Customer Reviews

Greatest Hits

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I cringe whenever i see anyone described as the king of anything -- Elvis, Michael Jackson, anybody. But not when Dick Dale is described as the king of the surf guitar. I can't believe how long it took me to get into his music, but now that I am he makes other guitarists look dead. He just blasts you away with his energy, power and rhythm. If I ever get to ride in a time capsule, the first place I'm going is a Dick Dale concert in the early '60s.

When I purchased this as my first Dick Dale Album, I was unaware that a third of it had vocals, since my only exposure had been his instrumentals. Most of the vocal tracks did not thrill me, but I did find that his cover of "Sloop John B" and "Those Memories of You" grew on me after a couple listens. After hearing "Get Back the Feeling," I had to wonder if Meat Loaf grew up listening to Dick Dale, since the style sounded very familiar. The showcase "King of the Surf Guitar" is an aptly-named tribute to the only monarch crowned by the popular vote of his following. If you're a racing fan, the other vocal tracks may appeal to you.
The majority of the album is the instrumentals for which he's best known: mostly smokin' double-picked guitar tracks as I expected.....that made up for my initial disappointment. "Surf Buggy," "Surf Beat," "Del-Tone Rock" and particularly "Peter Gunn" are stand-outs that I enjoyed. On "Surfing Drums," I discovered that Dick is multifaceted, proving his percussive talent in an extended drum solo. "The Victor" is a really catchy tune that really shows heavy Middle Eastern influence like "Misirlou." (Seems like it would have been a perfect fit in the soundtrack to the movie "The Three Kings.") His classic, "The Wedge," has a much more subtle Mid-Eastern feel, and like usual, the original played by the Master blows away the covers I've heard done by most others. Since I already had his famous "Miserlou" and "Let's Go Trippin'" on the Rhino Records Rock Instrumental Classics Vol.5 SURF compilation (a must-have! wink-wink,nudge-nudge-) I was happy that the versions recorded here are different.
Hearing this almost made me wish I'd grown up in LA and was 15 years older....almost. :-)

When I purchased this as my first Dick Dale Album, I was unaware that a third of it had vocals, since my only exposure had been his instrumentals. Most of the vocal tracks did not thrill me, but I did find that his cover of "Sloop John B" and "Those Memories of You" grew on me after a couple listens. After hearing "Get Back the Feeling," I had to wonder if Meat Loaf grew up listening to Dick Dale, since the style sounded very familiar. The showcase "King of the Surf Guitar" is an aptly-named tribute to the only monarch crowned by the popular vote of his following. If you're a racing fan, the other vocal tracks may appeal to you.
The majority of the album is the instrumentals for which he's best known: mostly smokin' double-picked guitar tracks as I expected.....that made up for my initial disappointment. "Surf Buggy," "Surf Beat," "Del-Tone Rock" and particularly "Peter Gunn" are stand-outs that I enjoyed. On "Surfing Drums," I discovered that Dick is multifaceted, proving his percussive talent in an extended drum solo. "The Victor" is a really catchy tune that really shows heavy Middle Eastern influence like "Misirlou." (Seems like it would have been a perfect fit in the soundtrack to the movie "The Three Kings.") His classic, "The Wedge," has a much more subtle Mid-Eastern feel, and like usual, the original played by the Master blows away the covers I've heard done by most others. Since I already had his famous "Miserlou" and "Let's Go Trippin'" on the Rhino Records Rock Instrumental Classics Vol.5 SURF compilation (a must-have! wink-wink,nudge-nudge-) I was happy that the versions recorded here are different.
Hearing this almost made me wish I'd grown up in LA and was 15 years older....almost. :-)

I bought this CD for the songs from Dick's "Checkered flag" album, his 1964 Capitol recording, that are not on some of the other Dick Dale compilations. There are a lot of great songs on this album, but I want to warn people that some of the songs on this CD are not the originals (Misirlou, The Victor, Surf Beat, Mr. Peppermint Man, The Wedge, Let's Go Trippin', King Of The Surf Guitar), but are re-recordings from the GNP Crescendo sessions produced by Jim Pewter in 1975. These re-recordings are OK, but they do not have the energy that the originals found on other compilations have. Jim Pewter himself wrote "Those Memories Of You" and this is probably the worst song on the CD. There are also some songs with vocals, mostly from the "Checkered flag" album. One of the songs recorded at the GNP Crescendo sessions, "Peter Gunn," is really good.

his music is so full of feeling and thankfull and beatifule, I really like his music

his music is so full of feeling and thankfull and beatifule, I really like his music