Overboard is such faithful surf revivalism that there's little to distinguish it from many surf records waxed in 1962-1964, other than perhaps inevitable slight sonic differences resulting from more modern recording technology. This faithfulness is both an asset and a drawback; they certainly understand the essence of the surf originators, yet neither do they add particularly new ingredients. They do stand out in the relatively small 1990s surf revivalist scene, however, in their reliance upon original material by lead guitarist Frankie Blandino (with the exception of the cover of
the Astronauts'
Lee Hazlewood-penned "The Hearse"). Also, they're unusual in featuring raunchy sax (by
Dave Scholl) as well as dripping-wet reverbed guitar; raunchy R&B-influenced saxes were actually pretty common in original surf music, but not so much so in latter-day surf bands. Blandino is an excellent and mighty fluent surf guitarist, and an able composer of the minor-keyed, Latin-influenced melodies common to the genre. If there's a point of comparison to
the Fathoms' style, they're most often in the dark and echoey bag perfected by
the Chantays on "Pipeline." They do break out of that mold sometimes, though, as on the country-flavored gallop of "Tracking Bigfoot," the horror soundtrack creepiness of "The Haunted Shore," and the lounge sleaze of "Cruisin' the Zone." ~ Richie Unterberger