Desert Island Treasures collects the earliest recordings of veteran California guitarist Merrell Fankhauser with his surf band the Impacts and beat group Merrell and the Exiles. Both groups are excellent representatives of their given styles; the Impacts (circa 1963) were a tight surf unit with ripping sax and wild guitar, while the Exiles' material, recorded between 1964 and 1965, has a harder edge than many popular American groups attempting a British Invasion sound. Exiles guitarist Jeff Cotton would go on to play with Captain Beefheart before rejoining Fankhauser in the early-'70s band Mu. The music of Merrell Fankhauser is absolutely essential to any American '60s rock collection, be it these groups or his later psychedelic folk rock with Fapardokly and H.M.S. Bounty or progressive rock with Mu.