Pebbles, Volume 4 is a compilation album in the Pebbles series that has been issued in both LP and CD formats. Unlike most other volumes in the series – which compile obscure garage rock and psychedelic rock music – Volume 4 collects rare examples of surf rock. The LP is subtitled Summer Means Fun, while the CD is subtitled Surf N Tunes. Another Pebbles, Volume 4 was issued on CD a few years earlier by ESD Records and has completely different tracks. (More from Wikipedia)
Later I picked up the Pebbles, Volume 4 LP (subtitled “Summer Means Fun”). There are songs by Lloyd Thaxton, a piano-playing DJ from LA whose show ran on TV in the afternoon when I was growing up; two songs by the immortal Trashmen (the flip side to their big hit “Surfin’ Bird”, “King of the Surf”, plus “New Generation” that features a hydrogen bomb blast); “Masked Grandma” by the California Suns, an answer song to the Jan & Dean hit “Little Old Lady from Pasadena”; “California Sun ’65” by the Rivieras (a remake by this Michigan surf band of their own well-known hit, “California Sun”); “Anywhere the Girls Are” by the Fantastic Baggys (composed of P. F. Sloan, author of “Eve of Destruction” among many other songs, and Steve Barri); a version of “Hot Rod High” by the Knights; and a paean to the California capital city “Sacramento” by Gary Usher. A bonus track is a radio jingle for Coca-Cola by Jan & Dean.
One real treat is an early number by Dave Edmunds (who lives far from California), called “London’s a Lonely Town” (“. . . when you’re the only surfer boy around” that is preceded by the line, “My woodie’s outside . . . covered with snow”).
There is also a rare surf song on the LP having a female lead, called “Thinkin’ ’Bout You Baby” by Sharon Marie. Another (from Born Bad, Vol. 6) is “Yum Yum Yamaha” by Carol Connors and the Cycles; Carol Connors co-wrote the hit song by the Rip Chords, “Hey Little Cobra”. “Little Honda” by the Hondells (written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys) honored a different brand of Japanese motorcycle and was a Top Ten hit in 1964.
This album was the first time I had heard of Bruce & Terry, two LA studio whiz kids, Bruce Johnston, now a member of the Beach Boys, and Terry Melcher to be specific. (The surf scene seemed to have people like that by the carload – others include Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Jan Berry of Jan & Dean). When I looked up the Rip Chords in Wikipedia before starting my post on the UARB, I was redirected to their entry on Bruce & Terry.
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”.
(December 2014)
