Don’t let the title track fool you. Davie Allan isn’t just moving right along. He’s put his fuzz–pedal to the metal for Moving Right Along on Lifeguard Records. The man who fused surf and psychedelia with six strings is back with ripped-up (mostly) instrumentals old and new, and serves notice that he’s still the king of bad-ass fuzz guitar.
When Allan first rose to public view in the 1960s with his band the Arrows, he was best known as the B-movie soundtrack sultan, charting with “Blue’s Theme” from the Wild Angels. For this CD, he’s re-tooled his badass “Bongo Party” off the same film, from the days when beatniks and bikers were the biggest threat to American youth. Likewise, Allan smokes his way through “Shape of Things to Come” from Wild in the Streets, as high and hard as the relentless pounding of David Winogrand’s locomotive drums on “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”
The biggest surprise for Allan fans familiar with his guitar attack will be the four vocal tracks. The Hammond swell of “Heartache” and “She’s Crying Too” offer old-school 1960s-style pop, while “Restless in L.A.” and the title track “Moving Right Along” are both layered with Byrdsy harmonies and a SoCal imprint. Still, with Allan it’s the instro tunes you want and he doles ‘em out from the start in the opening track “Slip-Stream.” “Frustration” and “Stick It” dirt-stomp over chunky beats. “Mood Swing” is more elegant, while “Moving Right Along (Reprise)” rings with mid-1990s minor-chord jangle.
In instrumental bands there’s no room for slacking because there’s no cute vocalist to cover flubbed notes. Allan, still fit and handsome, stands front and center in the Arrows’ sound and his solid backing includes Winogrand, bassist/trumpeter Bruce Wagner, and Arlan on keyboards. Gushy fan prose accompanies the liner notes (let’s ban anything under 8-point type for CD packages, okay?), and anachronistic art abounds (Allan confesses to never riding a motorcycle), yet Moving Right Along is a class act from opening note to the last fadeout.
Two songs stand out. “Listen to the Guitar Man” features kitschy girl vocals and a tip o’ the motorcycle helmet to the temporarily downed Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, the Ventures, and Link Wray in classic instro style. “Vanishing Breed” is the real theme song of the CD, three minutes and 20 seconds of Fender-bending, fuzzed-out hog heaven. It’s tough as black leather, Allan peeling off chrome riffs and wrapping them around a pulsing beat. “Vanishing Breed” might just be the first real guitar anthem of the new millennium.
This article appears in June 20 • 2008.