ALBUM REVIEWS : J,K,L

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

Despite the musical popularity that Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys bought to the motorcycle world with their 1964 recording of “Little Honda”, and the subsequent chart success that Gary Usher and the Hondells contributed with their version of the song, it was actually with the Kickstands album, released prior to those mentioned, that the benefits of owning a 'Honda' were first outlined to the listening public. Capitol producer Jim Economides was the inspiration behind the “Black Boots And Bikes” album, and he brought on board both Gary Usher and guitarist and arranger Jerry Cole (aka Jerry Kolbrak) for the project. Recorded in one long session on January 27th 1964 the album was divided between the five Cole-arranged instrumentals, “Haulin’ Honda” being the pick of the bunch, and the six Usher-dominated vocal tracks, four of which featured the talents of sidekick Dick Burns on lead.

Both “Death Valley Run” and “Mean Streak” are excellent tracks, equally the match of the more familiar Hondells versions that appeared four months later, whilst perhaps the other two Usher/Christian originals, “Two Wheel Showstopper” and “Ridin’ Trails” benefited from the full Usher, Burns, Kelly and Girard contingent that the later Hondells sessions had to offer. Unfortunately, Usher’s sole composition, “Devil On Wheels”, is weak by comparison, whilst the final vocal inclusion, the completely out-of-place “Johnny Take Care”, featuring Usher himself on lead, appears to be included solely as a favour to a friend, seeing that writer Peter Keich was a colleague of Economides. Musically, it bears little resemblance to the numbers around it …

All told, a mixed bag, but it set the stall out nicely for the succession of releases to follow.

Recorded during the full flow of Gary Usher’s hot-rod momentum. Having churned out albums by the Superstocks, The Kickstands and The Hondells, and even taken over the recording reins for The Surfaris, there appeared to be no stopping Usher and his reliable back-up crew of Girard, Burns and Kelly. However, for this particular project his input was mainly restricted to the vocal booth and the actual production was overseen by Steve “Shutdown” Douglas and Jim Economides.

It’s a pleasant enough gathering of tried and tested numbers, apparently all recorded at two mammoth sessions on July 23rd 1964, although it lacks much of the magic that surrounded a number of those afore-mentioned releases. Nevertheless, Chuck Girard’s distinctive lead vocals on both “Hot-Rod High” (previously released by The Surfaris) and “Hot-Rod USA” (a Rip-Chords classic) match the original versions comfortably, whilst Usher’s tender handling of the ballad “Lonely Little Stocker” is another pleasant addition … but by laying them alongside a number of fairly tame instrumentals, and rather routine versions of Chuck Berry’s “School Days”, Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock” and the Beach Boys “Be True To Your School” and “I Get Around”, much of the originality is lost …

It doesn’t take much to uncover the formidable presence of Bruce Johnston when researching detail on the Californian surf and hot-rod music scene of the early 60’s. Along with an elite band of musicians, producers and arrangers Bruce’s name ranks up there alongside the likes of Brian Wilson, Terry Melcher and Jan Berry.

Bruce had grown up alongside fellow high school student Jan Berry, and had reportedly performed in early incarnations of various school doo-wop bands with him, and he began to learn his studio craftsmanship alongside the likes of Sandy Nelson, Phil Spector and Jan. However, his first studio album, issued during the initial onset of ‘surf music’ bore little resemblance to the music that his peers were experimenting with. “Surfer’s Pyjama Party” is not really a product of the surf-scene at all. Merely a cash-in, labelled to draw the attention of Bruce’s fellow like-minded teenagers and surfers, this is simply a college frat-party, supposedly recorded ‘live’ at UCLA’s Sigma Pi fraternity on January 6th, with Bruce performing a number of ‘hits’ from the era – with a couple of ‘surfer’ tunes thrown in to justify the label (although there are indications that the 'party' sounds were simply overdubbed onto studio recordings ...). Bruce’s heart clearly lies with rhythm and blues during this session, and his keyboard work as he rattles through the likes of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say”, Booker T’s “Green Onions” and Lieber and Stoller’s “Kansas City” (in which he throws in a few surfing references) is top notch, and whilst the guitar playing is also high calibre, credited to future Beach Boys-sideman Ed Carter, it never really captures the ‘surf’ feel at all …

By the time of his second album however, Bruce had linked up with producer Terry Melcher and, having just churned out the Hot Doggers LP, they now turned their attentions back to Bruce’s career. The subsequent result was the excellent twelve-track “Surfin’ Round The World” album which, despite containing only five vocal tracks, still managed to offer a wide variation of styles. Both the title track and “The Hamptons” are great songs, perfectly suited to Bruce’s vocal style, and even “Surfin’s Here To Stay” (featuring Rip Chords Ernie Bringas and Phil Stewart supplying the backing vocals) manages to rise above it’s obvious link with Dion’s “Runaround Sue” to prove a great album closer. In addition, the bizarrely named “Jersey Channel Islands Pt.7” is a classic moment of the true surf sound, hard-playing staccato guitar with wailing saxophone and fuzz bass-effects. Elsewhere, “Virginia Beach” is noticeable for being a co-composition between Bruce and Ed Carter, whilst the slightly out-of-sorts “Down Under” – a tribute to the Australian followers of the big wave – features co-writing credits with legendary drummer Hal Blaine. In total, Bruce receives songwriting credits on eleven of the featured recordings, although somewhat surprisingly the productions credits indicate that Terry Melcher handled these chores alone. Nevertheless, despite the obvious achievements of this album, it failed to garner much success and the solo career was subsequently put onto back burner for the foreseeable future and Bruce channelled his energies into the session work and partnership with Terry Melcher – that ultimately resulted in some fine recordings under the guise of the Rip Chords … and then one day Mike Love came a-callin’ …

Another studio collection, comprising various established session musicians and singers, brought together for this one-off offering under the name of the Kustom Kings. Renowned musical arranger Steve Douglas was the driving force behind this one, apparently compiled as some sort of promotional tool for car-designer George Barris. However, the album sadly doesn’t really step into gear at all, and the opening track offers an insight as to what will follow. “In My ’40 Ford” is a cheesy MOR-orientated tune, with lead vocals by Bruce Johnston, which subsequently leads us into this gathering of instantly forgettable ‘hot-rod’ numbers, with production credits afforded to Hoover, Winn and Sill … and even the obligatory cover version, a tame reworking of the Rip Chords “Hey Little Cobra”, stalls in the pit lane.

“Super Fine 39” is a virtual rewrite of the Beach Boys “409”, whilst the bizarre “Hotty 32” is a brief blues-based hot-rod number featuring Johnston on the tinkling ivories. Of the twelve tracks featured on this release, six are Steve Douglas-orientated instrumentals, and whilst the production on these is noticeably less muddled than it is with the vocal tracks, even he appears to have run out of gas at these sessions, and no more so than on the final track, “Speed Shifters”, which genuinely sounds like the precursor for Benny Hill’s TV theme !!

In truth, the only real number of any worth is “Stick Six”, although that in turn could so easily be mistaken for a Gary Usher / Superstocks cast-off …

The second of the Crown Records hot-rod series saw ace session man Jerry Cole (spelt with a ‘K’ on this one) once again in the driving seat, delivering and overseeing the production of 10 new cuts, alongside an uncredited team of musicians. From the opening number, “My Little Hot-Rod”, it’s apparent that this is a step up from the first collection credited to the Hot-Rodders, and although the saxophone is intent on wailing away once again it’s a more refined approach than it’s predecessor and the track truly rocks …

However, as for the remaining four vocal cuts, “409 Woodie”, “Chrome Machine”, “My Model ‘A’” and “Little Black Coupe”, they all suffer from the same problem – a distinct lack of vocal support, and other than, presumably, Cole himself supplying the lead there’s no backing vocals at all, which makes each track sound very similar to the others. Cole is a reasonable enough vocalist, but the overall combination of driving rhythm, guitar and sax, and lead vocal on each cut mean that they are all just that too familiar-sounding to stand out from each other. Which is a shame, as the remaining five instrumentals do tend to vary in pace and style, with both “Pealin’ Out” and “Stroker”, both pure surf-instro’s, really getting the listener stoked …