What happens when monsters meet rock-and-roll? Vee-Jay Records answered that question in 1964 with the release of the fiendishly fun It's Monster Surfing Time. The LP credited to The Deadly Ones (who else?) has, over the past decades, become a highly-collectable title in its original vinyl format. On April 8, this slice of summery surf rock with a gleefully ghoulish slant will return to vinyl from Concord Records in a special translucent, slime-green pressing!
It's Monster Surfing Time has all the rockin' elements of a classic surf record - twang and reverb a-plenty - on such memorable selections as "There's a Creature in the Surfer's Lagoon" (watch out!), "Igor Goes Surfing," "Outer Limits Surf," and "The Mad Drummer (Parts 1 & 2)" plus covers of familiar tunes like "Raunchy" and "Rebel Rouser." Though the players on the album are unknown, The Deadly Ones were led by songwriter Joe South (of "Games People Play" fame) out of Nashville. Guitars, electric bass and drums figure prominently along with organ and saxophone. (It's Monster Surfing Time just might be the apex of a tiny surf sub-genre that also encompasses such fun releases as The Ghouls' Dracula's Deuce, produced by Gary Usher on Capitol and featuring "The Little Old Lady from Transylvania" and "Be True to Your Ghoul"...!)
If you've never heard this monster-surf classic, now's your opportunity to buy it for far less than the three-figure sum it's long commanded on the secondary market. Concord's slime-green vinyl reissue of It's Monster Surfing Time is available for pre-order at the links below...just in time to kick off the warmer weather and get a few months' jumpstart on your Halloween festivities!
The Deadly Ones, It's Monster Surfing Time (Vee-Jay VJLP 1090, reissued Concord, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Side One
- It's Monster Surfing Time
- Outer Limits Surf
- There's a Creature in the Surfer's Lagoon
- Surfin' Dock Side
- The Mad Drummer Part I
- The Mad Drummer Part II
Side Two
- Raunchy
- Rebel Rouser
- The Moonlight Surfer
- Help
- Igor Goes Surfing
- The Lone Surfer
Joe South's first chart single was "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witchdoctor" in 1958, so this isn't such a stretch.
Just got my pressing of the vinyl and it sounds like it was ripped from 128kbps mp3 files...nice to have on wax but it's real soupy sounding
Though the players on the album are unknown, The Deadly Ones were led by songwriter Joe South (of "Games People Play" fame) out of Nashville. Guitars, electric bass and drums figure prominently along with organ and saxophone.