Welcome to the second edition of Surface Noise, where I bring to you the best that the record store bargain bin has to offer. This week, we delve into the instrumental brilliance of Santo & Johnny.
Santo and Johnny Farina, two brothers from Brooklyn, NY, would make their unique mark on the music world. Santo’s prowess on the steel guitar is perfectly complimented by Johnny’s accompaniment on the traditional guitar, solidifying their status as top-notch players. Digging through the crates at Som Records in Washington, D.C., I came across this gem, and just couldn’t resist.
1960’s Encore came right on the heels of the brothers striking gold in 1959 with their smash hit, “Sleepwalk.” Though never quite achieving that level of stardom again, “Sleepwalk” would be forever etched into music history, immortalized in pop culture and diner jukeboxes for decades to come. That happens to be the way I discovered the duo, in the jukebox of the Tastee 29 Diner in Fairfax, VA. My late-night coffee drinking cohorts never complained when I fed the juke every time I walked in those doors. I was entranced from the first time I heard the song. It was simply beautiful, almost as if the music affected my brain like a drug. It was dreamlike, almost as if Tinkerbell had come in and sprinkled her fairy dust all over me, lifting me up in ethereal flight.
Encore, while not reaching those same heights, is a solid album, showcasing the guitar work that the brothers were known for. At just 19 (Johnny) and 22 (Santo) years old when this was recorded, they showed a knack for creating a mood through their instruments and seemingly transporting the listener to whatever place the song intended to go. In the case of the opening track, “Alabamy Bound,” they were able to give you the feeling of moving down the railroad tracks—the same feeling that Johnny Cash would give listeners a few years later with his reworking of “Orange Blossom Special.”
“Over the Rainbow,” has a dreamlike quality to it, one that lifts you back to Oz. The subtle, subdued chords, and the way Santo deftly works the pedal, bending the notes, lifts you up and floats you through the air like a leaf falling from a tree. “The Breeze and I” has a far-away-land, sort of exotica vibe, and would have been right at home on a lounge mix alongside Les Baxter and Martin Denney. “Teardrop” was intended to be the follow-up hit to “Sleepwalk,” but unfortunately never achieved the same level of fame as their #1 hit. Trying to duplicate a hit is tough, especially when you try it with a song that sounds like it was cut from the same cloth, such as “Teardrop.”
The second side starts with a continuation of that same feel as “Deep Purple” sounds like they went for part three in the “Sleepwalk” saga. The album takes a whimsical turn with songs like “Old Man River,” and “Annie,” giving it a feel of a perfect date montage in a ’60′s movie, complete with feeding each other cotton candy on the boardwalk and laughing while the balloon you just released drifts upward. Yes, this is, for the most part, the exact picture that popped into my head upon first hearing it.
Even if Encore wasn’t enough to get Santo & Johnny back to the top of the charts, it’s a solid album through and through. There are enough shining examples of their signature sound to take you somewhere far away, and maybe even one or two late-night diner jukebox-worthy songs to be found.
