Better Than Average Weekend-A Tribute To Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
Deep Eddy Records

By MuzikMan (more articles from this author) 2001-06-07

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Artist: Various
Title: Better Than Average Weekend-A Tribute To Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
Label: Deep Eddy Records (www.zptdudamusic.com)
Genre: Surf-Instrumental-Rock-Garage

Deep Eddy Records has become the home of the instrumental compilation over the last few years. The label has consistently released quality surf-instro compilations with regularity. "Better Than Average Weekend-A Tribute To Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet" is a better than average tribute to a better than average band. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet released three albums in their short existence. That is all that it took for them to reach the elevated status of legends in the realm of surf-instrumental music. Even the incredible Ventures waited for forty years and hundreds of releases before a tribute was released in their honor. Now that is really putting it into perspective.

So what is so special about this group? They played every kind of musical style imaginable, and it all sounded great… how is that for one reason? They also played an awesome combination of instro-rock-alternative-garage-punk that few have been able to rival. It's too bad that it couldn't have lasted longer. I can only wonder what this group may have evolved into if they had decided to keep going. They may have felt that they reached their potential as a group and it was time to move on, who knows? We can sit with our mouths agape and marvel at their musical accomplishments with only one listen to this twenty-two-track compilation now, even if you have never heard one of their albums.

The crème de la crème of surf-instro-garage pay their respects on this literal explosion of assorted sounds and reverb. The first track "Good Cop Bad Cop", starts things off with a brooding heavy metal guitar riff that's a direct take from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man." I was just waiting for Ozzy Osbourne to start singing "I am Iron Man…" And that's just the beginning of one hell of a ride. The waves of glistening instrumental bliss that will fill your ears are treasures of the murky deep that will surely satisfy the most discerning instro expert. You will get one maniacal musical explosion after another… And it's just the way it should be when a group is emulating one of the greatest instro bands of all time. This is a totally absorbing montage of instrumentals. It would be a daunting task to say the least to write about twenty-two awesome tracks like this. Find out for yourself, your ears won't lie. If there is one CD to pick up this year for your surf-instro collection, its this one. Get it now before the tide subsides, or before you can't find it anywhere, which ever comes first.

1. Good Cop Bad COP-The Heatscores
2. Zombie Compromise-The Dead Barons
3. Shake Some Evil-The Mulchmen
4. Egypt Texas-The Insect Surfers
5. Customized-The Unknown
6. Harlem By The Sea-The Neptones
7. Having An Average Weekend-Dirk Doom & The Overdrive Orchestra
8. Reid's Situation-Spy-Fi
9. Aunt's Invasion-The Sandblasters
10. Hot Box Car-Derf Zorr & Stella
11. Jackpot -Bass Playin' Ben
12. Ben Hur Picked Off-Popdefect
13. Sister Cinema-The Deoras
14. Unwatchable/Three Piece Suit-The Mill Valley Taters
15. The Wuz Ear Callin' A Horse-Breakfastime
16. Spy School Graduation Theme-Squid Vicious
17. Mecca-The Cocktail Preachers
18. Algoma Reflections-The Sadies
19. Peas Porridge Rock/You Spin Me Round '86-The Surfdusters
20. They Don't Call Them Chihuahuas Anymore-The Fabulous Planktones
21. Off Our Back Conrad Black-Sawney Bean
22. Memories Of Gay Paree-Urban Surf Kings

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