Reverb Central .:. Review .:.

The second album from Laika & the Cosmonauts, much more surfy than their first, and a lot more interesting as well. Plenty of surf energy, and some cool surprises too. Good album.

Picks: Surf's You Right, Bullseye, King Cobra, Oahu Luau, Zunami, A Night In Tunisia, Don't Monkey With Tarzan, Caravan, Surf-Ro-Mania, Fadeaway, Point Of No Return, And Suddenly You Run

Surf (Instrumental)

Shreddin' ska backed raging surf, with screams of joy sprinkled in, and a bridge that's unique and out of this world. Melodic, low-E growling, spiffy glissandoes, and even a tiny bit of the old double pick.

Euro (Instrumental)

Organ and soft guitar combine for a relatively tame track. The melody is nice, but the feeling just ain't there. Muddy.

Euro (Instrumental)

Cool Las Vegas runway drums, shimmering guitars, and a sixties sleaze melody are all together here. The combination provides a song perfect for a TV ad. There are a few Middle Eastern twinges, but mostly it's strip joint romantic.

Euro (Instrumental)

There's nothing like faux Polynesian stylings a la Martin Denny et. al. to get your mai tai flowing. It's hokey enough, and hotel grass shack smooth.

Euro (Instrumental)

Melodic in a film score way, augmented with mighty fine glissandoes and double picking. It's quite surf worthy. Memorable, melodic, energetic, and the sax is a cool addition.

Euro (Instrumental)

There was a lot of jazz in Southern California surf instros back in the days of old. This is a hot rendition of a spiffy jazz number from the fifties. It's a natural for the Euro instro sound.

Euro (Instrumental)

Laika Y Bubbas took a totally non-surf, rather boring late fifties/early sixties nothing single, added surf backing and rounded lead tones, and got an end result that's quite appealing. Even the Tarzan calls that are so annoying in the original are acceptable, even fit in well here. Their sense of the absurd and humor carry off what others only muck up.

Euro (Instrumental)

Stuck halfway between lounge and easy listening, this is like the Ventures with a martini.

Surf (Instrumental)

Traditional Euro folk melody and styles, glissandoes and double picking, like you'd like 'em to do at the bar mitzvah. Not much melody, mostly an ambiance of line dancing Baltic fishermen. A fun track for sure.

Euro (Instrumental)

Slow and silky romantic easy to swallow melodic and smooth. This is quite a pretty song, and the guitar work is delicate and tasty.

Euro (Instrumental)

There's a sax layered over the top, and a plunky backtrack, with a low-in-the-mix guitar. Quite fun and energetic.

Euro (Instrumental)

Slow shimmering vibrato of the fifties detective in a black trench coat variety. Smooth and sadly romantic. Gumshoe in paradise.