SPOONBENDER

George Greenough's first film . the 'Inner most limits of pure fun' has been a huge influence on us, especially during the lead up to this project. The soundtrack by The Farm was played & recorded live in George's parents living room as the movie rolled. This concept was something we'd been curious about experimenting with for a while & we finally got to try it out for this recording. There are three tracks on this album that were recorded whilst watching George Greenough's the 'Coming of the Dawn' which, for the uninitiated, was the first ever 'inside the tube' perspective ever to be captured on film (circa 1969).


SOUNDTRACK

Tracks 'Spoonbender', 'Toroidal Spheres' & 'The Fold' were all recorded as improvised, alternate soundtracks to this footage of 'Coming of the Dawn' and it's well worth doing a home sync job if you have it on VHS tape. Just for the record, 'The Fold' (long Version track 7. Disc 2) starts about 3.30 minutes into 'the Dawn' as we had to cut the start off that one..

We would like to thank George Greenough for his inspiration. Sol, Oj, Ac & DR at Low Pressure Productions


THE SPOON by George Greenough

Originally based on a spooned deck balsa wood kneeboard, the Greenough Flex Spoon (Velo 1) was molded off the bottom and then had foam block rails added.
This construction method was not followed by other manufacturers - a full blank was shaped with a thin foam base that was removed after laminating the bottom.

First used in Australia in 1965, George Greenough's performance had a huge impact on many Australian designers.

The design was given exposure in the surf media as was George Greenough's surfing and surf photography.
Many manufacturers made copies of the design and the intensive glassing requirements required a premium price.
The most recognised models were produced by at Hayden Surfboards Caloundra Queensland, featuring Greenough's dramatic Fighter Plane decal.

The design peaked in popularity around 1970 with the release of George Greenough's The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun - featuring some his surfing on Spoon and inflatable mat but most famously included on-board footage of radical performance surfing and serious tube rides.

Because the high performance capabilities of the design were only achievable in quality waves and the low floatation meant that only the most fit riders were able to catch waves, by 1973 the design was largely supplanted by Peter Crawford's Slab design, circa 1969.

Initially Peter Crawford simply filled in the spooned deck to greatly increase floatation and expand the wave range, but over a long life the Slab was apadpted with a range of rail shapes and fin configurations.

In the USA the Fish was a notable alternative in kneeboard design.

Greenough's extreme design was attempted to be recreated in stand up boards, most infamously by Nat Young at Gordon Woods Surfboards in 1965 (The Nautilas). Although this board was a failure, George Greenough's fin design was to have a huge impact on Australian surfboards and by 1968 almost every fin bore some relationship to Greenough's high apsect template.


Terepai Richmond : Drums
Oj Newcomb : Double Bass
Shannon Sol Carroll : Guitar & Synth.
Dave Rastovich : Crystal Bowls, Hang Drums
James Cox : Congas, Bongos & Percussion
Chris Lane : Bamboo Flute