Surf's Up

Here is a rather obscure song from what is probably now an obscure movie, but it's a pretty kick-ass remake of a 60's surf song. The song is Pipeline, originally done by The Chantays but covered by many different people since then. The version I'm putting up was done by a great guitar combo: Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughn, two guys recognized as among the best guitarists of all time.

Dick Dale is best known for being a surf rock guitarist, and his most famous song is obviously his version of the Greek song Miserlou; it's so awesome that even its usage in a Black Eyed Peas song made the BEP sound not so terrible! Needless to say, I prefer Dick's version to how it was used by the BEP.

Meanwhile, Stevie is primarily a blues guitarist whose songs are frequently on classic rock stations, and who died way too young due to a helicopter accident after a concert at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin; living right by Rockford, Illinois* until I moved to Florida, plugs for shows at the venue were common. Teaming these two together was a stroke of genius.

* Home of Cheap Trick and… ahem, porn star Ginger Lynn Allen.

It is from the 1987 movie Back To The Beach, a film that I'm sure is forgotten by most these days but way back when my two younger sisters and my mom used to watch it often, so that's how I saw it. It's a spoof of 60's "beach party" movies (with quite the incredible cast), something that I had no knowledge of at the time as I had never even heard of a "beach party" film, so if I saw it today, after I've seen those 60's films, then I'd rate it differently than I did back then. That said, I hardly remember the film aside from the fact that it was entertaining enough, and both Dale and Vaughn appear in it to perform the song. There was even a music video made for it. Dick's hair looks scary, but hey it was the 80's...

Dick Dale-Stevie Ray Vaughn-Pipeline (4.14 MB, 192Kbits/second)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/4765765b1d1f95/

I'll be back Sunday night.