Avengers VI

From 1964 to 1968, the six Anaheim, CA, pals known as the Avengers VI rode the last wave of the West Coast surf music craze (which probably peaked between 1962 and 1964). Real Cool Hits was their first recording, and it served as a promo for the Good Humor Ice Cream Company. The group is best known for their song "Time Bomb," which is still a popular surf cover tune, having been done by Man Or Astroman? and the Bomboras, to name a couple. The songs are in a range of styles, with mellower tunes including covers of "Downtown" (the song made famous by Petula Clark), the Mancini-penned "Mr. Lucky" and languid classic "Summer Place." Sinister tones are heard on their original "Heartbeat" and their "Peter Gunn" cover, while they crank it up for the "The Avenger's Stomp" and the aforementioned classic "Time Bomb" (two of the five originals on this 13-song album). Because of its variety and solid effort, Real Cool Hits would act as a nice surf sampler for your record collection, but I wouldn't deem it an essential for big surf fans.