Customer Reviews

Surfin Safari/Surfin Usa

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A fine "2 originals CD" from the Beach Boys. These two albums were their first two from 1962 and 1963.

Both originals featured big hits like "Surfin Safari", "409", "Surfin", "Surfin USA" and "Shut Down".

Even though some of "Surfin Safari" may sound a little primitive, here are clear indications of the big moments that were to come; especially on the "Surfin USA" album. One of the Beach Boys' trademarks, their exquisite vocal-harmonies are all over both original albums, and most of the songs are self-penned.

Aside from the fine singles there are great ballads like "Farmer's Daughter" ( impressive falsetto vocals from Brian Wilson) and "The Lonely Sea" and fun tracks like "Cuckoo Clock".

The 3 bonus-tracks are all good; "Cindy, Oh Cindy" among the best on CD.

Obviously the theme on most songs are either surfing or cars, and lyrically many of these songs may seem very naive, but musically it's impossible overhear the great talent that was in this band.

The very informative 24 pages booklet contains the background story to both albums, comments from Brian Wilson and notes about every track; it a great read, and it makes you want more.

All these "2 on 1" Beach Boys CD's are highly recommendable, and their matching booklets make a very entertaining and informative read.

Surfin' Safari (1962.) Beach Boys' first album.
Surfin' USA (1963.) Beach Boys' second album.

The Beach Boys were one of the finest American pop-rock groups of the sixties, no questions asked. The band has even become dubbed "The American Beatles" due to their success in the sixties. Their pop tunes from that era have more than stood the test of time. The Wilson brothers and all the others had the ability to make extremely catchy pop tunes, the first one of which was Surfin'. The band used the success of the track to launch their first album, Surfin' Safari. The following year, the band released their sophomore LP, Surfin' USA. Read on for my review.

Surfin' Safari was the first full-length LP that the Beach Boys ever recorded. Rather obviously, the big hit to emerge from this album was Surfin' which was actually released as a single at the end of 1961 (before the full-length album got released.) A series of other hits also emerged from this album, including the title track and 409. The big hits on this album are by far the best songs on it. Many of the lesser tracks are subpar, although some of them get the job done well. I'm not too crazy about County Fair or the band's rock and roll take on the children's song Ten Little Indians, but Heads You Win, Tails I Lose is one of the finest songs by the band that I have ever heard. It's a shame this one didn't become a bigger hit, because it's probably the best non-hit here. My rating for the Surfin' Safari LP is three stars out of five.

Surfin' USA, the band's sophomore LP, was released the following year, 1963. The title track of this record would become its most popular and most successful track - and arguably the biggest hit of the band's career. Shut Down, one of the band's many drag racing numbers, also became pretty popular, and with good reason. And, much like the previous LP that the band had released, the big hits on this one are the best songs. Some of this stuff can come off seeming like "filler" material (the instrumentals, for example), but in the end this is a better LP than the previous one. My rating for the Surfin' USA LP is three and half out of five stars.

In addition to the two full-length albums, there are some bonus tracks featured on the album. These don't really do anything to enhance the albums, but they are fine addition nonetheless, due to their rarity.

Overall the first two Beach Boys LPs are good, but not great. Although these were decent releases, it was obvious that the band hadn't fully developed their sound yet. Take my advice and don't buy this CD unless you're a die-hard fan of the band. If you're anything less, get the new Sounds Of Summer hits compilation.

As is typical for albums released about this time, their souls were owned by the record company. They had little creative control, and wouldn't for a few albums. So the results of this debut album are predictably sketchy. The album was rushed out REALLY fast, recorded very quickly with whatever songs the group happened to have lying around in their songbooks, plus a single or two. As you could imagine, the album is thus really inconsistent, with just a few indicators of their genius for singing and crafting melodies. As you would expect, the singles are the best songs here. And one of them is totally classic. The opening "Surfin' Safari" is the ultimate surfing ode, loaded with great vocal hooks. Sure, it's naive, but it's fun! Another big single, "409," is also a fun, catchy, hook-filled song, this time about cars instead of surfing, and it's pretty good. The Boys' vocals on these tunes aren't as excellent as they got later, and most songs really don't even have vocal harmonies of any merit, but that's to be expected. Brian was still learning, and this album was slapped out quickly.

The other 9 songs that make up this album are mostly goofy novelty numbers. They all last about 2 minutes, have dumb lyrics, and sound pretty much the same. They aren't horrible, but they really don't have any reason to exist now that 1962 is long gone. Dated in the extreme. The highlight of this section is easily "Moon Dawg," which is a fun surf instrumental, and I've got a thing for fun surf instrumentals. I like "The Shift" too, which is a fun rock number. Elsewhere, though, mediocrity abounds. Songs like "County Fair" (with a stupid voice over section), "Heads You Win, Tails I Lose," "Chug A Lug," and "Little Girl (You're My Miss America)" are okay, but really now, is there any reason to pull out this album and listen to them? Not really. And even the highlights don't hit me THAT hard - let's face it, as cool as "Surfin' Safari" and "409" are, neither is exactly that great.

The Surfin' USA LP was a huge improvement over its predecessor. "Surfin' USA" was tearing up the airwaves as people listened in awe, completely unaware that the song was stolen note for note from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen." Ripoff or not, the song is undeniably catchy, and, in my opinion, is a lot better than the Berry original. The song featured use of vocal overdubs and lots of backup vocals, which were soon to become a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson mainstay. If there was ever a track that announced that the Beach Boys were here to stay, that was the one.

Huge hits aside, though, what is it about this album that makes it better than the last one? Well, there's lots of stuff. For one, the band had more money this time, so the production is a little fuller sounding. The vocals are also much better than before - the leads are more in tune and gorgeous (as on the fantastic dark ballad "Lonely Sea"). Plus, as I mentioned, due to overdubbing, the background vocals have elevated to an important part of the music. The songwriting is better, too. The songs don't seem like novelties anymore, for the most part (well, the album closing "Finders Keepers" certainly reminds me lyrically of "Head You Win, Tails I Lose"). Plus, the arrangements are light years ahead of the ones on the last album. Brain was learning fast, and though he was far from the peak of his abilities here, you could tell he was evolving quickly.

Now, as for the actual songs - they actually sound sort of like the ones on the last album, only with more precise instrumentation and better production. There are no real embarrassments here, though. Plus, there are a handful of really good songs. The highlight is the haunting ballad "Lonely Sea," which presages some of their best later work. "Farmer's Daughter," another ballad, has a great vocal arrangement. And there's the song here everyone knows - "Shut Down," a thrilling rocker about drag racing. Out of the bonus tracks, "Cindy Oh Cindy" is my favorite.

Of course, this was still pretty rushed out and corporally controlled. Plus, the boys weren't at the peak of their skills yet, so the album is far from being great. The album is short (about 24 minutes), and much of it is taken up by instrumentals, one of which is great ("Miserlou") and the other four of which are just okay - the band just didn't have the precise attack to make these numbers come to life, which is a shame, because had they recorded these a couple of years later, they would have been amazing. And some of the songs are a bit generic. Still, this is a very fun record, with some very good material and no truly bad material. Worth picking up if you're into the early surf rock sound, though the band was improving rapidly, and this is still too early to really be one of their best efforts. It shows tons of potential though, which Safari showed in very few places. You don't really need Safari at all, but picking it up as a two-fer along with Surfin' USA is a good deal, as the latter is far more superior. All Beach Boys albums are available as two-fers now, so pretty much any of them make a decent buy.

This release combines the first two Beach Boys records. Its amazing listening to the origin of rdck music from the early sixties. All these songs were not much longer than two minutes. Nonetheless, for its time there are some creative lyrics and vocal harmonies. I've always loved Surfin' USA and Surfin'Safari and Shut Down are pretty cute too. The Beach Boys version of Summertime Blues works nicely and Farmers Daughter, Little Miss America, and Lonely Sea are pretty catchy as well. The later fits in nicely as with all the fast rockers, its nice to slow things down a bit.

However, there is an abundance of filler. Four instrumentals which really add very little except to enhance the surfer mood of the recording. The Beach Boys were not exactly great instrumental virtuosos so these tracks are merely filling up space. But at least its pleasant filler. Other vocal tracks just duplicate the better songs (Surfin' USA, Shut Down)with greatly inferior lyrics. The fact these two records combined are under 50 minutes in length shows you that the Beach Boys material was a bit incomplete in those early days.

Truthfully I am content with a good greatest hits compilation by these guys. But big time fans might want to give this one a try. However, I would advise those fans to seek out Beach Boys Today and Summer Days(And Summer Nights) before this double recording combo.

This CD is made up of the first two Beach Boys albums, plus three bonus tracks. The overall sound of the album owes as much to simple rock'n'roll as it does to surf. Subsequent albums would bring many changes as the band evolved, but these recordings, while not the best they ever recorded, were of an extremely high quality.

There is a lot of great music here, including Surfin' USA, County fair, Cuckoo Clock and Farmers' daughter. Precisely because this music was recorded before they hit big, many of the tracks are not well-known, unlike the later stuff.

So, this is an interesting and welcome addition to any collection of Beach Boys music. If you haven't got any Beach Boys music, start with some of their mid-sixties music or a greatest hits.

There is something about listening to a band's first album that is quite revealing. Get and play "Please Please Me," then listen to "Let it Be." Or Get "Boy," then play "All That You Can't Leave Behind." Bands evolve, and bands grow, but with the first album there is a universe of possibilities. Some of these possibilities are abandoned, but some of the roads are taken and added upon. These albums give you a glimpse into the early work of the Beach Boys, and hear the different sound that Brian Wilson was experimenting around with.

There was a lively surf music scene, with Dick Dale and the Del Tones, the Ventures, and Jan and Arnie (later Jan and Dean). The Beach Boys started working in this genre as this disc indicates-Moon Dawg, The Shift, Surfin' Safari, Surfin' USA, and the two Dick Dale covers. But the Beach Boys had something different. Not quite a different sound, since they just had Chuck Berry rock and roll riffs combined with the Four Freshman harmonies. But you can feel the soul of their music, specifically Brian Wilson's soul shine through in tracks such as Cuckoo Clock and Farmers Daughter. And Lonely Sea is really the first "Pet Sounds" track, indicating the direction Brian Wilson could and did go.

Yes, music has progressed (somewhat) since these two LPS were recorded, and bands (some at least) have gotten better, but these tracks are engraved moments in time. You see the Beach Boys starting out as just another surf band, but with the seeds of something different. You get shadows of "Pet Sounds" with this music.

On the SURFIN' SAFARI album, there are several track of note. The first is "County Fair," which prefigures "Amusement Parks USA," which was a sideways tribute to "Palisades Parks."

"Heads you win, tails I loose" is one of my favorites, due to the theme and the wit of the lyrics. Libretto-ing was Brian Wilson's weakest point, and he relied primarily on Mike Love to put words to his hymn-melodies. Mike Love (or whomever) came up with some catchy words that would make the Beatles (Please Pease Me, She Said She Said, Hello Goodbye) envious.

The gem on "Surfin Safari" is "Mr. America." What would be a nominal top-ten hit for another band takes on a luminous quality as rough-voiced Denny Wilson croons the lead. This is his first solo recoding and he does exceptionally and memorably well. We see the beginning of such songs as "Forever," "Celebrate the News," "Slip on Through," and "Fourth of July."

SURFIN' USA also has gems. "Finders Keepers" has catch music and an interesting thematic development. It's nice, clean, feel-good music.

The album has some weak covers (rehashes?) of two Dick Dale and the Deltones classics-Misrilou, which was made famous by the "Pulp fiction" Soundtrack, and "Let's Go Trippin." The Concert Album indicated that they still played this song on their tours, and frankly they, especially Carl Wilson, did a better job of it live.

They were still perceived as just another surf band with the inclusion of "Surf Jam," and "Stoked," which is another one of my favorites. It conjures up an opium den or some drug house. I don't know . . .

Plain and simple "Lonely Sea" is worth the price of the CD. It is a classic Wilson ballad, with absolutely heavenly guitar work and an angelic choir. In fact, the Beach Boys singing a capella makes me weep. I am surprised that this track hasn't caught on in movie soundtracks since it is perfect make-out music.

One of the bonus tracks is "Land Ahoy," an out-take from Surfin Safari, and was originally released on "Beach Boys Rarities." It is nice to have this one back.

Given that the Boys were still in high school at this time,these efforts mainly preview the kind of fun in the sun sound that they practically owned, and built on later. Also, these 2 are notable for the early appearance of the original BBoy Bruce Marks,who moved on shortly thereafter, I read following his family's wishes. Perhaps they thought the BBoys were a fad (!),and their son needed to go to college. Two notable songs are SURFIN, a small hit in southern Cal.,and SURFIN SAFARI, a national semi-hit,both which still stand up. SURFIN USA was a megahit, and still a great rollicker. The neglected instrumentals STOKED and MISERLOU (much later a theme for the movie PULP FICTION). But there is one hidden gem, the practically unknown LONELY SEA, one of their finest,most beautiful ballads ever,clearly the best on either album, and a sign of what was to come! The rest is mainly rather juvenile filler,though they're all filled with this band's normal amount of fun.

I really enjoy these albums. True, the songwriting isn't there, for the most part (several covers), and the sound is pretty raw for the Beach Boys. However, there's an energy and enthusiasm that's quite evident, and it convinces me that these are recordings made by kids who were excited and having a lot of fun doing what they were doing. There's not a bad song (well, okay, Little Girl (You're My Miss America) is pretty goofy, but it's fun, and you can picture Dennis being packaged as a teen idol) and there are some really good ones that you'll never hear on the radio (Cuckoo Clock, Ten Little Indians, Chug-a-Lug, The Lonely Sea). If you like the B.B.'s at all, you'll enjoy this one (or these two).

These two albums - the Beach Boys' first - are usually, affectionately, relegated by pseuds as apprentice work. It's true that there aren't many songs deserving of the 'repeat' button - tracks like '409', 'The Shift' and 'Lana' are fun rock beasts to begin with, but eventually pall.

There is enough good stuff here, though, to justify getting the CD - 'Country Fair', a genuine American ballad in the sense of a simple, repetitive narrative; the 50s ballad (in the sense of slow and yearning) 'Little Miss America'; the falsetto acrobatics of 'Farmer's Daughter', hinting at vocal marvels to come; a white-heat cover of 'Miserlou'; the spacious elegy 'Lonely Sea'; the playful chord-changing of bonus track 'Land Ahoy'.

Best of all are that convulsive single 'Surfin' USA', with its milk-bottle guitar throttle; and 'Cuckoo Clock', a gorgeous tightrope between comic bathos and tragic frustration that would mark one of the Beach Boys' greatest achievements, 'Sloop John B'.

As has already been stated, these 2 albums were the start of The Beach Boys career. Certainly not as full of great songs as their subsequent albums, these did at least show what was in store. Mostly still teenagers when Surfin' Safari was released, these guys showed how talented they were and that the best was still to come. And these two albums certainly were geared for the teen market at the time, but they have also survived the years and are still appealing today. The 24 page booklet contains loads of photos, an intro by Brian Wilson and detailed track-by-track notes. While a lot of the songs on here have a child like innocence to them, like "Chug-a-lug" and "Ten little Indians" to name two, this two-fer is still a perfect summer album to have.