It’s Turntable Tuesday because life is too short not to listen to great music! This week on Turntable Tuesday I am opening a brand new re-issue of a 1997 release from the mysterious surf band “The Blue Stingrays.” Well I am going to tell you who they are if you don’t already know and they are awesome! Turn that TV off! Crank up your local speaker or get out there and support your favorite band! Remember vaccinations are a gateway drug to live music. Buy media! What are YOU listening to right now?
If you would like to listen to my companion podcast you can listen here or subscribe for free on any of the streaming services you use. My podcast is easily searchable on any streaming service where you get your podcasts by searching “Andrew Talbert.” Look for the World Wide Music Media logo. I’ll talk to you on your mobile device!
October 3, 2010. I was in Charlotte for the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show. It was an early fall night and I remember the autumn sun creeping down towards the horizon across the back of the lawn area in a golden yellow. It was shining a bright light on the stage just before the sky went dark. I remember JJ Cale playing on the background music across the PA before the show as a part of all that insanely great music Tom Petty would pick out as only he could do. Even today I listened to his Sirius XM channel on a short road trip with the top down just so I can hear all that great music and his voice which I still miss.
Tonight as I was listening to the feature Turntable Tuesday album “SURF-N-BURN” all of these concert thoughts from Charlotte came into my mind as I vividly remember Mike Campbell taking the center stage and just shredding surf music through a rather long medley of tunes. I remember that moment having only one grainy photo with my circa 2010 iPhone which had a camera that could barely be called a camera. Honestly I have been to a long list of Tom Petty shows and most of my seats were in the first ten rows but for some reason I have very few decent photos of this band. I can remember how electric all of those shows were. So many times I just wanted to watch and listen. One word comes to mind when I think about these experiences. Incredible.
Fast forward to September 24, 2021 and I am waiting for this mystery album to show up at my door from a link I received from hanging out on way too many Mike Campbell and “Dirty Knobs” sites. I wanted to hear this album and research it. Information is still not so readily available but I am going to tell you everything I know on my companion podcast this week. For the uninitiated… The “Blue Stingrays” band members are Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, Mudcrutch, The Dirty Knobs, as well as Ron Blair the original bass player for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Randall Marsh the drummer from Tom Petty’s band “Mudcrutch.” From this band you will hear some really cool instrumental surf music that is very fluid and quite tight. The titles match the tracks extremely well.
I think it is cool that this project was released without band credits and it has become a bit of a fan collectible. I have never tired of surf music. There are no vocals on this album and it is a pure instrumental project from beginning to end. All of the songs were written by Mike Campbell except “Goldfinger.” This album has a bit of secret agent intrigue with “Russian Roulette” and the 007 movie soundtrack “Goldfinger” to the soft surfing themes “Surfer’s Life” and “Green Sea”, to the beach-shack rave-ups complete with crowd noise to “Monsoon” and “Super Hero”, all in the styles of the best early surf-rockers. This band is super tight as this project was just a sideline to working in the Heartbreakers band. What a great record this is. The record comes from California’s Epitone Records. https://www.epitaph.com/news/article/breaking-news-the-members-of-americas-premier-surf-combo-blue-stingrays-rev
Tune into the companion podcast episode for more on this album!
Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.