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!
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.
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 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
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 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
Before I listened to the album that it would tick all the boxes to not include it in my year chart: already the third album of the year so maybe a bit of hasty work especially because a number of tracks already appeared on other albums. But no: I'm quite taken with the harmonics on many of the tracks. Little Deuce Coupe remains the best track, I still don't like 409 but Shut Down remains a little gem and tracks like Ballad of Ol'Betsy, No-Go Showboat and the nearly a capella A Young Man Is Gone may be a bit too innocent but they do touch some strings. So I'll include it in my year chart but at the lowest rank: F* it that half of my year chart contains Beach Boys albums but I can do what I want because it's my birth year.
This is my ranking upto now:
1. Surfin' USA (1963)
2. Surfer Girl (1963)
3. Little Deuce Coupe (1963)
Before I listened to the album that it would tick all the boxes to not include it in my year chart: already the third album of the year so maybe a bit of hasty work especially because a number of tracks already appeared on other albums. But no: I'm quite taken with the harmonics on many of the tracks. Little Deuce Coupe remains the best track, I still don't like 409 but Shut Down remains a little gem and tracks like Ballad of Ol'Betsy, No-Go Showboat and the nearly a capella A Young Man Is Gone may be a bit too innocent but they do touch some strings. So I'll include it in my year chart but at the lowest rank: F* it that half of my year chart contains Beach Boys albums but I can do what I want because it's my birth year.
It starts up just fine. "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Don't Worry Baby" are two of Brian's strongest songs yet. Brian and his Beach Boys were doing for Pop (can we even call it Hyperpop? 🤔 ) what Alan Parsons and Pink Floyd would eventually do for Rock on Dark Side of The Moon. Ironically enough, you know what may be the greatest example of this? "Louie Louie!" Believe it! Everyone and their mother was covering this song back in 1964, but few stand out from the crowd like this Beach Boys's version.
All of this is NOT to say that this is a good album. It’s not. For me, it's The Beach Boys weakest batch of songs so far. Even the title of the album shows a lack of creative juice. Shut Down the sequel, indeed. If I was a record buying geek back in 1964, I’d be reluctant to invest any further hard-earned cash on this Beach Boy wave. (Luckily, I’d be proven very, very wrong in the not so distant future! 😎 )
The Ranking: You know you’re in trouble when some of your favorite tracks on an album are what most would justifiably consider filler – an instrumental surf jam (“Shut Down, Vol. 2”, a drum solo "Denny's Drums" and a cover of "Louie, Louie" (Their cover of "Louie Louie" is admittedly fab though as I highlight above). Brian’s new tracks such as “Parking Lot” now seem generic and uninspired. (although I do really like “This Car Is Mine”. Even Brian’s ballads, which I usually love, seem to missing something that made older tracks like "Lonely Sea" and "The Surfer Moon" so endearing. I can see myself spinning all four (even Little Deuce Coup) of their previous albums in the future. But sadly, I'm shutting down Shut Down, Vol. 2.
The Rating: 🤬🤬
Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Surfin' USA (1963) 😈😈😈😈
2. Surfin’ Safari (1962) 😈😈😈😈
3. Surfer Girl (1963) 😈😈😈😈
4. Little Deuce Coup (1963) 🤬🤬 1/2
5. Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964) 🤬🤬
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
For my rankings I decided to include some additional albums associated with The Beach Boys. Here are the extra ones I'll be listening to:
1967: Song Cycle - Van Dyke Parks [never an official member, but worked closely with Brian on songwriting]
1970: The Flame - The Flame [South African rock band that The Beach Boys signed to their record label, Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin would soon join The Beach Boys]
1972: Discover America - Van Dyke Parks
1972: Spring - Spring [girl group produced by Brian and featuring Marilyn Wilson]
1963-73: Pet Projects: The Brian Wilson Productions - Various Artists [compilation of Brian's productions for other artists]
1977: Pacific Ocean Blue - Dennis Wilson
1977-79: Bambu (The Caribou Sessions) - Dennis Wilson [like Smile, unfinished and shelved]
1988: Brian Wilson - Brian Wilson
2004: Smile - Brian Wilson
2008: That Lucky Old Sun - Brian Wilson
2010: A Postcard From California - Al Jardine
2010: Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin - Brian Wilson
2013: Songs Cycled - Van Dyke Parks
It starts up just fine. "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Don't Worry Baby" are two of Brian's strongest songs yet. Brian and his Beach Boys were doing for Pop (can we even call it Hyperpop? 🤔 ) what Alan Parsons and Pink Floyd would eventually do for Rock on Dark Side of The Moon. Ironically enough, you know what may be the greatest example of this? "Louie Louie!" Believe it! Everyone and their mother was covering this song back in 1964, but few stand out from the crowd like this Beach Boys's version.
All of this is NOT to say that this is a good album. It’s not. For me, it's The Beach Boys weakest batch of songs so far. Even the title of the album shows a lack of creative juice. Shut Down the sequel, indeed. If I was a record buying geek back in 1964, I’d be reluctant to invest any further hard-earned cash on this Beach Boy wave. (Luckily, I’d be proven very, very wrong in the not so distant future! 😎 )
The Ranking: You know you’re in trouble when some of your favorite tracks on an album are what most would justifiably consider filler – an instrumental surf jam (“Shut Down, Vol. 2”, a drum solo "Denny's Drums" and a cover of "Louie, Louie" (Their cover of "Louie Louie" is admittedly fab though as I highlight above). Brian’s new tracks such as “Parking Lot” now seem generic and uninspired. (although I do really like “This Car Is Mine”. Even Brian’s ballads, which I usually love, seem to missing something that made older tracks like "Lonely Sea" and "The Surfer Moon" so endearing. I can see myself spinning all four (even Little Deuce Coup) of their previous albums in the future. But sadly, I'm shutting down Shut Down, Vol. 2.
The Rating: 🤬🤬
Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Surfin' USA (1963) 😈😈😈😈
2. Surfin’ Safari (1962) 😈😈😈😈
3. Surfer Girl (1963) 😈😈😈😈
4. Little Deuce Coup (1963) 🤬🤬 1/2
5. Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964) 🤬🤬
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Although Fun, Fun, Fun is one of their best songs and The Warmth of the Sun is also good (and don't Worry Baby contains some good harmonics), I 'm not going to put this album in my year charts: the title track is just weak (why do you call your album after a second version of a song which doesn't even sound like the first version), the cover of Louie Louie is just lame (sorry repo) and most of the remaining part is just very weak and just filler. There's indeed not a lot of inspiration here.
Although Fun, Fun, Fun is one of their best songs and The Warmth of the Sun is also good (and don't Worry Baby contains some good harmonics), I 'm not going to put this album in my year charts: the title track is just weak (why do you call your album after a second version of a song which doesn't even sound like the first version), the cover of Louie Louie is just lame (sorry repo) and most of the remaining part is just very weak and just filler. There's indeed not a lot of inspiration here.
Ha! I think I may just be the ONLY person on the planet that likes that cover! 🤣
Not an album I was aware of until this thread alerted me to it. Having listen to it a couple of times, really not a fan. Although there are come good songs, fun, fun, fun and why do fools fall in love for example, There doesn’t feel like any flow or consistent thread running through the album. It seems to bounce around a lot.
My least favourite of the albums discussed so far.
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