[kokkinos]

Hey, I also got the urge to listen to some Beach Boys the other day - rest in peace, Brian Wilson - and I'll definitely be following your ratings and comments on their discography.
I've never been blown away by their early albums, but they certainly don't lack in entertainment value and there are a couple of gems to be found in each of them. Glad you've been having so much fun with them!

My ranking before any revisit would look like this (missing some good stuff, but couldn't find any notes for the rest) :

1. The Beach Boys Today!
2. Surf's Up
3. Sunflower
4. Pet Sounds (Yeah, I know... The top-4 is g.o.a.t. material in my book and I'm just splitting hairs)
5. Smiley Smile
6. All Summer Long
7. Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
8. Shut Down, Volume 2
9. Surfer Girl
10. The Beach Boys' Christmas Album
11. Surfin' USA
12. Surfin' Safari
13. Little Deuce Coupe
14. Beach Boys' Party!

Let's see how it ends up.
_________________
Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus

[CA Dreamin]

Surfer Girl expanded the band's horizons. There's more variety on this album in tone and instrumental arrangement. However, song structures and lyrics still feel very simple. Every track falls between 1:40 and 2:30, and even some of the song titles are hard to distinguish from each other. It's still an enjoyable album, but they haven't achieved greatness yet by this point. Much like Safari and USA, Surfer Girl has 3 or 4 very good songs, the rest are mostly fun but nothing special (not Hawaii, though, that song is really annoying).

It's hard for me to rank their first three albums. They're all very close, and depend on mood/preference. Maybe Surfer Girl is the best by a smidge?

I guess Little Deuce Coupe is the next album we'll cover? It has four songs that we're on previous albums, but it was common back in those days for songs to appear on multiple albums.

[Repo]

D. Little Deuce Coupe(1963)
Aka Retreaded Tires


Little Deuce Coupe by The Beach Boys

When it comes to speed, man, I'm just outa luck
I'm even shut down by the ice cream truck – No-Go Showboat

THREE WEEKS! That's how long it took Little Deuce Coup to come out after their last LP, Surfer Girl. Nowadays, it’s three years. If we’re lucky. Jeez. No one wonder poor Brian had a nervous breakdown (or whatever it was) four years later during the Smile sessions. An emotionally abusive Dad/Manager (Isn't there a slang term for that? ) AND an overbearing record company. Poor Brian couldn't win! He wrote hit after hit. And it was never enough. "More! More! More!" they pleaded. In the end, he even had to fire his Dad, but not before his Dad forced out Lost Beach Boy and local kid across the street turned guitar hero, David Marks.

So, Little Deuce Coup shouldn’t work, right? I mean I don’t even like cars all that much. BUT, damn, I have to admit that Brian does crank out another fresh batch of originals with "Ballad of Ol' Betsy", "Be True to Your School," "Car Crazy Cutie" and more.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

The Ranking: This one’s tough to rate. One third of its tracks are recycled so it’s partially a compilation. And none of the new tracks are as good as three of these retreads. Not a one. BUT, all four of the new tracks on Side A side are really good (including Gwyneth Paltrow’s theme song! – “Cherry, Cherry Goop”). And if you were a kid back in 1963, and this was the first album you ever bought, it would definitely be outta site. Until… until.. your friends’ started teasing you a bit that you were listening to "the oldies". Because this is NOT a rock album. The guitars are pretty much gone now that their guitarist David Marks has been pushed out of the band by their Dadager. The Beach Boys had become, and this was already apparent on Surfer Girl, a "Surf Vocals" band <had to look this term up on RYM. > And compared with what was coming out across the pond, they sounded a bit square in the second half of 1963. They'd become a bit of an oldies band with super sonic production. BUT, luckily I like quaint and fun oldies like "Car Crazy Cutie" and "Spirit of America."

My biggest knock on the album is "A Young Man Is Gone." I cannot even listen to it. It just feels opportunistic and borderline cringe. I’m sure their intentions were not crass, but it just doesn’t jibe with me.

Anyways, a bunch of retreads and a noticeably inferior Side B make this my least favorite Beach Boy album thus far by quite a large margin.

Also of note, I re-ranked Surfin' Safari ahead of Surfer Girl. As Albummaster mentions, Surfin' Safari just works better as an album. Plus, I really like it's proto-punk vibe and feel.


The Rating: Side A: (detracting a full star because 2 of the tracks are recycled)
Side B: (weaker originals c/w Side A; I pretty much hate "A Young Man Is Gone")
In Totality: 1/2

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Surfin' USA (1963)
2. Surfin’ Safari (1962)
3. Surfer Girl (1963)
4. Little Deuce Coup (1963) 1/2

[dihansse]

[Repo]