King of the Surf Guitar

It's hard to overestimate the talent and influence of . With the possible exception of , no modern guitar player has done so much behind the scenes to create the sound and gear of contemporary electric guitar, from helping to develop the Showman amp and outboard reverb gear to his playing itself, which incorporated Middle Eastern scales over -styled blues progressions in the late '50s and early '60s when such things were unheard of on electric guitar -- and he did all this by playing guitar left-handed, upside down, and backwards, and at massive volume. This set collects 's surf singles for the (a label started for by his father) and labels between 1962 and 1965, including the original singles for "Miserlou" (from 1962) and "Let's Go Trippin'" (from 1965), the tracks that, more than any others, established 's unique rumbling and exotic guitar style. ~ Steve Leggett