Surfer Girl is the third studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released September 16, 1963 on Capitol Records. It is largely a collection of surf songs. The LP reached number 7 in the U.S. and number 13 in the UK. Lead single "Surfer Girl", backed with "Little Deuce Coupe", was also a top 10 hit.
| Surfer Girl | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 16, 1963 | |||
| Recorded | c. May 9 – July 16, 1963 | |||
| Studio | Western, Hollywood | |||
| Genre | Surf | |||
| Length | 25:30 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Brian Wilson | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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| The Beach Boys UK chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Surfer Girl | ||||
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This was the first album that officially credited Brian Wilson with production. It was also the first in which he used a string section (on "The Surfer Moon") and employed Wrecking Crew session musicians (on "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club"). Original member Al Jardine, who had been replaced by David Marks in February 1962, contributed to the album and would soon re-join the band full-time when Marks departed in October 1963.
Surfer Girl was certified gold by the RIAA in November 1965, indicating over 1,000,000 copies sold. In 2017, it was ranked the 193rd greatest album of the 1960s by Pitchfork.
Background
edit
The massive success of the Beach Boys' March 1963 album, Surfin' U.S.A., granted Brian Wilson the leverage to convince Capitol to allow him full control over the band's productions,[2][3] an unprecedented move in the music industry.[4] Thanks to the band's hit single, "Surfin' U.S.A.", they had become the preeminent vocal and instrumental group in America.[5] Capitol signed his new girl group, the Honeys, which signaled the label's commitment to surf music.[6]
In addition to the Honeys, Wilson was focused on writing or production work with Jan and Dean and Bob Norberg.[7] Still resistant to touring, he had ex-member Al Jardine rejoin the group as his replacement at the band's concerts, starting in April.[8] Meanwhile, Jan and Dean released Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfing, which featured the Wilson brothers and David Marks as guests on the tracks "Surfin'" and "Surfin' Safari".[9]
Production
editWilson produced Surfer Girl at Western Studio in Hollywood from approximately May 9 to July 16, 1963.[10] He recalled some of the sessions lasting up to "nine and ten hours, unheard-of periods of time."[11] The 1990 CD liner notes state that the album's ten songs were recorded in one day, but this is unlikely, and since the American Federation of Musicians contracts have been lost, the exact dates and studios are not definitely known.[12]
"The Surfer Moon" was the first Beach Boys recording with a string section.[13][14] Having recruited members of the Wrecking Crew to help realize his productions with the Honeys, this album also marked the first occasion that those musicians were enlisted for certain Beach Boys tracks – specifically, on two songs, "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club".[15] Mike Love's sister Maureen played harp on "Hawaii" and "Catch a Wave".[16] Wilson considered the latter to feature his "first big Beach Boy vocal arrangement".[16]
Other songs recorded in the middle of these sessions included the originals "Back Home", which was later remade for their 1976 album 15 Big Ones, and "Black Wednesday", which was later reworked as "Run-Around Lover" and recorded by the singer Sharon Marie.[10] These were Wilson's first recordings at Gold Star Studios.[17]
Songs
editThree of the tracks are based on pre-existing compositions.[18] "South Bay Surfer" is a rewrite of the Stephen Foster standard "Swanee River", which Wilson had recorded with the Honeys, as "Surfin' Down the Swanee River", and later rerecorded with the Beach Boys in 1968, as "Old Folks at Home".[19] "Boogie Woodie" is ostensibly based on Rimsky Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee.[20] "The Rocking Surfer" is a reworking of the Tri-Fives' 1963 record "Come and Get It", an arrangement of the Czechoslovakian folk song Stodola Pumpa (more popularly known in Southern California as the Good Humor ice cream truck jingle).[20][21]
Wilson is credited with writing the remaining nine songs on Surfer Girl: two by himself ("Surfer Girl" and "The Surfer Moon"), four in conjunction with Mike Love ("Catch a Wave", "Hawaii", "Surfers Rule", and "Our Car Club"), and three individually co-authored with collaborators Gary Usher ("In My Room"), Roger Christian ("Little Deuce Coupe"), and Bob Norberg ("Your Summer Dream").[23]
"Your Summer Dream" and "In My Room" are the only songs that do not relate to themes of cars or surfing.[24] The two car songs, "Our Car Club" and "Little Deuce Coupe", were planned to be omitted by Wilson, but this never happened due to Murry Wilson wanting more hits on the album, and so the tracks appeared on both Surfer Girl and their next album, Little Deuce Coupe.[25]
Cover photo
editThe front cover of the album depicts the five members of the band carrying surfboards at Paradise Cove in Malibu, California.[22] It was taken at the same session that produced the cover photo for their first album, Surfin' Safari (1962).[26]
Release
editLead single "Surfer Girl", backed with "Little Deuce Coupe", was issued in the U.S. on July 22, 1963 and reached number 7 on the Billboard charts.[27] After returning from a six-week tour at the end of August, they completed their next album, Little Deuce Coupe, in short time.[28] The Surfer Girl album followed on September 16 and peaked at number 7 on December 23.[29] Little Deuce Coupe was released on October 7, just three weeks after Surfer Girl.[30]
Surfer Girl was certified gold by the RIAA in November 1965.[31] In the UK, the album was released by EMI Records in April 1967 and reached number 13.[32] It had been held back from release due to the group's lesser popularity in Europe, and was then issued to satisfy increased demand for new Beach Boys product.[33]
In 1990, Capitol reissued the album on CD as a single-disc pairing with Shut Down Volume 2 (1964).[16]
Retrospective assessments
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [34] |
| Blender | [35] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [36] |
| Rolling Stone | [37] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [38] |
Surfer Girl was ranked number 193 on Pitchfork's list of the greatest album of the 1960s. Highlighting tracks such as "In My Room" and "Surfer Girl", contributor Quin Moreland wrote in the entry that "Wilson began to probe the wistfulness at his core, hinting at further genius to come."[39]
Reviewing Surfer Girl in AllMusic, Richie Unterberger highlighted "In My Room" as the most significant track and disregarded the remainder of the album as "surprisingly mediocre filler".[34]
Music historian Scott Schinder identified Surfer Girl as an advancement in "Brian's continuing growth as a composer and producer." He cited "Catch a Wave" as Wilson's "most ambitious surf number to date" and "In My Room" as "a startling demonstration of Brian's willingness to confront his fears in song."[40]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Surfer Girl" | Brian Wilson | B. Wilson | 2:26 |
| 2. | "Catch a Wave" |
| Love and B. Wilson | 2:07 |
| 3. | "The Surfer Moon" | B. Wilson | B. Wilson | 2:11 |
| 4. | "South Bay Surfer" | Love and B. Wilson | 1:45 | |
| 5. | "The Rocking Surfer" | B. Wilson | instrumental | 2:00 |
| 6. | "Little Deuce Coupe" |
| Love | 1:38 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "In My Room" |
| B. Wilson | 2:11 |
| 2. | "Hawaii" |
| Love and B. Wilson | 1:59 |
| 3. | "Surfer′s Rule" |
| D. Wilson with B. Wilson | 1:54 |
| 4. | "Our Car Club" |
| Love and B. Wilson | 2:22 |
| 5. | "Your Summer Dream" |
| B. Wilson | 2:27 |
| 6. | "Boogie Woodie" | traditional, arranged by B. Wilson | instrumental | 1:56 |
| Total length: | 25:30 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Fun, Fun, Fun" (single version) |
| Love | 2:21 |
| 14. | "In My Room" (German version) |
| B. Wilson | 2:20 |
| 15. | "I Do" |
| Love and B. Wilson | 3:06 |
| Total length: | 33:17 | |||
Notes
- Mike Love was not originally credited for "Catch a Wave" and "Hawaii". His credits were awarded after a 1994 court case.[41]
- Some reissues of the album omit "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Our Car Club".[41]
Charts
edit| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | US Billboard 200[23] | 7 |
| 1967 | UK Record Retailer[33] | 13 |
References
edit- ^ Murphy 2015, pp. 270–271.
- ^ Dillon 2012, p. 13.
- ^ Doe & Tobler 2004, p. 14.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 301.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 274.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 282.
- ^ Lambert 2007, pp. 75–76, 83–84.
- ^ Badman 2004, p. 35.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 269.
- ^ a b Badman 2004, pp. 37–39.
- ^ Wilson & Gold 1991, p. 80.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 297.
- ^ Doe & Tobler 2004, p. 16.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 289.
- ^ Dillon 2012, p. 24.
- ^ a b c Leaf, David (1990). Surfer Girl/Shut Down, V2 (Media notes). The Beach Boys.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 294.
- ^ Lambert 2007, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Lambert 2007, p. 98.
- ^ a b Lambert 2007, pp. 98–100.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 290.
- ^ a b Dillon 2012, p. 14.
- ^ a b Badman 2004, p. 41.
- ^ O'Regan 2016, p. 164.
- ^ Badman 2004, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Murphy 2015, pp. 232–233.
- ^ Badman 2004, pp. 39–42.
- ^ Murphy 2015, p. 309.
- ^ Badman 2004, pp. 41, 45.
- ^ Badman 2004, p. 42.
- ^ Badman 2004, p. 103.
- ^ Badman 2004, pp. 41, 180.
- ^ a b Badman 2004, p. 180.
- ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. "Surfer Girl". AllMusic.
- ^ Wolk, Douglas (October 2004). "The Beach Boys Surfer Girl/Shut Down, Volume 2". Blender. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
- ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 479. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
- ^ "The Beach Boys: Album Guide | Rolling Stone Music". Rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
- ^ Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 46. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ "The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s". Pitchfork. August 22, 2017.
- ^ Schinder 2007, pp. 106–107.
- ^ a b Doe, Andrew G. "Album Archive". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly.
Bibliography
edit- Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-818-6.
- Dillon, Mark (2012). Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys: The Songs That Tell Their Story. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-77090-198-8.
- Doe, Andrew; Tobler, John (2004). Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys: The Complete Guide to Their Music. ISBN 9781844494262.
- Lambert, Philip (2007). Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: the Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-1876-0.
- Murphy, James B. (2015). Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7365-6.
- O'Regan, Jadey (2016). "When I Grow Up: The Beach Boys' Early Music". In Lambert, Philip (ed.). Good Vibrations: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in Critical Perspective. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11995-0.
- Schinder, Scott (2007). "The Beach Boys". In Schinder, Scott; Schwartz, Andy (eds.). Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0313338458.
- Wilson, Brian; Gold, Todd (1991). Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06018-313-4.
External links
edit- Surfer Girl at Discogs (list of releases)
- Surfer Girl on YouTube (official playlist)