Dick Dale
The Best of Dick Dale and His Del-Tones

I think Dick Dale is one of the most unjustly underrated rock guitarists by the general public. There was a small revival with the release of "Pulp Fiction," which featured his version of the traditional Turkish song "Misirlou" on the soundtrack; however, overall, it was quite insignificant. It's somewhat unjust that when people think of surf music, all that comes to mind are the "Beach Boys," who, in my opinion, were never truly a surf-rock band, though this takes nothing away from Brian Wilson, who remains an excellent songwriter.

Dale is one of the foremost exponents of this genre, which originated in California in the early '60s. A large part of surf tracks are instrumental, completely against the trend of the time, and there's extensive use of vibratos and reverbs; someone said that their sound is somehow wet, as if the guitar were played underwater. Apparently, the idea was initially to express in music the sensations felt while surfing the waves. Dale's work in the '60s was actually in close contact with Fender, specifically for the development and testing of amplifiers. As he says: "In the late '50s, you were limited by your amplifier. I worked with Leo Fender, blowing up more than sixty of them, until he came up with the Dual Showman that could support my heavy picking."

In his style, there's undoubtedly a certain ethnic influence of Mediterranean roots, as Dale's father was, in fact, Lebanese. "Misirlou" was a very popular piece in Greek Rembetika in the '40s. Much of his guitar technique, full of vibratos, seems indeed borrowed from instruments like the mandolin, and Dale deserves credit for applying it to the Fender Stratocaster, which is certainly technically very difficult to do so fluidly and naturally.

Many have said that this kind of music was significantly penalized by appearing just before the Beatles and the "British invasion," as they call it in America. However, the fact remains that it was a valuable influence on the right people, first and foremost on Jimi Hendrix. In "Are You Experienced?", in the track "Third Stone From The Sun," there's indeed a dedication: "You'll never hear surf music again", as Dale was desperately fighting cancer in 1967. Almost miraculously, he recovered, and even today he is still in good shape (just this winter I saw him in concert, considering he's now almost seventy).

This "Best of" collection largely comprises tracks from the early '60s, which in reality is his significant period, as throughout the '70s I believe he stopped making music, starting to record something again lazily in the late '80s. There are some genuine classics like "Let's Go Trippin'," "Shake 'n' Stomp," or "The Wedge," which are absolutely fantastic. There's even a version of "Pipeline" with Stevie Ray Vaughan.