★★★★★
Any meaningful record collection should include some Dick Dale. Bursting on to the southern Californian surf scene in the early 60s, he immediately defined the power of the surf guitar's thrust. While others have fallen by the wayside, Dale has survived the passing of time and maintained a presence and position unequalled by most...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2011-05-23
★★★★★
'King of the Surf Guitar' Dick Dale's 'Best Of' album kicks off with the familiar strains of 'Miserlou', which was reintroduced to the world in the 90's when included in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. More recently, The Black Eyed Peas sampled it for their hit 'Pump It'. This album takes you through hits such as 'Let's go Tripping' and 'Surf Beat' as well as some more obscure tracks and a collaboration with Stevie Ray Vaughan...
- www.music-news.com
2011-03-07
★★★★★
Without Quentin Tarantino, Dick Dale would still have had been the king of the surf guitar, but as soon as "Miserlou" was selected as the theme for Pulp Fiction, his musical legacy was well and truly cemented. Guitar Legend: The Very Best of Dick Dale is very much what it says on the cover: his best songs, along with a few more to pad the CD to 16 tracks...
- www.exclaim.ca
2010-11-02
★★★★★
With at least a half-dozen "best of" compilations dedicated to collecting Dick Dale's red hot guitar licks, do we need another? Probably not, but I certainly welcome any chance to reacquaint myself with one of the most incredible and influential guitarists of all time. King of the Surf Guitar. Inventor of surf music. Blah blah blah.....
- www.undertheradarmag.com
2010-10-04
★★★★★
While there's no disputing the brilliance of classicslike "Misirlou Twist" and "Let's Go Trippin'," surf-guitar kingDick Dale has actually made few records worthy of his talent. Butthis two-CD package, Better Shred Than Dead, manages to sift through hiscatalog ? including early rockabilly vocal sides and ill-advisednovelty tunes ? to make a persuasive case for Dale's genius. B
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
Dick Dale, the king of thesurf guitar, plays with speed, precision, and passion ? and stilldelivers moments of jaw-dropping, how'd-he-do-that listening.But Calling Up Spirits' mix of covers, remakes of his '60s surf hits,and ecologically minded new material feels thin and lacks thecohesiveness of previous efforts, like 1993's Tribal Thunder andhis appearance on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. B
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
In the wake of his 1993cult triumph, Tribal Thunder, surf-rock legend Dick Dale rides again onthe kitschy, reverb-guitar twang he pioneered in the late '50s, with this new album, Unknown Territory.While the wave-crest glory of "Terra Dicktyl" and "The Beast" steerthis odd set clear of a wipeout, landlocked listeners may find thismostly instrumental Territory off-limits. "Hava Nagila" as a surftune? Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...
- ew.com
2009-06-12