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Double Album
THE CHESTERFIELD KINGS
SURFIN' RAMPAGE

OVERVIEW FOR:

"SURFIN' RAMPAGE"

The Chesterfield Kings; one of the most significant cult bands of the late 70's and 80's are back on the scene with a new Mirror Release entitled "SURFIN' RAMPAGE".

Coming on the scene during the late 70's punk movement, The Chesterfield Kings had their own style. Originators of the 60's punk-psychedelic revival of the 80's, the band single-handedly launched what spectators and critics alike would term 'The paisley underground', The Chesterfield Kings have been called 'America's Rolling Stones' by several critics, and the last album 'let's go get stoned' lived up to that reputation.

After returning from their last European tour, The Chesterfield Kings finally found sufficient time to do justice to a project that they had been longing to embark on for years: "The Ultimate Surf Vocal Album".

Before ever thinking of entering the studio, the band rehearsed for six months, perfecting 5 part vocal harmony accapella, trying to capture the essence of the Beach Boys and the Four Freshmen. Upon conquering the vocal harmonies, the band continued rehearsing and perfecting the instrumental side. Cultivating the full spectrum of the "Surf-Sound" the final result is a 32 song, 74 minute Surf Epic!. . . The "Ben Hur" of surf records!

Surf Music authority Domenic Priore pretty much sums it up. "Fuckin' Genius! It's good to finally hear somebody come off with such a "Gary Usher" sound. A lot of people are tappin' into the midwest frat/surf thing these day's, coppin' from The Trashmen, Ronny & The Daytonas and The Rivieras in general. Few (if any one) have captured the "go" action of Usher's Los Angeles - based exploitation work with The Kickstands, The Super Stocks, The Knights, The Four Speeds and The Sunsets. Handclaps, clickers and other touches celebrate the happiness of actually bein' in L.A. in it's previous incarnation, which is pretty good considerin' The Chesterfield Kings hail from New York State. I think these recordings will go over well out here, that's for sure!!"

Domenic Priore, Columnist for Longboard Magazine, The Surfers Journal and a California native.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Over 73 minutes of non-stop surf! A Double Album set on a single CD. . . Perfect for Beach Parties!!

Mirror will offer a limited edition Deluxe Double Album vinyl pressing of " SURFIN' RAMPAGE" for hard core Chesterfield Kings fans.

Video for "Shelby GT 356" is now available.

Mastered by Bob Irwin at Sundazed Studios.

Listed as The Best of 1997 in Sound Views - Subterranean Music & Culture.

Now Available through the Living Eye Mail Order Catalogue.

A new Mirror CD release of the Chesterfield Kings Surfin' Rampage is now available, and I swear, it sounds like Gary Usher has been haunting the studios! If someone had sat me down, and played me the tracks without telling me who it was, I'd have sworn that Chuck Girard and the rest of the Hondells were back in the studio.

This 32 track CD is well worth the price. Here I am, driving down the road, and getting a smile on my face from the car stereo! Believe me, it had been awhile. Hearing primo remakes of some of Gary's (and Brian's!!!) songs was fantastic. (And I could finally understand the lyrics to "Top Down Time"!!!!)

The Chesterfield Kings came on the scene during the 70's Punk movement, launched the "paisley underground", and cut several albums. After their last European tour, they set out to cut the "Ultimate Surf Vocal Album".

Well, boy's, you did good! With songs like "Farmer's Daughter", "Little Honda" and "No Go Showboat", they demonstrate great 5 part harmonies backed by great instrumental arrangements. In addition to Usher/Wilson songs, the Phil Sloan/Steve Barri song "Anywhere The Girls Are" gets a great treatment. And an original "Surf Side Steady" blew me away. A song reminiscent of "Don't Worry Baby", "Hushaby," and "Surfer Girl", all rolled into one!!

I've never heard a fresh recording capture the Gary Usher feel so accurately.

When royalty, perhaps forgotten or banished, returns to take their rightful place on the throne, it's a loyal subject's duty to stand up and cheer. When The Chesterfield Kings, the finest garage band of the 1980s (or 1960s?), returns to glory with a new double-album, then it's time to give a stranger a kiss, scream for no reason, then drop to your knees and thank heaven you exist.

Yes, The Kings' 32-track "Surfin' Rampage" comeback album is really that impressive ñ and surprising.The Chesterfield Kings first owned the garage underground in the late 1970s, almost single-handedly re-inventing the worth of '66 fuzz rock..

The original lineup dissolved by the end of the 80s, and the band drifted through a head-scratching hard-rock period before coming back to the alter of garage.

Well sort of; "Surfin' Rampage" isn't a garage album. It puts away the fuzz, and is instead an ultimate homage to surf rock, California style.

The details of surf production ñ including glorious harmony vocals ñ are placed perhaps more perfectly than they could have been in '64, and Gary Usher's songbook never sounded so good.

The Chesterfield Kings return to their patented paisley sound with the upcoming "Mind Bending Sounds of" LP, so use "Surfin' Rampage" as a mere appetizer for the return of garage royalty.

Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for the early 1960's! Those crazy chameleons from upstate New York have tucked Brian Jones' boots away and donned the striped shirts of Jan, Dean and the brothers Wilson for an amazing 32-song romp through surf, sand and hot rods. Surfin' Rampage (which is also available as a gatefold-sleeve double vinyl release) is an incredible homage to the songs of Gary Usher, Brian Wilson and other purveyors of early 60's. The vocal harmonies, hand claps, twanging leads and other staples of the era are so perfectly presented that you'd swear that you found a pristine copy of a thirty five year old album.

The packaging, as usual, is spot-on, with the Kings in several classic Beach Boys poses complete with surf boards and hot rods. The performance is anything but posing, however. Mainstays Greg Provost and Andy Babiuk have not only recreated the atmosphere of the original recordings but managed to seamlessly slip in a few originals in the process. Most tracks hover around the magic two-minute mark, just enough time to drag the strip, turn around and saunter back to the blocks.

If they would play this record at State Fairs instead of letting Mike Love sing "Kokomo", the world would be a safer and happier place.

What a long, strange trip...The Chesterfield Kings put out their first album (as far as I can figure), "Here are the..." in 1982 and for a few years were pretty true to a '66 punk rock, retro trip. Somewhere along the line, the band became proponents of a heavy handed, early 70's Iggy/MC5 sound. I've never been witness to their record output, from this phase, but have heard they did a bang up job. Now Greg and Andy of the original line up are back with some new cohorts and yet another groove from the past. "Surfin' Rampage" is a double album, released on the same label they starred out on so many years ago. It is jam packed with 32 songs that were either hits by the Beach Boys or would have been if they had recorded them. A handful are C.K. original recreations of the board bustin' boom, some are Brian Wilson opuses, a whole bunch were penned by Gary Usher and the rest were written by various others. Although some are instrumental, the majority of the pieces are happy go lucky, "vocal group" tunes about cars, girls, motor bikes, and the beach. All are done with harmonies rich in high pitched oohs and ahhs just like they used to do them h 1962. About as close to the Beach Boys as you can get without actually being the Beach Boys, right down to the clothes and cars pictured on the sleeve.

The legendary C. Kings have been a lot of things to a lot of people in their always colorful career: (early) Stones-worshipping cave stompers, Dee Dee Ramone-supervised nouveau-punks, defiant Upstate glam-rockers, (midperiod) Stone-throwers, and now-a SURF combo?!? Well, Pendelton shirts notwithstanding, this delightful album is much, much more than just another Beached Boy riff-off: these boys actually got down and get wet grappling winh ~e RF.AI. than", be it Domenic Priore-approved instrumental workouts or Sloan & Barri-composed bingo-blanket cities. The thirty-two (count 'em!) selections packed onto this disc more than prove Greg, Andy and the guys have spent their due time pouring over Surfaris and Fantasic Baggy albums, to say nothing of the late, greatly missed Gary Usher's considerable song folio, yet it's Brian Wilson's ultra~challenging "No Go Showboat" which shows the Kings, unlike the majority of other mere mortals who might attempt such a task possess even the vocal chops to pull it all off. Even more surprising is that amongst several equally authentic swipes at the dreaded Hot Rod genre herein, the coolest by far is the band's own composition, "Shelby GT 356," which would easily pass as mustard on the flipside of any Jan and Dean 45, believe you me! I only hope The Chesterfield Kings will now go that extra quarter mile and attempt this endeavor on stage (now that would surely separate the ho dads from the gremmies!), but even if this is one incarnation of the band's that is desired to exist only on record, and possibly only this once, these guys all gear my stamp of approval for riding this particular killer wave ALL the way in and living to stomp about it.

This release has The Chesterfield Kings headed out of the garage onto the sea and strip. Their surf/hot rod/bike vocal harmonies are as authentic as I've ever heard in capturing Gary Usher sound of The Hondells, etc. and the early Beach Boys style. Amongst the vocals are some cool surf guitar instro like the Vistas' 'Moon Relay", The Vaquero's 'Echo' and The Surfaris 'Beat '65'-all fairly true to the 60s original versions. A band penned spy/surf theme 'Double O Surf' really stands out too! The CD finishes with the CK's title cut with solos played on surfin' guitar, organ & bongos on a melody borrowing heavily from Al Casey's 'Surfin' Blues'. If you're into that sixties sound of dragsters & beach bunnies, get this superb package complete with lots of black & white and color photos of our boys in their best frat party gear havin' a 'Surfin' Rampage'!

The Chesterfield Kings have long been known for their excellent work as a 60's garage punk band and Stones imitator. Now they have gone the extra mile and have shown the depth of their talents by recording this disc chock full of hot rod and surf tunes. Besides the plethora of Gary Usher cover tunes, the group shows it understands the genre by contributing a few originals of their own, Shelby GT356, Double O Surf (instro) and Surf Side Steady. The group picked the best songs to cover. They sing some of the best four part beach harmony you will ever heard this side of Redondo Beach. The packaging and photos are A -1! The music superb! SMUSA highly recommends this one for your collection.

A band that was around in the '70s & '80s reappear with a new set packed with trax - 32 to be precise. They are a very good vocal Beach Boys/ Gary Usher based outfit whose European tour has kicked off as I write this, apparently (?) OK so the main thrust is vocal but for hard core NGD readers there are a handful of pretty neat guitar instrumentals which too have plenty to say. The title track Surfin'' Rampage, is fine rocker with furious bongo percussion helping out while Coffin Nails is a beatty, pushy and dramatic slice. Liked too the sixties heralding of Moon Relay which fair whips along and the boys show their paces on the classic Beat '65 which really does work. There's talent aplenty also in the twanger Double O Surf, slow and heavy much like a Ventures' In Space sound and Echo is a strutting 12 bar worth an earful. Excellent group in all departments and maybe one day we'll get an all instrumental set.