It's hard to overestimate the talent and influence of
Dick Dale. With the possible exception of
Les Paul, no modern guitar player has done so much behind the scenes to create the sound and gear of contemporary electric guitar, from helping to develop the Showman amp and outboard reverb gear to his playing itself, which incorporated Middle Eastern scales over
Chuck Berry-styled blues progressions in the late '50s and early '60s when such things were unheard of on electric guitar -- and he did all this by playing guitar left-handed, upside down, and backwards, and at massive volume. This set collects
Dale's surf singles for the Deltone (a label started for
Dale by his father) and Capitol Records labels between 1962 and 1965, including the original singles for "Miserlou" (from 1962) and "Let's Go Trippin'" (from 1965), the tracks that, more than any others, established
Dale's unique rumbling and exotic guitar style.