Styles: Surf Music, Ambient Pop | UK, England
West Sussex's Steve Hiett was primarily a photographer rather than a musician. Despite being in the Psych. Rock band Pyramid early in his life, he ended up not pursuing it as his main venture. A big part of his decision was certainly the incident in which he was electrocuted during a show by faulty equipment - though he also later ended up taking photos of the legendary Jimi Hendrix backstage after a show, helping to rekindle his love of music.
In the late 80s he shortly went to Japan, making this album and an accompanying photo book for Sony. It was originally released on their own label, staying mostly unknown until a later resurgence in popularity online.
It's a sort of sincere pastiche of earlier Surf music, often instrumental but sometimes guided by Hiett's wistful vocals. It's completely in line with his photographs from this period - mildly off-center, relaxed and warm. It's very upbeat, even when it leans into something more bittersweet like on
Never Find a Girl, it maintains a Summer-tinged atmosphere. The riffs and strong structures in general are deceivingly simple yet complete earworms because of that very simplicity. Before anything else, the appeal of this record is how it breezes through a set of pleasant vignettes. There are occasional changes of pace like the more traditionally Surf-sounding
Roll Over Beethoven or the almost psychedelic
In the Shade - but it never breaks up the album's flow, instead adding to it. Even on the instrumental songs there's a strong sense of melancholy, due to the beautiful production and melodies. It's covered by a thin layer of echo but rarely if ever goes to full psychedelia territory, instead just using it as another color in the palette. Its tranquility manages to be very lifelike, rather than a far away feeling. Despite the way I describe it, this really isn't a sad album - quite the contrary, whether it's something more joyful like
Hot Afternoon or more mopey like aforementioned tracks - it always feel like a celebration of all of these feelings instead of wallowing in them. It feels like a time lapse of a day during the latter part of Summer, starting off almost triumphant and slowly mellowing out as the sun sets.
Down on the Road by the Beach is still an overlooked release, though it has thankfully had rising popularity in the last decade or so. It's one of the best Surf-related albums after the initial late 50s-early 60s run it had. Obviously heavily influenced by it, but going in its own sonic and aesthetic direction.
Steve Hiett passed away on the 28th of August, 2019 in France. A month later the reissue label Be With Records released an archival album of material recorded from 1986-97 - Girls in the Grass.
It saddens me he didn't release much music while he was alive, but what he did was beautiful on its own.
10/10
See also: Charlie Megira
-kreyzi
