Borderline between garage and surf, I suppose, but I'll take some liberties. One of the grails that I own.
Some good ones there. I especially love The Aqua Velvets. Just wish there was some on vinyl. I have everything on a hard drive, though. Bambi Molesters kick ass, too.
Boss Martians cross the line from garage back to surf a lot. One of the best of the latter surf revival groups, in my opinion. They just rock. Destroy All Astromen is one of the defining albums of later surf revival. And how is this not one of the purest expressions of surf revival?
Last one…for now! The mysterious Blue Stingrays. I’ve never seen it confirmed but supposedly it’s the Heartbreakers. I’d love a real copy but I’ve never even seen one. So going to settle for the coming reissue.
The Big Bad Boss Beat of The Wedge was I believe the first surf revival (mini) album, I remember buying it in 1980 and then a short while later the Jon & the Nightriders Surf Beat '80 album came out. I had been hooked on the stuff since I had found a copy of Dick Dale's King of the Surf Guitar in a thrift store and being totally blown away, I couldn't believe my ears hearing a guitar sound like that and from 1962! Anyways, I thought it great that it was being revived and somewhat popular again.
My favorite surf record is either "Teen Machine" or "Moon Dawg" by the Gamblers. It's hard to choose but Teen Machine has that Farfisa organ so... They released three singles from 1960-1. The band included Derry Weaver on lead guitar, Bruce Johnston (later in the Beach Boys) on keyboards, Eliot Ingbar (later with the Mothers and Captain Beefheart) on guitar, Larry Taylor (later in Canned Heat) on bass, Sandy Nelson (over 30 solo albums) on drums, and were produced by Kim Fowley.
I agree, the "Live at the Whisky a Go-Go" album is amazing. I also would recommend the first Dead Kennedys album "Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables" its a punk rock record but the guitar playing is really influenced by Surf Music, East Bay Ray all the way
The early surf and garage revival bands, in the US at least, were direct descendants of punk and so often ride the line between punk and surf. You could draw a line from the Beach Boys to The Ramones to the surf revival. Surf punks, anyone?
The Break (featuring members of Midnight Oil and Violent Femmes): "Church of the Open Sky" (2010) is worth checking out.