Surf music – the first sonic mutation of rock and roll, and the first to be centred around a cult of the electric guitar. Emanating from California in 1961 – some say it started with Dick Dale’s single “Let’s Go Trippin’” – surf music seeped outwards across the USA, planting seeds which would later blossom into the blistering garage-rock of the mid-60s. Volcanic Action is a 14-track compilation which collects some of the most raw, vivid and propulsive surf singles released in 1962 and 1963 when the music was at its creative peak, and consisted almost exclusively of instrumentals (the one exception here being The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird”, later reinterpreted by The Cramps).