[SYN-046]
Born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston on May 4, 1937 to a Lebanese father and Polish mother, Dale was exposed early on to ethnic folk music, which would influence the "exotic" tonalities of his own later work. The playing of swing drummers like Gene Krupa suggested a percussive approach to the guitar. Surfing did the rest; Dale became an enthusiast of the sport after moving to California in 1954, and wanted to capture the rush of longboarding in musical terms. His 1961 debut single, "Let's Go Trippin'," was a surprise hit, and over the next four years, Dale followed it up with many more, including all the tracks on this disc. The most famous, of course, is 1962's "Misirlou Twist," which Quentin Tarantino used to brilliant effect in his 1994 movie Pulp Fiction, thus exposing yet another generation to the King of the Surf Guitar. — Mac Randall