Psycho Beach Party

Okay all, grab your surfboards and your headphones - it's Psycho Beach Party! The film is adapted from the cult stage play, and while it only played in a limited release, the music should be anything but. With a dead-on perfect score by Ben Vaughn, accentuated with a few instrumental surfing songs, this is a definite guilty pleasure album that is perfect for driving along the beach, or playing at a BBQ.

Beginning with the "Main Title", any listener will immediately get a sense of this album. It's a rocking 1960s beach party score, with all of the classic instrumentation you would expect. The bass guitars, organs and percussion are all there. It's just knee-slapping toe-tapping fun, and it almost never ends. "Neenie's Famous Weenies" was used in the theatrical trailer for the film, and I can still picture the go-go girl shaking and bopping to the underscore. The last track, "P-S-Y-C-H-O (Psycho) End Title" is a great 1960s-style song that hints at the storyline (as all good narrative songs back then did), and even tosses in some beach sound effects to boot.

The songs are integrated between the score cues seamlessly, as they all are of the same tone. The surf-bands Los Straitjackets, The Halibuts, The Hillbilly Soul Surfers, Four Piece Suit, The Fathoms, and Man or Astro Man? all contribute to the album. One thing that stuck out when listening to this 40-minute long CD was that it flowed exceptionally well. It was so disappointing when the soundtrack ended that I had to play the whole thing again - I hadn't realized how much time had flown by! If you have any desire for music that harkens back to the Frankie & Annette beach party films, then by all means pick this album up. Released by Unforscene Music, Psycho Beach Party is definitely one party you don't want to miss out on.