Lively Ones

As the bio accompanying this CD states, “originality may not have been their forte, but the Lively Ones still became the most popular surf band on Del-Fi’s roster anyway.” Modern surf fans will know this band as the guys who did “Surf Rider” on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack and as a band who have had a lot of other material re-released on Del-Fi. To say that this compilation is scraping the bottom of the barrel is an understatement, as it starts off with the boring standard “Pipeline,” and goes downhill from there. This record is chock full of songs that were covered far too much in their own time and certainly don’t deserve any more exposure today. Some of the unnecessary cover tunes on this record are “Surfin’ USA,” “Let’s Go Trippin’,” “Tequila,” “Rumble,” and “Sleep Walk” but the full list is too long to mention here. Let’s just say that there is no real reason for this record to exist, and that any other release by the Lively Ones is more essential than this.