TEEN BEAT: 30 Instrumental Rocking`Instrumentals Volume 3 & 4

VOLUME 3

Devoted wholly to rock instrumentals of the late '50s and early '60s, this 30-track disc is a good investment for collectors looking for hits in the genre that didn't crack the Top 20 (and hence don't get played on oldies radio today), or missed the charts entirely. A couple smashes ("Wipe Out," "Pipeline") slip through, but otherwise there's a variety of forgotten hot wordless platters here, like the Astronauts' "Baja" (some of the best instrumental surf to originate outside out of California), the New Orleans-cum-Philly R&B of saxophonist Lee Allen, the creepy organ of the Wailers' "Mau Mau," the minimalist rockabilly of the Rock-a-Teens' "Woo-Hoo," the Ramrods' wacky adaptation of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and the hard guitar of Duane Eddy associate Al Casey. When all's said and done, though, these aren't as good as the most famous vintage instrumental hits — stick with the more prominent compilations unless you're deeply into the sound.

LINK: VOLUME 3

VOLUME 4

In some ways this series actually gets more interesting with the fourth volume, possibly because the need to fill up so much space (another 30 tracks worth) with instrumental rock oldies meant that more unusual items had to be excavated. There are a few big hits (Bill Justis' "Raunchy," Bill Black's "Smokie"), yet most of these are singles that didn't even make it into the Top 100; over half missed the listings altogether. Not all of these are rock, either; Hank Levine's "Image" is a lost exotica single, Moe Koffman's "The Swingin' Shepherd Blues" is light jazz, and Kokomo's "Asia Minor" is classical boogie. While some of the selections are only average, there are some good nuggets here, like the Megatons' scorching variation of "You Don't Love Me" ("Shimmy, Shimmy Walk"), Travis Wammack's innovative guitar work on "Scratchy" (which has a snatch of backwards vocals that was way ahead of its time for 1964), the Centurians' moody surf instro "Bullwinkle Pt. II" (used in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack), and Lonnie Mack's "Chicken Pickin'." There's also the peculiar belly-dance rock of the Hollywood Persuaders' "Drums-a-Go-Go," which was created by a pre-Mothers Frank Zappa with Paul Buff.

LINK: VOLUME 4