Post #467476 by thegalaxybeing on Tue, Jul 7, 2009 8:04 PM

Unfortunately, the later releases have little or no info on the music itself. Plus, since most of them included tracks from the first LP, the info wouldn't help unless it was given by track. There seems to be a total lack of info on line (at least on the more common Exotica sites) regarding The surfmen releases. I personally have had no luck finding info of the "Hawaiian" sounding tracks.

As time passed, Miller's record company cut costs more and more. The labels & packaging looked cheaper, dust sleeves were no longer used, there was very little info on the rear of the jackets (but more advertising of other releases). By the early 70's they were considered, very low end products. Quality of the records themselves also declined (I mean physical not artistic) The record surfaces often had a bump here and there. I personally purchased Somerset LP's with the wrong record inside on two separate occasions in 1971/72.

My point is that the company was producing a bear minimum product and no thought was given to keeping track of this info.

I would bet that the later tracks are mostly (if not completely) different studio musicians. Even the name of the group became merely a marketing tool (Hence The South Sea Serenaders & The Surf Serenaders) Probably an attempt to sell the same songs over & over. Once the "Alshire" label was used the practice remained. This is why I call D L Miller the PT Barnum of record producers. I once ordered a "Catalog" and got 3 sheets of paper with a list of titles.

I still search for info on this as I'm also curious. I have my doubt of finding it, though. Fortunately, Mr. miller produced some great stuff, especially early on, and much of these products are not that hard to find. Appearently there is a good amount of decent masters too.

I enjoy what I can of it. It's a wonderful (if somewhat confusing) page of American music history!

[ Edited by: thegalaxybeing 2009-07-07 20:05 ]