Beach Boys - Surfer Girl

1963

Track Listing                                                                            

1. Surfer girl                                           7. In my room                                            

2. Catch a wave                                     8. Hawaii                     

3. The surfer moon                                9. Surfers rule          

4. South bay surfer                                10. Our car club

5. The rocking surfer                             11. Your summer dream

6. Little deuce coupe                                    12. Boogie woodie

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: Brian Wilson

Notes

This is was the first Beach Boys album to be entirely produced by Brian.  The album contains a couple of ballads, ("Surfer Girl", "In my room") which at the time seemed risky because they previously never recorded a ballad.  As it turned out, those two tracks ended up being the two highest charted songs on the album.  It is also loaded with other great hits such as "Catch a wave" and "Little deuce coupe".  Also included on Surfer Girl is the first Beach Boy track to include an orchestra ("Surfer Moon") and a track in which they call out East Coast group, The Four Seasons.  At the end of "Surfer's Rule" they call out to The Four Seasons that they better believe that surfer's rule and ends with Brian singing parts of their hit "Walk like a man."  The album cover picture was taken at the same session of their debut album Surfin' Safari.  Holding the woodie from left to right are Brian, Mike, Carl, David, and Dennis.  The album peaked at number 7 on the Billboard charts.

Recommendations

A must own, this is one of the best original albums the band ever recorded.

If you plan on purchasing Surfer Girl

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, but on occasion you will find this one available being teamed up with Shut Down Volume 2.  I use to be really confused for why they skipped Little Deuce Coupe and teamed Shut Down Volume 2 with this album.  This is because Little Deuce Coupe is an album of car songs and is featured on both albums, so it was skipped to prevent the same track being on the CD twice.  For people like my dad, this works out great for them because these are two of their most popular albums and can be purchased on the same disc.  You should have no problem finding this available online at Cdnow.com.

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

This is a heavy hitter and features tons of good tracks.  The fact that you can purchase the tracks from Shut Down Volume 2 along with this make this a must own.  Do not purchase individual tracks at tunes or Napster. Just go out and purchase this album or a greatest hits package.  For more suggestions you can check out my ideal compilation at my Beach Boy Home Page.

My Top 5