Album Review

Chairman Of The Board – Surf Soundtracks ’64 to ‘74

• 27th Jun 2007

This CD could not give off a bigger essence of an American 60’s beach party if it came with red plastic cups, a few wet towels and sand from an unspecified orifice.

You can almost smell the suncream as the jazzy drums and lazy riffs wash over you, massaging your mind into the laid-back vibe. I feel almost ashamed at the brassy innocence of this – music which seems to be entirely concerned with being happy and chilled while keeping itself to itself. Surely the ‘60s weren’t this wholesome? What about ‘free love’ and all that?

Well, I guess that decade may have been the most hedonistic ever, but with G Wayne Thomas and Farm throwing out such pure sun-and-surf music as this, no one would have been any the wiser.