The Styrous® Viewfinder: Halibut Beach

January 3, 2018

20,000 Vinyl LPs 122: The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach in 3D

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach, 3D vinyl LP album cover detail

front cover artwork: Marty Korth

detail photo by Styrous®

It's a new year so I'm going New Wave. Don't ask me what one has to do with the other. Halibut Beach was one of my "album cover" purchases. As I have always been fascinated by Stereoscopy of any kind, the cover is the only reason I bought it (link below).

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach, 3D vinyl LP album cover

front cover artwork: Marty Korth

photo by Styrous®

When I got it home, plopped Beach on the turntable and played it for the first time I was delightfully surprised. It turned out to be a surf punk group; which I should have known just from the gnarly (does anyone ever use that term anymore?) graphics on the cover.

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach, 3D vinyl LP album back cover

cover artwork: Marty Korth

photo by Styrous®

The music is awsome instrumental surf music reminiscent of the 1960's groups such as Dick Dale & his Del-Tones, who developed the surf sound from instrumental rock and whose hit, Let's Go Trippin' (1961) launched the surf music craze. There were the Surfaris with their hit, Wipe Out; The Chantays with Pipeline; The Astronauts, from Boulder, Colorado; and The Trashmen, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who reached number 4 with Surfin' Bird in 1964.

The Rivieras, from South Bend, Indiana, who reached number 5 in 1964 with California Sun, the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, etc. are included in this group, however, Dale is quoted on such groups: "They were surfing sounds [with] surfing lyrics. In other words, the music wasn't surfing music. The words made them surfing songs. ... That was the difference ... the real surfing music is instrumental."

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach, 3D vinyl LP album back cover details

back cover artwork: Marty Korth

detail photos by Styrous®

As usual I have a favorite from the album which is Exodus 5-0. It is a cover of the title song from the film, Exodus, an epic film on the founding of the modern State of Israel. It was made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artists. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the film was based on the 1958 novel Exodus by Leon Uris. The screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo. The music was written by Ernest Gold.

Another favorite of mine is Malibu Run. It has a ska feeling to it that is reminiscent of One Step Beyond by Madness which was a cover of the song written by Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster.

The Halibuts did a cover of one of my all-time favorite songs, Istanbul. It is not on the Beach album but it is just too good to pass up. Originally titled, Istanbul (Not Constantinople), it is a 1953 novelty song, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon. Written on the 500th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans, the lyrics humorously refer to the official 1930 renaming of the city of Constantinople to Istanbul. The song's original release certified as a gold record.

The Residents took the tune to the very edge of madness with a very weird and surreal video that is a trip in every sense of the word (YouTube lik below).

Istanbul was originally recorded by the Canadian vocal quartet The Four Lads on August 12, 1953. This recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 40082. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on October 24, 1953, and it peaked at #10. It was the group's first gold record. The Halibuts version is a knockout!

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach, 3D vinyl LP album back cover details

back cover artwork: Marty Korth

detail photos by Styrous®

I couldn't find much info on the group nor any of members other than bassist Pete Curry. He was with Kaos, a punk rock band from Los Angeles, California that was formed in late 1979 and disbanded in 1981. He still performs with Los Straitjackets, a Nashville based band known primarily for performing instrumental surf music. Members include guitarists Eddie Angel, Danny Amis (formerly of the Raybeats), drummer L. J. "Jimmy" Lester and Curry.

Curry was with The Chocolate Watchband, not to be confused with British band The Chocolate Watch Band. The Watchband was a 1960's American garage-rock band. Formed in Los Altos, California, in 1965, their use of distorted-psychedelic-style guitar made them one of the heavier bands of the period.

The Watchband was signed to Tower Records in 1966 and released their first single, Sweet Young Thing, in 1967. Later in the year, the band released their debut album, No Way Out. Though the album was nationally unsuccessful, the band became a frequent attraction in San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1968, their second album, The Inner Mystique, was released and included the band's most popular song, a cover version of I'm Not Like Everybody Else. By 1969, the band released their final album, One Step Beyond, however it was not as highly regarded as their past work, and the band broke up in 1970.

Pete Curry was also with The Deoras and The Neanderthals led by Johnny Rabb. Both of the groups still perform.

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach, 3D vinyl LP album back cover details

back cover artwork: Marty Korth

detail photos by Styrous®

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach, 3D vinyl LP labels

detail photos by Styrous®

Of course, you couldn't do much about viewing the album cover without 3D glasses, which was included with the album.

The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach,

3D vinyl LP album cover & 3D glasses

front cover artwork: Marty Korth

photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Mr. Mysterioso, written by R. Johnson*

A2 - Halibut Stomp, written by J. Lyou*, R. Johnson*

A3 - Jetstream, written by M. Meena

A4 - Little Old Ladies Seldom Cutback, written by D. Torrence*, J. Berry*

A5 - Deathwave, written by R. Johnson*

A6 - Exodus 5-0, written by E. Gold*

Side 2:

B1 - Malibu Run, written by R. Holden*

B2 - Monster Surfing Time, written by J. South*

B3 - Hanky Panky, written by E. Greenwich*, J. Barry*

B4 - Church Key, written by D. Darnold*

B5 - Surf Rider, written by N. Edwards*

Companies, etc.

    Distributed By – Rhino Records (2)

Credits:

    Bass – Kevin Daley (2)    Drums – Randy Haskins, Rich Hutter
    Guitar – P.W. Curry*, Rick Johnson (7)
    Keyboards – Bruce Paddy
    Artwork – Cheryll Lynn (tracks: Back), Marty Korth (tracks: Front)
    Engineer – P.W. Curry* (tracks: A1-B3)

Notes:

Tracks A1-B3 recorded at Willie's Garage. Tracks B4, B5, recorded live at The Music Machine, Los Angeles, July 7, 1983.
Album cover is in 3D, glasses included.

The Halibuts ‎– Halibut BeachLabel: What Records? ‎– W12-2407
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Rock
Style: Surf

Viewfinder links:

Stereogram ~ Sonic & Visual 3D
3D Vinyl LPs & 45 RPMs
The Residents

Net links:

The Halibuts Discography
LA Times ~ Halibuts Riding Wave of Surfer Popularity
The Beach Reporter ~ The Halibuts reunite in San Pedro
Surf Guitar History ~ The Halibuts -- Halibut Rick???
In Music We Trust ~ The Halibuts: Life On The Bottom

YouTube links:

The Halibuts ~
Exodus 5-0
Malibu Run
    Monster Surfing Tim
    The Halibuts Surf Band Reunion, 25.10.1986
      Istanbul
The Residents ~ Istanbul
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Dick Dale ~ Pipeline
The Surfaris ~ Wipe Out
The Chantays ~ Pipeline
The Trashmen - Surfin Bird
The Astronauts ~ Firewater
The Chocolate Watchband ~ Sweet Young Thing


Styrous® ~ Wednesday, January 3, 2018

20,000 Vinyl LPs Archive
101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes Archive
MAIN MENU - Blog Articles

The Styrous® Viewfinder

July 15, 2019

The Halibuts articles/mentions

January 7, 2018

Madness articles/mentions

January 6, 2018

The Beach Boys articles/mentions

January 4, 2018

Dick Dale articles/mentions

January 3, 2018

20,000 Vinyl LPs 122: The Halibuts ~ Halibut Beach in 3D