680 The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA (1963)

 680 The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA (1963)

Studio Album - Surf Pop



About the Act:

So, I was really tempted to pull out some cliché about living under a rock if you hadn't heard of the Beach Boys, you probably have, but given that I have just done a quick research on them and found out lots of stuff I didn't know, I'll attempt to give you a really potted overview.

They were formed in California in 1961, by brothers Carl, Brian and Dennis Wilson, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine. They pioneered, and are most famous for their surf sound in the early 60s, happy, shiny songs about surfing with complex vocal harmonies, in a style related to doo-wop.

Then The Beatles happened, and the so-called British Invasion. At this point the popularity of surf music waned, and although it's simplistic, the Beach Boys attempted to keep pace with the increasing complexity and maturity of pop that was emerging. Out of all of the American bands, they probably did the best job of this.

There has been a lot of too-ing and fro-ing, arguments between members, changing levels of involvement, a few member changes, and some notable things, like a friendship that went sour with Charles Manson, involvement with the same Indian Guru as the Beatles, and of course, Pet Sounds, one of the most celebrated albums of all time, and certainly one of the most innovative for the time.

They kind of survived, sometimes more off than on, since 1961, and have produced 29 studio albums, just over half of which were released in the 60s.

About the Album:

This was their second LP, and was hugely successful, and largely responsible for the Surf Sound

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

So, apparently this was the big hit album that effectively launched Surf Sound across America. There are two major elements to this sound. The first is the vocal tracks, which have the archetypal Beach Boys multitracked vocal harmonies, and are otherwise kind of like 50s/60s Pop Rock n Roll, the sort of stuff vocal groups were doing. The other sound is the guitar-twangy instrumentals, the most archetypal on here being "Misirlou" which features machine-gun picking, and harmonic structures that sound kind of Mexican.

The songs are mostly about surfing, and surfer culture, although "Shut Down" is about car racing. There is a deliberate naivety and the surfer culture feels like a 50s feelgood movie. This is deliberate, and it's all fairly optimistic and blue-eyed. The overall sound is a happy, cheerful one. This is not soul-searching depth, it's a holiday poster.

So if you know of the Beach Boys (and if you don't, welcome to this world, stranger), then this album is as archetypal Beach Boys as you can get.

It's well made, and it's not a bad listen. But it is a bit 2-dimensional.

7/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6u5tGarzvESDsQiIpC4SlI

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnNijpvmuQ4oP2Nt-F5Zfsi_-t7zcXk7q

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfin%27_U.S.A._(album)



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