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Surf Music Top 10

What's the best music to play on the way to the beach? Myself, I'm keen on some Sun Ra (That explains everything. Ed.) or Jackie Mittoo, while Harry has taken to demanding that The Clash blast out of the car at full volume. Fearless of the immense work involved (Neil Watson, take note), I asked Alf Alderson for his Top 10, and here's what he came up with. As Alf says, "I’d be the first to admit that few of the tracks listed here are ‘surf music’ in the true sense of the word, but to my mind ‘surf music’ is more than just the sound of Dick Dale or the Beach Boys – it’s the sounds you turn up to full volume on your way to catch a few waves, the sounds that remind you of great times and great sessions with great mates."

Here, in no particular order, is Alf's Top 10.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: THE POLICE
Giving my age away here, but this catchy tune by Mr. Sting and co. had me tapping my foot (above which hung ludicrous nylon boardshorts) at the same time as my first surf trip to SW France. Happy memories of drubbings by the waves and the alcohol at Chambre d’Amour.

HEY LITTLE SISTER: RY COODER
I used to listen to this Ry Cooder track while working in the original Ma Sime’s Surf Hut (it was quite literally a garden shed stocked with surf gear) above Whitesands Bay in Pembrokeshire. Slightest sign of a swell and the ‘Closed’ sign went up…

CALL ME THE BREEZE: JJ CALE
I first heard this classic piece of road music while living in Western Australia in the early 80s. Memories of hot sun, hot winds, hot waves.

BLUE MONDAY: NEW ORDER
Conjures up a long, lazy summer on the beach at Whitesands and drunken nights in the St. David’s Rugby Club, surfing any ripple available and desperately waiting for late August and the first real swells.

WIPEOUT: THE SURFARIS
At last, a surf music classic. I played in a band in St. David’s for many years, every member of which surfed, as did most of our audiences, and this one always had ‘em dancing on the tables.

ROAD TO NOWHERE: CHRIS REA
That rare thing, a British ‘road song’ and personally very appropriate at the time it was released as I was driving around the UK researching Surf UK. I bought it in Thurso and am always reminded of driving across Lewis in search of waves when I hear it – ironic considering that it’s about the M25…

DOO BOP: MILES DAVIS
Any track on Miles’ last album reminds me of drifting around in SW France with The Gill many years ago – not much surf on that trip but lots of laughs.

BLACKFOOT: ILLINOIS JACQUET
Ah yes – this groovy little jazz number was playing when, with my mate Tony Kitchell on board, I turned my van upside down on the Ile de Ré in France. We were fine, not so Tony’s boards which were on the roof (mine had wisely been stashed inside the van). We didn’t get any waves there either.

STAR GUITAR: THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
This one brings back fairly recent memories of travelling in style down the Landes coast in my campervan – no more scuzzy tents in the forest now. And I got the CD it comes from for just €8 at the excellent weekly market at Montalivet-les-Bains.

GOOD VIBRATIONS: THE BEACH BOYS
However clichéd it may be to have a Beach Boys track in the list there’s no doubt that, irrespective of the band’s dubious surf connections, Brian Wilson and co. penned one of the finest pop songs of all time with this number.

Johnny Rad: Alive and Kickin' in LA

Astute readers will have noted that Johnny Rad has posted a comment to a post from a while back. He's also emailed me with the excellent news that he's "alive and kickin' in LA." The Rad Man has long been one of my all-time favourite musos, so here is footage of one of his classic tracks from the days when our future was primitve.

And here's an another slice of skate supremacy.

Thursday Lunchtime Stoke: Waiting in Vain

 

Saturday Lunchtime Inspirational Footage

Trust me - this is brilliant.

Saturday Morning Happy Song

Do Aliens Surf?

Is there life on another planet? Are there waves on other planets? Do aliens surf? The only man who might know is Sun Ra.

While my guitar gently weeps (ukelele version)

Neil alerts me to this version of the George Harrison classic. As he says, he is Hawaiian, and the ukelele has a surfing connection...

Classic surf music

Few would argue with Dick Dale's claim to surf music's Hall of Fame - but how many viewers of Pulp Fiction knew that he was a surfer?

Kiss the Crystal Flake

I came across this song by California band The Mother Hips the other day. The band's new album, Kiss the Crystal Flake, is out on 3 April and on this evidence has got to be worth checking out. Not least, too, because these guys all surf...

Some music

A while ago I posted some cracking footage (thanks Gary) from the Wheels of Fire skate film featuring Natas Kaupas. After a long day I still love watching the film, in which Natas became the first and, to this day, only person to spin 540 degrees on a fire hydrant (on a skateboard). This, the Natas Spin, appears in various versions of the Tony Hawk's video games including Underground 2 and American Wasteland. The excerpt, which I might well post again soon because it is so good, is enriched by Firehouse's "Brave Captain." Check out the drummer's Hawkesque hair. Classic.

If Antonio Forcione was a surfer, he'd rip

A kindly soul recently sent me the new CD by the Antonio Forcione Quartet, called, simply enough, Antonio Forcione Quartet in Concert. I have no idea if the Italian-born acoustic guitarist is one of Italy's few but dedicated surfers, but the CD is exquisite. Here's some footage of AFQ. Awesome.