Freddy King - Freddy King Goes Surfin'

180-gram vinyl, pressed at RTI

Freddy surfs the fretboard; blazing guitar instrumentals on this marvelous mono reissue!

Syd Nathan, impresario of Cincinatti's King Records, was the epitome of the old-school indie record label owner. Always hustling, Nathan regularly beat the odds to release hit after hit in multiple genres. He'd try anything if he thought it might work, or more precisely, if he thought it would make money.

After Chess Records turned down guitarist/vocalist Freddy King several times for sounding too much like B.B, King, Nathan thought that sound might actually be sellable and took a chance, signing Freddy to his Federal subsidiary label. They hit paydirt with an instrumental titled "Hide Away," which reached No. 5 on the R&B Chart and No. 29 on the Pop Singles Chart.

Encouraged by the single's success, Nathan released a full album of King's instrumentals, Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King. (See what Nathan did there with the title, slipping in a reference to Freddy's big hit single?) The album sold well and helped make Freddy a bankable touring act. Meanwhile, several artists on the West Coast were making noise in the brand new surf music scene (and by "making noise," I mean selling records). 

In short order, King Records did release Freddy King Goes Surfin', an album containing the very same songs (in precisely the same running order) as Let's Hide Away... with crowd noise dubbed over the music. Did the ruse work? Though it didn't sell as well as the original, Freddy King Goes Surfin' did find an audience. Like Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger, the album's title is such a preposterous premise that it surely snagged many buyers on that fact alone. And no amount of ersatz cheering and cocktail glass tinkling could cover up the six-string genius of King and his almighty Texas tone.

Need proof? Fellow Lone Star blues maven Billy F. Gibbons picked Freddy King Goes Surfin' as one of his Top Ten Favorite Blues Albums of All Time. As for Sundazed, we know not to mess with a good thing. Sourced from the original King mono masters and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), we are proud to present Freddy King Goes Surfin' in its original running order with its original cover art. Somewhere, Syd is chuckling to himself, remembering the time he stole a hit right out from under the Chess brothers.

 

Side 1

Hide Away

Butterscotch

Sen-Sa-Shun

Side Tracked

The Stumble

Wash Out

Side 2

San-Ho-Zay

Just Pickin’

Heads Up

In The Open

Out Front

Swooshy

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