The soundtrack for the Roger Corman film The Wild Angels (1966) was a breakthrough for Davie Allan and the Arrows and yielded their biggest hit song, “Blues’ Theme”. From Wikipedia: “The song from the film’s opening, ‘Blues’ Theme’ (sometimes listed as ‘Blue’s Theme’), an aggressive, repetitive and very catchy instrumental showcasing [Davie] Allan’s new fuzzed-out (heavily distorted) guitar sound became their biggest hit (it was also one of the first songs Eddie Van Halen learned to play on brother Alex [Van Halen]’s guitar). The song stayed on the Billboard charts for 17 weeks (it peaked at #37); the single, backed with ‘Bongo Party’, and the soundtrack album [The Wild Angels] both sold well. Rumors have stated that the melody in ‘Blues’ Theme’ was stolen from the Monkees’ guitar lick in ‘Last Train to Clarksville’; but ‘Last Train to Clarksville’ was recorded on July 25th, 1966, and The Wild Angels debuted in the theaters on July 20th, 1966.”
Allmusic lists a total of 29 albums by Davie Allan and the Arrows, many being soundtrack albums. I have three of them myself, all on the Bomp!-affiliated Total Energy Records label: Fuzz Fest (1998), The Arrow Dynamic [Aerodynamic] Sounds of Davie Allan & the Arrows (1999), and a live album called Live Run (2000). The live album includes their hit “Blues’ Theme” as well as “Apache”.
(December 2014)
