The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA

1963

Track Listing                                                                            

1. Surfin' USA                                           7. Noble surfer                                          

2. Farmer's daughter                               8. Honky tonk                       

3. Misirlou                                                9. Lana

4. Stoked                                                 10. Surf jam

5. Lonely sea                                          11. Let's go trippin'

6. Shut down                                                   12. Finders keepers

Band Members:        

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

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

Notes

Surfin' USA is the follow up album to The Beach Boy's debut, Surfin' Safari.   Surfin' USA was released only a few months later and carried over a similar style that their debut offered.  There were more tracks about surfing and cars, but this album offered many more instrumentals.  There are 5 tracks in all that are surf instrumentals, which is almost half the album.  To me the instrumentals bring this album down in comparison to their debut.  Though I preferred the debut record, Surfin' USA charted higher peaking at number 2 on the Billboard charts in 1965.  Ever time I hear the title track I can't help but say "These waves our mine."

Recommendations

One of the more weaker albums in The Beach Boys catalog, but I do recommend it.  The fact that you can get this along with their debut for less than ten bucks is worth the recommendation.

If you plan on purchasing Surfin' USA

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 on the albums.  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' USA but want to hear some tracks from it

There are only a handful of tracks that I have in my Itunes from this album.  There are three tracks for sure that you must own from this, if you did not purchase the album.  But think about this... You can purchase these tracks at Itunes or Napster for half the price you would spend purchasing two albums plus three bonus tracks.  If you have any interest whatsoever in owning any of these tracks you may as well just purchase the album. For more suggestions you can check out my ideal compilation at my Beach Boy Home Page.  

My Top 5