"The Dukes of Surf"

The Dukes of Surf
(Coconut Groove Music)

If the top Brill Building pop songwriting teams of the late ’50s and early ’60s — Goffin-King, Greenwich-Mann, Mann-Weil, Sedaka-Greenfield and Pomus-Shuman, to name five — had been tracking what Dick Dale and the Beach Boys were doing in Southern California, and if the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean had spent more time in Hawaii, they all might have come together to create a group like the Dukes of Surf. The trio — JP, Lee and Fish — blend key elements of the Brill Building and SoCal traditions and they do justice to both.

The Dukes do nicely at Beach Boys-style harmonizing and, as their name indicates, many of their songs are about surfing. Several are about surfing and romance in Hawaii. Take "Island Girls": "Hawaii, Hawaii, it’s heaven on Earth/Girls in bikinis that know how to surf," the Dukes sing in loving tribute to "the grooviest girls in the world."

Songwriters JP and Lee evoke memories of the Brill Building pop hits with some of their melodies and chord progressions. The aptly titled "Doo-Bee-Doo" echoes East Coast doo-wop in catchy, foot-tapping style. Other songs build on the genre of songs about teen life — for the Dukes that’s surfing after school, walking on the beach, and the plight of a guy whose girlfriend’s parents don’t approve of his surfing lifestyle.

The SoCal tradition of car songs is covered when the Dukes sing of "cruisin’ Waikiki with the windows down" in "Heavy Duty Chevy."

The trio slips into a soothing romantic style reminiscent of "The Warmth of the Sun" and "In My Room" with other selections.

Ever wonder how Kyu Sakamoto’s 1963 U.S. chart-topper "Sukiyaki" would have sounded if the Beach Boys had recorded it? The Dukes close the album with their arrangement.

"The Dukes of Surf" is available at www.TheDukesofSurf.com.