Surfin' Hits (CD - 1989)

There are wilder surf songs. There are more frenzied surf songs. But no surf song is cooler than the Chantays' "Pipeline." Surfers used the term to describe riding the tunnel of water formed by a cresting wave, and this instrumental is as weightless and sparkling as its titular inspiration. Unusually for a surf song, "Pipeline" is built on Rob Marshall's twinkling, jazz-tinged electric piano, with Bob Spickard's deep-toned, twangy lead guitar held in check alongside Brian Carman's clockwork rhythm guitar part except for a pair of restrained, almost elegant solos. Unlike many surf compilations, SURFIN' HITS does the listener the service of including five vocal surf songs (two each by the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean, and the Tradewinds' glorious dude-out-of-water goof "New York's a Lonely Town") alongside 13 surf-guitar classics. minimize