Friday, November 23, 2007

Don't Touch Your TV Set....


Jerry Cole & His Spacemen
Outer Limits
1963
Review by Mark Deming

Jerry Cole was a first-call session guitarist in the 1960s who played on a number of Phil Spector's epochal sides and led the pit bands for the rock & roll-oriented TV shows Shindig and Hullabaloo. When he wasn't busy with all that, he cut a number of instrumental rock albums under a variety of assumed names, but Outer Limits features Cole and his band working under his own shingle for a change. Outer Limits is a no-fuss collection of 11 surf-influenced tunes, many of them covers of popular hits of the day, and while Cole's style couldn't be called "revolutionary," there's a lot more muscle in the performances of "Pipeline" and "Wipeout" than on the originals. Cole's discreet use of fuzz and the full-bodied tone he could conjure from his gear give his performances a sound that stands out from others of his ilk, and his originals are strong if basic stuff. If this isn't exactly the Holy Grail for surf fans (and the more passionate might want to spring for Power Surf!: The Best of Jerry Cole & His Spacemen), Outer Limits is still good fun, and anyone who digs classic surf and instrumental sides will get hip to this.

2 comments:

Santo said...

Thanks for the Jerry Cole post. Much underappreciated guitar player.

I've been admiring your blog for awhile. Great surf music!

I have you a shout-out here:

http://www.robotsandwrestlers.com/dude-im-so-wasted/

Trustar said...

Thanks Santo!

Glad you found some good stuff here.

Thanks for the link-up to your site. Some very interesting things there!

T