Complete Sandals 1964-1969: Wild As The Sea CD - Import

Legendary for their theme to the most famous surfing movie of the 60's, Bruce Brown's "The Endless Summer", the music of crack Californian instrumental outfit The Sandals complemented the scenes of two carefree surfers looking for the perfect wave. Under the guidance of surf music expert Stephen J McParland, Raven Records has brought together every known recording by the group in the 60's, almost all of which have never been issued on CD.

Liner Note Author: Stephen J. McParland.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Johnny Gibson Trio; Dan Brawner; John Blakely; Gaston Georis; Walter Georis.

Wild as the Sea: Complete Sandals 1964-1969 holds 31 tracks --77 minutes of great surf sounds from the Sandals, a low-key Ventures-like group with the distinction of having created the music for the classic Bruce Brown film, The Endless Summer. This record is an incessant party, starting with a dozen instrumental tracks which saturate the brain but are not as redundant as say, the Ramones, the nuances of the jingling-jangling guitars making for great background to any party. These vignettes mostly clock in around the two-minute mark, the vocals on "All Over Again" are pretty humorous with some very uplifting changes and harmonica. The song "Endless Summer" owes more to the Four Seasons than the Beach Boys, and is not to be confused with the title that opens this package, the instrumental "The Theme From Endless Summer." Listen to that first track and see if Hugo Montenegro & His Orchestra didn't borrow flavors from this for his 1968 hit "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Stephen McParland's essay Endlessly Summer is all we've come to expect from these excellent releases created by Australia's Raven Records. McParland calls it "An abridged story of the Sandals" history poured over the 12-page booklet which makes for fascinating reading as the music plays. There's material from the film soundtrack to Endless Summer and Last of the Ski Bums, as well as various non-LP singles all making for a true '60s artifact worth seeking out. Hearing this music makes one want to dash down to the video store to rent The Endless Summer, proving Jimi Hendrix wrong when he says you'll never have to hear surf music again! It's well over an hour's worth of listening time with gems like "Children of the Sun," which creates a different kind of atmosphere with its mellow strums and interesting feel. This isn't just another surf band, there's true creativity on the three-and-a-half minute "Coming Down Slow," and interesting acoustics and fuzz in "Summer's Gone." If not as complex as Esquivel's See It in Sound. The Sandals compilation still creates the same mood and stimulating effect. Play both at your next retro-party. When track 22, "Yellow Dove," comes on, you can turn down the volume to Mick Jagger's Performance film and let this be the audio. Try it! ~ Joe Viglione