Mark Brodie & The Beaver Patrol
"The Shores of Hell" CD (Shredder)
Unlike other surf bands such as Man... or Astroman? or Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, there's a definite dearth of creativity with Canadians Mark Brodie & Co. who apparently don't realize that their music has been produced for the past 30 years (maybe somebody should tell them that beavers are freshwater animals). Annoyingly, many of the songs conjured images of shiny, happy surfers holding hands and sent me scrambling to the album's insert to see if the band remembered to thank Annette and Frankie for their support. The music was mundane and mawkish at best, with glimmers of hope on "Spin Cycle" and "Theme from the Old West" through the organ Brodie employed and a catchy polka beat on the latter song. You know the pipeline's closing on you when there are tempo problems on a finished product in cuts such as "Bitch Stole My Board." Let's put it this way: these guys are the best Canadian surf band since Rush. (ALEX)
"Scarlett O'Hara" b/w "Montezuma's Revenge" and "Shake N' Stomp" 7" (Shredder)
Full on Dick Dale guitar surf music. From "The Endless Summer II" to "Pulp Fiction," surf music is back in the water. Somebody better call Taylor Steele. (TOM)