Beach Boys - Surfin' Safari

1962

Track Listing                                                                            

1. Surfin' safari                                               7. Surfin'                                               

2. County fair                                                 8. Heads you win, tails you lose                       

3. Ten little Indians                                         9. Summertime blues           

4. Chug-A-Lug                                               10. Cuckoo clock

5. Little girl (You're my Miss America)            11. Moon dawg

6. 409                                                                      12. The shift

Band Members:        

Brian Wilson - Vocals, bass, keyboards         Mike Love - Vocals     Dennis Wilson - Vocals, drums

Carl Wilson - Vocals, lead guitar    David Marks - Vocals, rhythm guitar       Produced By: Nick Venet

Notes

This is the first of over 20 studio albums released by The Beach Boys.  It was one of their lowest charting albums from their early days, but to me, it's a pretty fun record.  Coming in at less than 25 minutes it includes big hits such as "Surfin Safari" "409" and their first hit record "Surfin".  Most of the tracks here are originals that were written by Brian and surf music composer Gary Usher.  Gary who wrote most of the lyrics for "409" stated that his dream car was a 409 Chevy.  At the time he drove a 348, and the engine noises you hear in the track is his 348 driving by the Wilson's house.  After driving by 4 times sirens began to blare in the neighborhood and he had to hit the lights and hide.  Surfin' Safari peaked at number 32 on the Billboard charts.

Recommendations

It's not their best effort, but it is a fun quick album.  Out of The Beach Boys early releases this is one of the weaker ones, but one that I believe should be in your library.

If you plan on purchasing Surfin' Safari

The Beach Boys have one of the most clever collections out on CD.  Instead of paying full price for an album that is less than thirty minutes, you get two albums for the price of one. Not only do they come with the two for one package, they come with photos of the original album covers and excellent liner notes.  This is truly the only route to go.  I typically only see Greatest Hits albums and Pet Sounds available in stores, so you may have trouble finding this. However, you should have no problem finding this available online at Cdnow.com.

If you don't plan on purchasing Surfin' Safari but want to hear some tracks from it

This one is not loaded with hits, but is a solid release.  When you consider the fact that you can usually purchase this album for less than ten bucks in stores, getting two albums worth would be really silly to pass up.  However if you're only interested in the hits then you may want to purchase these tracks individually at Itunes or Napster.  Another suggestion would be to purchase one of the many Greatest Hits collections released by the band.  For more suggestions you can check out my ideal compilation at my Beach Boy Home Page.

My Top 5