amount of quality that warrants further listening – despite the noted collaboration with Usher’s acknowledged lyricist Roger Christian on the rather naïve “Little Iddy Biddy Buddy Rider”. However, of note, it’s worth pointing out that the business-minded Curb/Venet partnership were always on the lookout for new opportunities and the inclusion of two ‘ski-music’ tunes, both on the second album, suggested that maybe $$$ lay in the mountain tops aswell …

Like a whole host of so-called acts that appeared during the original surf and hot-rod era, there was never really a band called The Catalinas … just a gathering of renowned L.A. studio musicians recording a bunch of surf tunes under the collective pseudonym for Bobby Darin’s record label. The resulting album released during mid-64 doesn’t really live up to the expectations that a number of its predecessors had managed, although it does feature a number of original compositions. By this stage the rush to churn out ‘surf’ albums was a high priority of the record company release schedules and it didn’t really matter how close they came to the original surf sound … they just had to sing about surf !

Kicking off with an uninspired cover of “Surfin’ USA” this album only gathers the interest when the newer compositions, such as “Surfer Boy” and “Queen Of The Hot-Rods” (the latter co-written by future Beach Boys Bruce Johnston) make their appearance, although further cover versions of “Hot Rod USA” (The Rip Chords), “Boss Barracuda” (The Surfaris) and “Beach Ball” (The City Surfers), whilst adequately performed, sadly do little to enhance the collection. Overall, the production remains thin and the vocal mix is particularly poor … but that still doesn’t stop it from being a highly collectible item !