Album Review - The Malibooz: WRVR Sessions '65
by DJ Johnson
Back in the days of the first wave of surf music, there was a very young band known as The Malibooz. We're talking pre-Beatles invasion here. They weren't among the upper echelon of the famous then, but they were out there working at it, and the amazing part is they're still together today. After all these years they've put out a handful of excellent albums, one of which, Living Water, is one of the greatest and most spiritually uplifting things I've ever heard. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Today we're here to discuss a neat little rarity, a 3-song EP recorded in 1965 at WRVR in New York City. It was the first time they'd been in a studio. Of the three tracks, two are vocal numbers. There's an original called "Goin' To Malibu," and a cover of Chuck Berry's "Nadine." To be perfectly honest, there's nothing in either of those recordings to suggest this band would someday create an amazing vocal album like Living Water. There's not a lot to tip you off that it's the same band that recorded any of their 80s or 90s stuff, actually, because The Malibooz are a tight unit, and man... there was some serious sloppage going on that day in '65. But on the other hand, the instro, "Miserlou," generates heat from the sloppiness the same way some of the best punk of the '70s did. Beats mysteriously disappear on the drum end, but through some bizarro math - accidental or not - it works out on the guitar end and just comes out... cool. Yeah, they were green as that famous Jolly Giant and they were all over the place that day, but this track was worth excavating. Definitely punk.
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