The Big Sounds Of The Drags! (Capitol Records/1963)

In the early 1960's drag racing/hot rodding was wildly popular in Southern California. Also wildly culturally popular was Surf Rock. Eventually out of Surf Music, grew Hot Rod music (i.e. Dick Dale & His Deltones, The Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, etc.). That is, surf rock with lyrics pertaining to Hot Rods and Hot Rod culture. The Big Sounds Of The Drags! is not Hot Rod music per se. It is a spoken word album with a narrator who introduces the album followed by the sounds of drag racers, drag-racing and, for authenticity purposes, a race announcer off in the distance.

Released in October of 1963, The Big Sound Of The Drags! was produced by Jim Economidies (responsible for plenty of early/mid 60's surf rock records). It was the first in a series of five in Captiol's "Big Sound Series" (the other four being The Big Sounds Of The Sports Cars, The Big Sounds Of The Drag Boats, The Big Sounds Of The Go Karts! and The Big Sounds Of The Drags Volume Two). The Drags was the most successful selling over 100,000 copies (in just six months).

The sounds of revving car engines is oddly therapeutic/soothing. And I can imagine one falling asleep soundly to the long-droning sounds. The album is about twenty-eight minutes long. It's really a strange little 1960's pop culture artifact. If you're a fan of hod rod/racing or spoken word albums you'll most-likely love this slab of vinyl. Otherwise I'm not sure who to recommend this to. I personally enjoyed it in all its proto-ambient charming drone-glory..

Here's the video review: