S/D: Dick Dale

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Yes I know, I'm about 40 years late on this one, but I heard Dick Dale's session on the Peel show last night and was blown away by it. He even played a lovely little Ruben Gonzalez-style Cuban ballad on the piano as well as the usual wall-of-surf guitar.

I must therefore get some Dick Dale records in the house quicksnap. Can anyone recommend any? - a decent, comprehensive compilation of the '60s stuff, and what's the pick of his more recent records?

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 23 April 2004 08:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

King of the Surf Guitar: The Best of Dick Dale and his Del-Tones (Rhino R2 75756) has served me well for a good few years. Stevie Ray Vaughan appears on the final (modern) track, but otherwise it's all good. There must be something more comprehensive now though, this is just 18 tracks.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 23 April 2004 09:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

His session last night was great.

If you buy his album from the website, apparently you get a free signed photo with it... http://www.dickdale.com

― jellybean (jellybean), Friday, 23 April 2004 10:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

avoid his vocal stuff.

― eleki-san (eleki-san), Friday, 23 April 2004 10:36 (9 years ago) Permalink

Dick Dale's comeback record from the mid 90s "Tribal Thunder" is also pretty good.

― earlnash, Friday, 23 April 2004 13:18 (9 years ago) Permalink

There must be something more comprehensive now though, this is just 18 tracks.

Yeah, go for Better Shred Than Dead, a two disc Rhino comp which essentially replicates the earlier Rhino set and adds on a lot of things done since then, up to date through the late nineties.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

(And as such would give Marcello the combination of then and now he desires handily enough.) His early idol was Gene Krupa, his background is Lebanese, the reason why surf guitar *sounds* the way it does is because Dale combined a frenetic percussive style with Middle Eastern melodies into a guitar (along with plenty of other things). Genius stuff.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

When I was a kid my dad had a box of moldy old LPs in the basement, all the stuff he listened to in school in the early 60s. It was mostly surf bands, the Astronauts, the Ventures, Johnny & The Hurricaines, etc. Also remember an LP by the original Rock'A'Teens.

But what he had the most of was Dick Dale. Surfer's Deluxe, etc, all the classics. My brother and I would tease him constantly because we thought Dick Dale was so corny. This judgement was made entirely on the album covers and the titles of his songs (lots of food references, the track listing looked like Cibo Matto in retrospect.) Never actually heard the records which were probably too damaged to play anyway.

Fast forward to the mid 90s. I'd come to realize that Dale was something special, fell in love with "Let's Go Trippin," which I heard on some surf comp I picked up a few years before. Dick Dale is back in the public eye b/c of Pulp Fiction, and I see him in a club on his Tribal Thunder tour. Unbelieveably great show, three-piece band w/ him and two young guys, and Dale was a monster on guitar. Afterward I get him to sign an autograph for my Dad, which he now has framed in his office.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:45 (9 years ago) Permalink

It was mostly surf bands, the Astronauts

Heh -- I've mentioned it before, but Chad Demmon from the Astronauts became a middle high school history teacher in my more-or-less hometown of Coronado. Never actually took any classes from him aside from a couple of days at the start of a school year.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:49 (9 years ago) Permalink

He's a lefty and plays a right handed strat as is, effectively playing guitar upside down with the thicker strings on the bottom and the skinnier ones on the top. Fender gave him a reverb unit pretty early on in the development stages. His style is very heavy on glissando. My favorite track is "The Wedge" named for this goofy big wave bodysurfing spot off Balboa Island near IRVINE.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:53 (9 years ago) Permalink

I sense you dropping hints or something. Say, Aldrich Park is looking really nice today!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 23 April 2004 13:57 (9 years ago) Permalink

i just downloaded his album, this is the first time i listen to dick dale. I like it so far.

― Toon (Skelter), Saturday, 24 April 2004 16:03 (9 years ago) Permalink

When I saw him at irving Plaza in the late 90s, he discoursed in a delightfully demented fashion about his Fender Extra Heavy bass player style triangle finger picks and the fact that he used strings of a gauge more appropos to a Steinway.

Then, of course, he rips through a surf version of a Hendrix song and breaks several picks/strings and solos on his G string.

That's entertainment.

― Ian in Brooklyn, Sunday, 25 April 2004 05:45 (9 years ago) Permalink

seeing the live show is urgent & key.

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 25 April 2004 14:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

I saw him at Maxwell's in Hoboken on the Tribal Thunder tour. In that tiny space, the music was almost physically overpowering; it was like seeing Pantera or something. He had two drummers on the closing number, and it (to get totally cliched) washed through the whole place like a tidal wave. Easily one of the top five shows I saw that year, and he signed my CD beforehand.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 25 April 2004 17:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

To revist this thread....

Am I misled in thinking it unbelievable the massive SOUND of Dick Dale in the 1950s???? As someone said above, it's like Pantera, and what was it, the Eisenhower administration at the time (actually, closer to Kennedy, but still...).

I've been listening to The King non-stop for 2 years now, and I'm still astounded by the power of his sound.

If all goes according to plan, I'll see him in May. Can't wait. Although he seems like a cock in some interviews I've read, the man has a right to be as badass as he wants.

― PB, Thursday, 24 February 2005 03:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

5 years pass...

Still going - finally going to see him in about a week from now.

― willem, Sunday, 18 April 2010 09:20 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Dick Dale, fuck yeah

― og (admrl), Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

He is 75 and now has cancer, and his ex-wife & son are in jail for allegedly blowing up a propane tank

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/surf-guitarist-dick-dales-son-and-ex-wife-arrested-in-so-cal-after-propane-tank-explosion/2012/10/16/4b54e998-17c4-11e2-a346-f24efc680b8d_story.html

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

i was coming here to say "donkey dick dale", but now i just feel bad.

shooting a propane tank is pretty stupid but to hold them on $500,000 bail for it seems extreme to me.

Jill Monsour, 45, and James Monsour, 20, were arrested on suspicion of possessing an explosive device in public. They remained jailed Tuesday on $500,000 bail each, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department website. District attorney spokesman Chris Lee said prosecutors were still reviewing the case and no charges had been filed.
The Monsours were arrested at about 3:30 a.m. Monday near Dale’s isolated home in Wonder Valley, radio station KCDZ-FM reported.
Investigators determined that the Monsours placed a 5-gallon tank of propane atop a burning woodpile and then shot it with a gun, causing it to explode, the station reported.

― down w/ obana...he is the reson were in dept (Z S), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 18:06 (7 months ago) Permalink

Dale, who said he is fighting cancer and other illnesses, added that his medical expenses make it impossible for him to provide bail for his son and ex-wife.

It was not immediately clear whether his son would be able to perform with him on a concert tour scheduled for November and December.

“He wanted to do this tour, but if they’re in jail, what can be done?” Dale asked.

His son is sometimes his drummer

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 18:23 (7 months ago) Permalink

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