The First Family is a comedy album recorded on October 22, 1962, as a good-natured parody of President John F. Kennedy, both as Commander-in-Chief and as a member of a large, well-known political family. Issued by Cadence Records, it was honored as the “largest and fastest selling record in the history of the record industry” selling at more than a million copies per week for the first six and one-half weeks in distribution; by January it had sold more than 7 million copies. By time of the release of The First Family - Volume Two, the sequel, it had sold 7.5 million copies — unprecedented for any album at the time, let alone a comedy album. (More from Wikipedia)
The Pebbles, Volume 4 CD has only about half of the songs that are on the Pebbles, Volume 4 LP; even the title song “Summer Means Fun” by Bruce & Terry was omitted, so there is a different subtitle, “Surf ’n’ Tunes”. In addition to the head-scratcher “School is a Gas” by the Wheel Men, the CD also includes the original “School is a Drag” by the Super Stocks. Other highlights include “Move out Little Mustang” by the Rally Packs, a screaming cover of “Shortnin’ Bread” by the Readymen, “Wine, Wine, Wine” by the Bleach Boys (another hot inland surf band, this time from Sioux Falls, SD), and “The Big Surfer” by Brian Lord. Lord is a San Bernardino DJ who is backed here by Frank Zappa, Ray Collins, Paul Buff and Dave Aemi; the big surfer is evidently President John Kennedy, and the song sounds like it could have been an outtake from the hit comedy album The First Family.
(December 2014)
