Devil’s Rumble: Anthology ’64-’68 cover

Devil’s Rumble: Anthology ’64-’68

Recorded
1964-1968
Released

Davie Allan, a guitarist from Southern California, specialized in lightweight and moderately successful surf instrumentals like “Apache ’65” when he got the job of scoring the biker exploitation movie The Wild Angels. His opening theme for the movie, “Blues’ Theme,” was built around a ferociously fuzzed-out riff and became a sensation; other pieces included on this two-CD set, like “The Devil’s Rumble,” “Pete’s Orgy”(!), “Action On The Street” and others are so blown-out they’ll make your teeth rattle. Allan’s melodies always stayed simple and mostly major-key; he’s more interested in making your foot tap than scaring you, but there’s still a blasting-down-the-highway fervor to his best stuff that’ll make any listener feel like jumping on a bike, and weird side-trips like “Mind Transferral” blur the line between surf and psych.

Phil Freeman

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