Farm - The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun (1970/2016)

Innermost Limits of Pure Fun, with its whimsical, philosophical “California” title, was a groundbreaking project in the history of sports footage. Filmmaker George Greenough was unencumbered by any commercial reasons for designing boards, boats, or in his wave riding technique, a true SOUL SURFER if there ever was one. With the means, and ideas, to use underwater camera gear that had not been previously used – and still rarely used to such great effect – Greenough’s two late ’60s cinematic efforts were the maximum effect, in the effort of communicating the feel of surfing to the viewer. Some of the non-surfers overwhelmed by the beauty of his work within Innermost came to George and offered their help for the follow-up, to be titled Echoes. These ho-dads from England were better known to the world as Pink Floyd.

In choosing who to soundtrack his debut masterpiece, Greenough went with the most dynamic band to record during the surf instrumental era of the early ’60s, Capitol Records 45 r.p.m. artists The Dragons, who released “Troll” in 1964. The single was actually an excerpt from a soundtrack recorded for the early Dale Davis film, Strictly Hot. What set it apart from the reverbed surf crunchers of the early ’60s was its beyond “Pipeline” instrumentation. Keyboard riffs meshed fluidly with bass harmonica, sophisticated percussion, snap drums, and a fuzzy guitar ripping through bass lines so thick you would swear there was an orchestra behind them. That made sense, since the father of some Dragons was leader of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Carmen Dragon.

By 1969, The Dragons had progressed within a world ready for jazz improvisation in rock. Some of them had toured with the “Good Vibrations” era Beach Boys. It was with great intuition that George Greenough chose The Dragons for this soundtrack to Innermost Limits of Pure Fun; for they had been itching to do a project where they could really let themselves GO. And there, you get it, within the package before you. What you’re dealing with are surf instrumental musicians on a par unmatched, a few years after the trend, getting a chance to really dig in, in order to be involved at the level of media George Greenough was shaping.

This Deluxe Sundazed package available on colored vinyl and compact disc includes a four-page insert featuring rare photos plus liner notes by Denny Aaberg, of the legendary Malibu Aaberg guitarist/surfer family, and Dennis Dragon, drummer of The Dragons, and without question the most prolific maker of surf movie soundtracks during its golden era of the ’60s and ’70s.