THE LONELY SURFER

Original Released on LP Reprise R9 6101 (1963)

Jack Nitzsche had one brush with greatness early in his career, apart from his job as Phil Spector's arranger — "The Lonely Surfer" a classic of the surf music genre. This album attempted to extend his solo career beyond that of a one-hit wonder, with mixed success. The best cuts are songs that are in the same surfer mold: Puerto Vallarta, Baja, and Beyond the Surf. Nitzsche had a gift for melodramatic, ascending arrangements that rose to dramatic crescendos, underpinned by rumbling basslines and clanging percussion. Less successful are a super-slow take on Da Doo Ron Ron and remakes of easy listening and soundtrack hits such as Ebb Tide and More, which are given a precious sheen of strings. The one exception is a rather rocking version of Elmer Bernstein's Magnificent Seven,which sounds like it was made for dancing. This is a pleasant, if not exceptional, set of music for fans of surf instrumentals.

(Mary Grady in AllMusic)