In the early 1960s, surf and hot-rod music was all the rage. The Beach Boys ruled the pop charts, with The Ventures, Jan & Dean, The Surfaris, and The Chantays close behind, notching up hit singles by the dozens. The sounds of trembling guitar, honking saxophone, and thundering drums filled the airwaves. Producer Gary User sensed opportunity in the genre, and began recording and releasing scores of records under various band names, utilizing top session musicians. The Sunsets, The Four Speeds, The Pendeltons, The Grand Prix, The Competitors… All these bands were part of Usher’s mini-empire of rock, churning out records geared to the twin teenage obsessions of autos and the ocean.
At the same time, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was the king of the Southern California underground. His customized street machines and grotesque cartoons were iconic and unmistakable, and his “Rat Fink” character was an instantly recognizable symbol of the free-wheeling drag race scene.
Inevitably these worlds collided, and in 1963 and 1964, Capitol Records three records by Mr. Gasser And The Weirdos. These discs feature songs by Roth, vocal arrangements by Usher, and musical accompaniment from the cream of Los Angeles’ studio talent. The esteemed reissue label Sundazed has recently reissued this trio of albums as limited-edition CD and LPs… They feature the full original artwork, high-fidelity remastered stereo sound, and some of the wackiest pop songs you’ll ever hear.
The first release, Hot Rod Hootenanny, is moderately successful in its aspiration to meld the collegiate connotations of the “hootenanny” title with the rebellious spirit of the typical teenage road rat. The vocal harmonies are mannered and faux-folksy, and don’t always sit comfortably with the rumbling drums and twanging guitars of the backing band. The lyrics focus on the expected topics: cars (“The Fastest Shift Alive”, “My Coupe Eefen’ Talks”), car troubles (“Termites In My Woody”), and dance crazes (“Weirdo Wiggle”). The second disc, Rods N’ Ratfinks, significantly steps up the energy and provides much more rocking and rolling. There’s a fantastic all-out surfstrumental track (“Hey, Rat Fink”), a nonsensical sing-along storysong (“The Ballad Of Eefin Fink”), a couple stomping twist tunes (“The Cool, Cool Rod” and “Fink Rod, 409”), a ghoulish Monster Mash rip-off (“Hearse With A Curse”), a charmingly pastoral oom-pah (“The Waltz Of The Rat Finks”)… And by the time we get around to Surfink!, it’s full-on oceanic insanity. There’s a full-throttle thundering boogie (the opening title track), closely stacked vocal harmonies, a dopey Beach Boys parody (“Surfer Ghoul”), and plenty of mid-tempo grooving party tracks.
The vocals are uniformly slick and polished (albeit with much of the nasal tone that’s endemic of 60s surf music), with Usher himself handling most of the leads. The backing tracks are provided by the legendary pool of sidemen known as “The Wrecking Crew”: Glen Campbell, Billy Strange, Jerry Cole, and James Burton on guitars; Carol Kaye on bass; Leon Russell on piano; Steve Douglas on sax; Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer on drums; and a whole host of others.
These three discs are fascinating artifacts of an era, but they’re also notable as pure pop confection, bursting with hi-fi production values and first-class musicianship. There’s great glee in the disposability and silliness of the entire affair, the tunes are catchy, the rhythms are rockin’, the liner notes are full of vintage jivespeak, and the Roth cover art is pure Southern California cool. Any fans of car culture, big waves, and/or stomping sixties sounds should check ’em out.
[And an interesting footnote: later in 1964, Gary Usher went produced an album credited to “The Weird-Ohs”, promoting the “Weird-Ohs” model kits. The model series and LP featured monstrous characters in tricked-out buggies, and were some of the first commercial attempts to cash in on the “Big Daddy” art style. To date, the record has not been reissued.]
All three of the Mr. Gasser albums can be purchased from Sundazed’s online storefront. The set of three CDs is available here, and the set of all three LPs can be found here.
I grew up with this music and had the albums when I was younger. A few years ago I purchased the CD’s and have once again relived much of my high school days. I would like to know where I could find the lyrics to the music because there are a few of the songs that I am not sure of the words. If there is someone that could give me dirctions on how to find them it would be greatly appreciated.