https://exchange.prx.org/p/600434
Bob Dylan probably had an even more profound effect on the psychedelic era as a songwriter than he did as a performer, and this week we feature an entire hour of Bob Dylan songs performed by artists who were not named Bob Dylan. There are the obvious ones like the Byrds, who had multiple hit singles with Dylan songs, but also some you may not immediately think of, such as the Chocolate Watchband and blues legend Taj Mahal. For our second hour we lighten things up a bit by focusing on the instrumentalists who laid the groundwork for countless garage bands to build on, including a set of alternating tracks from the three most influential guitarists of the pre-psychedelic era.
Artist: Peter, Paul And Mary
Title: Blowin' In The Wind
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1963
Just as knowing the chords for Van Morrison's Gloria was pretty much a prerequisite for being in a garage band, being able to play Bob Dylan's Blowing In The Wind was a must for anyone attempting to play folk music at a party in the mid-1960s. If there was more than one of you singing, you most likely used the Peter, Paul and Mary arrangement of the tune, with its three-part harmony. Their version was by far the most popular recording of the song, going all the way to the # 2 spot on the top 40 charts in the summer of '63.
Artist: Byrds
Title: Mr. Tambourine Man
Source: Mono LP: Nuggets vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and on LP: Mr. Tambourine Man)
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year: 1965
The term "folk-rock" was coined by the music press to describe the debut single by the Byrds. Mr. Tambourine Man had been written and originally recorded by Bob Dylan, but it was the Byrds version that went to the top of the charts in 1965. Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby had begun work on the song in 1964, when their manager got his hands on an acetate of Dylan performing the song with Ramblin' Jack Elliott. The trio, calling themselves the Jet Set, were trying to develop a sound that combined folk-based melodies and lyrics with arrangements inspired by the British Invasion, and felt that Mr. Tambourine Man might be a good candidate for that kind of treatment. Although the group soon added bassist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke, producer Terry Melcher opted to use the group of Los Angeles studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew for the instrumental track of the recording, along with McGuinn's 12-string guitar. Following the success of the single, the Byrds entered the studio to record their debut LP, this time playing their own instruments.
Artist: Byrds
Title: All I Really Want To Do
Source: LP: Mr. Tambourine Man
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1965
The Byrds scored a huge international hit with their interpretation of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, which made it to the top of the charts in 1965. The group's next single was another Dylan cover, All I Really Want To Do. Although it did well in the UK, making it all the way to the # 4 spot, the song was not a major hit in the US, where it stalled out at # 40. Ironically, the Byrds' next single, Pete Seeger's Turn Turn Turn, bombed in the UK while hitting # 1 in the US.
Artist: Byrds
Title: My Back Pages
Source: CD: Younger Than Yesterday
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1967
One of the items of contention between David Crosby and Roger McGuinn was the latter's insistence on continuing to record covers of Bob Dylan songs when the band members themselves had a wealth of their own material available. Indeed, it was reportedly an argument over whether or not to include Crosby's Triad on the next album that resulted in Crosby being fired from the band in October of 1967 (although other factors certainly played into it as well). Nonetheless, the last Dylan cover with Crosby still in the band was perhaps their best as well. Although not as big a hit as Mr. Tambourine Man, My Back Pages from the Younger Than Yesterday album did respectably well on the charts, becoming one of the Byrds' last top 40 hits.
Artist: Turtles
Title: It Ain't Me Babe
Source: Nuggets Vol. 10-Folk Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Rhino (original label: White Whale)
Year: 1965
The Turtles started out as a local high school surf band called the Crossfires. In 1965 they were signed to a record label that technically didn't exist yet. That did not deter the people at the label (which would come to be known as White Whale) from convincing the band to change its name and direction. Realizing that surf music was indeed on the way out, the band, now called the Turtles, went into the studio and recorded four songs. One of those was Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. The Byrds had just scored big with their version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and the Turtles took a similar approach with It Ain't Me Babe. The song was a solid hit, going to the #8 spot on the national charts and leading to the first of many Turtles albums (not to mention hit singles) on the White Whale label.
Artist: Association
Title: One Too Many Mornings
Source: Mono CD: Where The Action Is: L.A. Nuggets 1965-68 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Rhino (original label: Valiant)
Year: 1965
The Association is a name that will always be associated (sorry) with soft-pop hits like Cherish, Never My Love and Windy. Originally, though, they had a hard time getting a record deal, due to their somewhat unconventional approach to pop music (co-founder Terry Kirkman had played in a band with Frank Zappa prior to forming the Association, for instance). Eventually they got a deal with Jubilee Records but were unable to get decent promotion from the label. Finally producer Curt Boettcher took an interest in the group, convincing Valiant Records (which had a distribution deal with Warner Brothers) to buy out the Association's contract. The first record the group recorded for Valiant was a single version of Bob Dylan's One Too Many Mornings. Unlike many of their later records, which used studio musicians extensively, One Too Many Mornings featured the band members playing all their own instruments. Boettcher would go on to produce the Association's debut LP in 1966, which included the hits Along Comes Mary and Cherish, before moving on to other projects.
Artist: Leaves
Title: Love Minus Zero
Source: Mono CD: Hey Joe (bonus track originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: One Way (original label: Mira)
Year: 1965
Of all the various covers of Bob Dylan songs over the years, one of the most obscure has to be the Leaves' version of Love Minus Zero, released as a B side in 1965. It is suggested that the song may have been intended to be the A side of the band's debut single, since folk-rock was the hot thing in Los Angeles in 1965, but even before the record was officially released local radio stations were instead playing Too Many People, a Leaves original on the other side of the record that is now recognized as a garage-rock classic. This set the stage for the national success of their 1966 fuzztone-drenched fast version of Hey Joe, which has since appeared on several anthology albums.
Artist: Grass Roots
Title: Mr. Jones (A Ballad Of A Thin Man)
Source: Mono CD: Love Is The Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-70 (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Rhino (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1965
In late 1965 songwriters/producers P.F. Sloan (Eve of Destruction) and Steve Barri decided to create a series of records by a band called the Grass Roots. The problem was that the existing L.A. band calling itself the Grass Roots had no interest in recording for Sloan and Barri. Angered by being treated rudely by one of the band members, Sloan and Barri did a little research and came to the realization that the existing Grass Roots had not legally copyrighted the name, so Sloan and Barri did so themselves and then found another band to record as the Grass Roots. This of course forced the existing band to come up with a new name, but that's a story for another time. Meanwhile, the band Sloan and Barri recruited was the Bedouins, one of the early San Francisco bands. As the rush to sign SF bands was still months away, the Bedouins were more than happy to record the songs Sloan and Barri picked out for them. The first single by the newly-named Grass Roots was a cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Jones (A Ballad Of A Thin Man). The band soon got to work promoting the single to Southern California radio stations, but with both the Byrds and the Turtles already on the charts with Dylan covers it soon became obvious that the market was becoming saturated with folk-rock. After a period of months the band, who wanted more freedom to write and record their own material, had a falling out with Sloan and Barri and it wasn't long before they moved back to San Francisco, leaving drummer Joel Larson in L.A. The group, with another drummer, continued to perform as the Grass Roots until Dunhill Records ordered them to stop. Eventually Dunhill would hire a local L.A. band called the 13th Floor (not to be confused with Austin, Texas's 13th Floor Elevators) to be the final incarnation of the Grass Roots; that group would crank out a series of top 40 hits in the early 70s. The Bedouins never had the opportunity to record again.
Artist: Joan Baez
Title: Daddy You Been On My Mind
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Vanguard
Year: 1965
Although I had heard songs like Where Have All The Flowers Gone and Blowin' In The Wind on the radio and around campfires, I did not actually own a folk record until early 1966, when I picked up a brown paper "grab bag" of four singles at a discount price at the Post Exchange at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. Among the records in the bag was a single by Joan Baez that featured a cover of Phil Ochs's There But For Fortune on one side and a Bob Dylan song called Daddy You Been On My Mind on the other. Being a twelve-year-old kid, I had never heard of Baez or Ochs, although the name Bob Dylan was vaguely familiar to me. Still, I was intrigued by this new kind of music, that was a bit similar to songs I had heard on the radio like Where Have All The Flowers Gone, but yet had a kind of exotic strangeness that set it apart. Although the Baez single had been released in 1965, Dylan's own original version of Mama, You Been On My Mind, recorded in 1964, was not made available to the public until 1991, when it appeared as part of The Bootleg Series.
Artist: Rising Sons
Title: Walkin' Down The Line
Source: CD: Rising Sons featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia/Legacy
Year: Recorded 1965, released 1993
The Rising Sons had their roots in both the East and West Coast underground music scenes. The genesis of the band can be traced to a 1964 hootenanny in Cambridge, Mass.organized by a young bluesman named Taj Mahal. One of the performers was a 12-string guitarist named Jesse Lee Kincaid, who had learned his technique from his uncle Fred Gerlach, a West Coast based recording artist for Folkways Records. Kincaid persuaded Mahal to relocate to Los Angeles, where they hooked up with another Gerlach student, Ryland Cooder to form the Rising Sons. With the addition of bassist Jeff Marker and drummer Ed Cassidy the group began to hit the local club scene, making enough of a name for themselves to get signed to Columbia Records in 1965. Before they can actually get into the studio, however, Cassidy hurt his wrist, forcing the band to find another drummer, Kevin Kelley (Cassidy, by the way, would go on to become a founding member of Spirit with his stepson Randy California). Although the Rising Sons did write some of their own songs, much of what they recorded was their own arrangements of blues classics, and even a Bob Dylan tune, Walkin' Down The Line. Columbia never really had a handle on how to market an inter-racial underground folk-rock-blues band like the Rising Sons, and, with the exception of one single, the band's recordings ended up on the shelf until 1993.
Artist: Chocolate Watchband
Title: Baby Blue
Source: British import CD: Melts In Your Brain, Not On Your Wrist (originally released in US as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Big Beat (original label: Tower)
Year: 1966
The Chocolate Watchband originally released their version of Bob Dylan's (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue as a B side in 1966. The recording was remixed in stereo for the band's 1968 album The Inner Mystique. So many overdubs were added to the album version of the song that it has to be considered an entirely different track (and a far more psychedelic one at that). This time around we're presenting the original mono B side version, to contrast with the next track...
Artist: 13th Floor Elevators
Title: (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue
Source: CD: Easter Everywhere
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Charly (original label: International Artists)
Year: 1967
When the 13th Floor Elevators left their native Texas to do a series of gigs on the West Coast, the local media's reaction was basically "good riddance". After the band's successful California appearances (and a hit record with You're Gonna Miss Me), they returned to a hero's welcome by that same media that had derided the Elevators as a bunch of degenerate drug addicts just weeks before. Buoyed by this new celebrity, the band set out to record its masterpiece, Easter Everywhere. Although much of the album featured original material, there were a couple of cover tunes. Most notable was the inclusion of (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue, a Bob Dylan tune that had been recently recorded by both the Byrds and the Chocolate Watchband.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: Like A Rolling Stone
Source: LP: Historic Performances Recorded at the Monterey International Pop Festival
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Reprise
Year: 1967
The first great rock festival was held in Monterey, California, in June of 1967. Headlined by the biggest names in the folk-rock world (the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel), the festival also served to showcase the talent coming out of the nearby San Francisco Bay area and introduced an eager US audience to several up and coming international artists, such as Ravi Shankar, Hugh Masakela, the Who, and Eric Burdon's new Animals lineup. Two acts in particular stole the show: the soulful Otis Redding, who was just starting to cross over from a successful R&B career to the mainstream charts, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, formed in England in late 1966 by a former member of the US Army and two British natives. The recordings sat on the shelf for three years and were finally released less than a month before Hendrix's untimely death in 1970. Because of time limitations only portions of each performance were included on the album Historic Performances Recorded at the Monterey International Pop Festival, with the Hendrix side of the album opening with a live version of Like A Rolling Stone that actually exceeded the Dylan orginal's six-minute running time.
Artist: Jimi Hendrix Experience
Title: All Along The Watchtower
Source: CD: The Ultimate Experience (originally released on LP: Electric Ladyland)
Writer(s): Jimi Hendrix
Label: MCA (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
Although there have been countless covers of Bob Dylan songs recorded by a variety of artists, very few of them have become better known than the original Dylan versions. Probably the most notable of these is the Jimi Hendrix Experience version of All Along The Watchtower on the Electric Ladyland album. Hendrix's arrangement of the song has been adopted by several other musicians over the years, including Neil Young (at the massive Bob Dylan tribute concert) and even Dylan himself.
Artist: Johnny Winter
Title: Highway 61 Revisited
Source: LP: Second Winter
Writer(s): Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
As good as the original Bob Dylan version of Highway 61 Revisited is, most would agree that Johnny Winter has managed to do it even better, to the point of making it his own signature song. His first recorded version of the song was on his 1969 album Second Winter, which was actually his third LP, but his second for Columbia. About a third of the tracks on the three-sided album were cover tunes, but Highway 61 Revisited blows the rest of them out of the water.
Artist: Surfaris
Title: Wipe Out
Source: Mono CD: Surfin' Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Berryhill/Connolly/Fuller/Wilson
Label: Rhino (original label: DFS/Princess/Dot)
Year: 1963
Wipe Out is generally considered one of the all-time greatest rock and roll instrumentals, having hit the top 20 on more than one occasion. Ironically, the track was originally considered a throwaway, recorded quickly as a B side to the Surfaris 1962 recording of Surfer Joe. Although Surfer Joe eventually charted, it was Wipe Out that got the most airplay, going all the way to the #2 spot in 1963 and then recharting in 1966, hitting the #16 spot (it also bubbled under the Hot 100 in 1970). The song was originally released on the tiny DFS label in January of 1963 and the reissued on the Princess label the following month. In April, Dot Records picked up the record for national distribution. Surfer Joe was still considered the A side for the DFS and Princess releases, but by the time Dot got ahold of the rights it was obvious that Wipe Out was the real hit. To this day, Wipe Out is the song of choice for tabletop (or countertop or just about any flat surface) drummers all over the world.
The next nine songs feature three of the most influential guitarists of the pre-Beatles era. Duane Eddy is the top-selling rock 'n' roll guitar instrumentalist of all time, selling 12 million records in the period covering 1958 through 1963. Link Wray has the distinction of recording the only instrumental ever to be banned on top 40 radio stations, and pioneered the use of distortion and tremelo effects on his records. Dick Dale was rightly hailed as the King of the Surf Guitar, and is credited with releasing the very first surf record, Let's Go Trippin', in 1961. And now, let the battle begin!
Artist: Duane Eddy
Title: Peter Gunn
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Henry Mancini
Label: Jamie
Year: 1963
Duane Eddy and producer Lee Hazlewood went out to a junkyard and bought a 2000 gallon steel water tank to get the deep reverb effect used on Eddy's hit single cover of Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn theme. A year later musical instrument and amplifier manufacturer introduced the Fender Reverb Unit to do the same thing electronically.
Artist: Link Wray And The Wray Men
Title: Rumble
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Grant/Wray
Label: Cadence
Year: 1958
Once upon a time there was a band called the Ray Men that featured brothers Link (guitar), Doug (drums) and Vernon (vocals) Wray, along with bassist Shorty Horton. One night, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the Ray Men were asked by local DJ Milton Grant, who had sponsored the gig, to play The Stroll, a current hit that Link Wray was unfamiliar with. Drummer Doug, who Link later described as " the loudest drummer in the world" started pounding out the song's basic beat and Link started playing a series of chords on his guitar as loudly as he possibly could, creating the "power chord" in the process. The audience loved it so much that they ended up playing it four more times before the night was over. Grant, who had connections in the record industry, paid to have the song, originally called Oddball. recorded in return for a co-writing credit. The recording got picked up by Cadence Records, home of the Everly Brothers. In fact, it was Phil Everly that came up with the song's final title, Rumble, saying the recording sounded like a street fight. Apparently he wasn't the only one, as disc jockeys and New York and Boston refused to play the song, worried that's its gutteral grungy sound would inspire violence (keep in mind this was around the same time West Side Story was one of the hottest shows on Broadway and the entire nation was going through a period of paranoia about gang violence). Despite not being heard in two of the nation's largest markets, the song made the top 20 nationally.
Artist: Dick Dale And His Del-Tones
Title: Banzai Washout
Source: CD: The Best Of Dick Dale And His Del-Tones (originally released on LP: Summer Surf)
Writer(s): Steve Douglas
Label: Rhino (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1964
Instrumental surf music had already gone underground by 1964, eclipsed in popularity first by vocal surf groups like the Beach Boys and then by the British Invasion. Still, the talented Dick Dale, who had created the genre with his song Let's Go Trippin', was still warming up the beaches on the US west coast with tracks like Banzai Washout from his Summer Surf LP. Dale finally left the music business when he was diagnosed with cancer in 1966, but resurfaced in the 1980s in the film Back To The Beach and, thanks in part to filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, has finally gotten the recognition he deserves for his role as "King of the surf guitar" in recent years.
Artist: Duane Eddy
Title: Rebel-'Rouser
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Eddy/Hazelwood
Label: Jamie
Year: 1958
Duane Eddy's first top 40 hit was Rebel-'Rouser, a tune that also featured overdubbed saxophone by L.A. session man Gil Bernal and background yells (and handclaps) from the Rivingtons, who would eventually go on to have a hit of their own with Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow.
Artist: Link Wray And His Wray Men
Title: Jack The Ripper
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Wray/Cooper
Label: Swan (original label: Rumble)
Year: 1961
In 1961 guitarist Link Wray decided to start his own record label, calling it Rumble, after his first major hit single. The first record released on the Rumble label was Jack The Ripper, which managed to chart in places like Syracuse, NY and Worcester, Mass, but due to a lack of a distribution deal was not heard elsewhere until the song was reissued on the Swan label in 1963. Jack The Ripper ended up peaking in the #5 slot nationally.
Artist: Dick Dale And His Del-Tones
Title: Miserlou
Source: Mono CD: Surfin' Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Nick Rubanis
Label: Rhino (original label: Del-Tone)
Year: 1962
When the term "surf music" comes up, most people think of vocal groups such as the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean. Some even mention the Ventures, who released well over a hundred instrumental LPs in their existence, most of which are considered surf records. Those truly in the know, however, will tell you that Dick Dale, the man who was asked by Fender Instruments to road test their new Reverb guitar amplifiers in the early 60s, was the true King Of The Surf Guitar. Although he did record a few vocal singles, Dale is mostly known for his high-energy instrumental tracks such as Miserlou, a 1962 recording that released locally on Dale's own Del-tone label then picked up for national distribution by Capitol Records. The song was given new life in 1994 when Quentin Tarantino included it in the film Pulp Fiction, leading to a new generation's interest in Dale's music.
Artist: Link Wray
Title: Slinky
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s): Grant/Wray
Label: Epic
Year: 1959
The head of Cadence Records was never particularly fond of Link Wray's music, so it wasn't long before Wray changed labels to Epic, a CBS-owned label that was more friendly to rock 'n' roll music than the parent Columbia label. One of Wray's many hits on Epic was Slinky, which was reissued on Record Store Day 2014.
Artist: Dick Dale And His Del-Tones
Title: Hava Nagila
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Traditional, arr. Dale
Label: Capitol
Year: 1963
Dick Dale, whose father was owner of Deltone Records, signed with Capitol Records in early 1963. His first single for the label was the appropriately labeled King Of The Surf Guitars. Unfortunately, King Of The Surf Guitars is an absolutely horrid song by someone named Alonzo B. Willis (or possibly two people named Alonzo and Willis), with vocals that sound like they were sung by a junior high school girls' glee club. Luckily, the B side of the single is classic Dale, doing his own version of Hava Nagila. The label itself contains several mistakes. In addition to the questionable writing credits on the A side, Dale is given full writing credit for Hava Nagila, which I'm sure raised a few eyebrows among the Jewish community. Also, the song title of the A side appears as King Of The Surf Guitars (plural) on the original picture sleeve and some copies of the single, and King Of The Surf Guitar (singular) on others. Poor quality control on someone's part.
Artist: Duane Eddy
Title: Rebel Walk
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Eddy/Hazelwood
Label: Jamie
Year: 1960
Sometime around 1960 guitarist Duane Eddy made a cameo appearance in a film called Because They're Young. He also co-wrote and played guitar on the theme song from the film and it became his biggest hit. Because They're Young is one of those songs you either love or hate, depending on your feelings about using lush strings on a rock 'n' roll record. Personally I identify with the second group, which is why I'm playing the B side of that single, Rebel Walk.
Artist: Dick Dale
Title: Grudge Run
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Paxton/Nuckles
Label: Capitol
Year: 1964
For reasons that escape me, some of Dick Dale's Capitol singles are credited solely to Dale, without any mention of the Del-Tones, a practice that continued beyond his Capitol years. Some of those are instrumentals, but a few are vocals by Dale himself. Probably the coolest of these is Grudge Run, a track taken from the first of Dale's two "hot rod" oriented albums, Checkered Flag. The song itself is built on a classic blues rift that is instantly recognizable.
Artist: Jørgen Ingmann
Title: Apache (excerpt)/Echo Boogie
Source: 45 RPM single (A&B sides)
Writer(s): Lorean/Ingman
Label: Atco
Year: 1961
Inspired by Les Paul, Danish guitarist Jørgen Ingmann set up his own studio in Copenhagen in the mid-1950s to further his interest in multi-tracking, distortion and other effects that he could apply to his recordings. Using those techniques, he had an international hit in 1961 under the name Jørgen Ingmann & His Guitar with the song Apache, which had been originally released the previous year by the Shadows, a British instrumental group. The B side of Apache was an Ingmann original called Echo Boogie that better demonstrates his accomplishments with a technology that was still in its infancy.
Artist: Chantays
Title: Pipeline
Source: CD: Surfin' Hits (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Spickard/Carman
Label: Rhino (original label: Downey)
Year: 1962
Bob Spickard, Brian Carman, Bob Welch, Warren Waters and Rob Marshall were all students at Santa Ana High School in California who were inspired by a local group called the Rhythm Rockers to form their own rock and roll band. The surf craze was just getting under way on the California coast, and the new group, calling themselves the Chantays, soon found themselves recording for the local Downey label, which was actually owned by a music publishing company. In December of 1962 they recorded and released what would become one of the most popular instrumental surf songs ever committed to vinyl: the classic Pipeline. The song was quickly picked up an re-released on the Dot label in early 1963, eventually going all the way to the #4 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The Chantays have the distinction of being the only rock 'n' roll band to ever perform on TV's Lawrence Welk Show.
Artist: Pyramids
Title: Penetration
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Steve Leonard
Label: Best
Year: 1964
The last instrumental surf record to hit the top 20 charts was a tune called Penetration from a Long Beach, California band called the Pyramids. Other than that, the group is notable for appearing in the 1964 film Bikini Beach wearing Beatle wigs, removing them during their performance to reveal shaved heads underneath. Well, I guess there are worse things to be remembered for.
Artist: Trashmen
Title: Bad News
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s): Church Key
Label: Garrett
Year: 1963
The Trashmen were a group from Minneapolis that came up with the idea of taking two Rivingtons hits from the 1950s, Papa Oom Mow Mow and Bird Is The Word, and combining them, speeding up the tempo to insane levels in the process. The result was a huge hit in 1963 called Surfin' Bird. They weren't done yet, however. In 1964 they followed it up with Bad News, a song that isn't quite as outrageous as Surfin' Bird, but is still decidedly over-the-top. Songwriting credit on the label went to Church Key, which I'm guessing is one of those fictional entities created to obscure just who would be getting royalties for the song.
Artist: Ventures
Title: Walk-Don't Run
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s): Johnny Smith
Label: Silver Spotlight (original labels: Blue Horizon/Dolton)
Year: 1960
The Ventures first released their cover of jazz guitarist Johnny Smith's Walk-Don't Run in May of 1960 as their second single for the Seattle-based Blue Horizon label. It was picked up a month later and reissued by Dolton Records, then an independent label, also out of Seattle. In July Dolton issued the single yet again, this time with a different B side.
Artist: Johnny And The Hurricanes
Title: Sheba
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): King/Mack/Kelly/Emerson
Label: Big Top
Year: 1959
Similar in style to the Ventures, Johnny And The Hurricanes, from Toledo, Ohio, specialized in doing modernized versions of old standards such as Red River Valley (which they retitled Red River Rock), Down Yonder (with Way and In New Orleans dropped from the title) and You Are My Sunshine. Overall, they were kinda cheesy and don't hold up too well these days, but their B sides, such as Sheba, are another story. Sheba was, in fact, taken from their first album for the Big Top label (their third overall), The Big Sound of Johnny and the Hurricanes, released in 1959.
Artist: Ramrods
Title: Ghost Riders In The Sky
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Stan Jones
Label: Amy
Year: 1960
The Ramrods hailed from Stamford, Connecticut. Formed in 1956 by vocalist/drummer/arranger Claire Lane and her brother, saxophonist Rich Litke, the band also included guitarists Vinny Lee and Gene Morro. Their first single, a rocked out version of Vaughan Monroe's 1948 hit Ghost Riders In The Sky, was released in 1960 and peaked out in the #30 spot in the US while hitting the top 10 in the UK. There was no doubt that Lane was the Ramrods' main attraction, as the drum set had her name, rather than the band's, on the face of the bass drum.
Artist: Viscounts
Title: Night Train
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Jimmy Forrest
Label: Madison
Year: 1960
Formed in New Jersey in 1958, the Viscounts, led by saxophonist Harry Haller, first hit the charts with their 1959 update of Earle Hagen's Harlem Nocturne. Their next charted single was an updated version of Jimmy Forrest's Night Train, released in 1960. Both songs, originally released on the Madison label, were re-released in 1965 on the Amy label after Madison's owner, Larry Uttal, bought Amy's parent label, Bell Records. Trivia fact that has absolutely nothing to do with the Viscounts: Uttal left Bell in 1974 and was replaced by Clive Davis, who changed the label's name to Arista Records.
Artist: Bill Justis
Title: Raunchy
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Justis/Manker
Label: Phillips International
Year: 1957
Ever wonder what was the first rock 'n' roll instrumental to hit the top 10? Well, wonder no more, as it was Raunchy, released in September of 1957 by saxophonist Bill Justis. The song went all the way to the #2 spot on the charts. Justis never hit the top 40 again.
Artist: Royaltones
Title: Poor Boy
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s): David Sanderson
Label: Virgo (original label: Jubilee)
Year: 1958
The Royaltones were an instrumental rock 'n' roll band from Dearborn, Michigan. Any other information I was able to dig up on them is suspect, including anything credited to them after their first three singles, all of which were written by David Sanderson, whose name doesn't appear anywhere on later releases.
Artist: Virtues
Title: Guitar Boogie Shuffle
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Arthur Smith
Label: Hunt
Year: 1959
Guitar Boogie, released in 1945 by The Rambler Trio Featuring Arthur Smith was one of the first boogie-woogie records to feature a guitar as lead instrument rather than the usual piano. The song first appeared on the country charts and was the first guitar instrumental of its type to also become a mainstream hit, eventually selling nearly three million copies. Smith's original version is now considered a link between Western Swing and Rockabilly. In the 1950s the song was updated with a rock 'n' roll beat and renamed the Guitar Boogie Shuffle by the Virtues, a Philadelphia band that took the song into the top 5 in 1959.
Artist: Surfaris
Title: Scatter Shield
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): The Surfaris
Label: Decca
Year: 1963
Instrumental surf music was only popular in the US for a relatively short time, from around 1961 until vocal groups like Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys eclipsed it just a few months later. In Japan, however, instrumental surf records remained popular, and in some cases such as the Surfaris' Scatter Shield, a song that was originally issued in the US as a B side would end up being a Japanese hit. In fact, the Surfaris released over 20 singles (and several EPs) in Japan from 1964 to 1966. Personally I consider Scatter Shield to be one of the best instrumental surf songs ever recorded.
No comments:
Post a Comment