Surf's Up
Encyclopedia
Surf's Up is the seventeenth studio album
by The Beach Boys
, released in 1971. The album was released that August to more public anticipation than the Beach Boys had had for several years. It outperformed Sunflower commercially, reaching #29 in the US (their first Top 40 album since Wild Honey
) and #15 in the UK. Like Sunflower, Surf's Up was released on EMI
's Stateside
label internationally.
The album title is taken from the song with the same title
written by Brian Wilson
and Van Dyke Parks
for the abandoned 1966–1967 Beach Boys Smile sessions. The song was reworked and used as part of the 2004 Brian Wilson album Smile
.
album, the Beach Boys hired Jack Rieley
as their manager. Rieley, a DJ, had impressed the band with his falsified credentials (a supposed Peabody Award-winning stint as NBC
bureau chief in Puerto Rico
) and ideas on how to regain respect from American music fans and critics. His first initiative was to have the Beach Boys record songs with more socially aware lyrics. Rieley also insisted that the band officially appoint Carl Wilson
"musical director" in recognition of the integral role he had played keeping the group together since 1967. Most importantly, he demanded the completion of "Surf's Up
" for release by composer and erstwhile bandleader Brian Wilson
, a song that had taken on mythical proportions in the underground press since the demise of Smile three years earlier. He also organized a guest appearance at a Grateful Dead
concert in April 1971, further enhancing the Beach Boys' once-lacking hip credentials.
According to Rieley in 1996 posts to the "Smiley Smile" message board, the band had split into two camps: the artistically inclined, drug using, bashful Wilson brothers and the commercially-oriented, teetotalling triumvirate of Mike Love
, Al Jardine
, and Bruce Johnston
. In his opinion, if the group were to return to their mid-60s heights, the former group would have to fully assert itself. To this end, Rieley all but ordered Al Jardine to stop work on "Loop de Loop", an intentionally juvenile and childlike collaboration with Brian Wilson that Jardine thought would revive the band's commercial prospects.
Haunted by memories of the Smile era, Brian Wilson initially refused to work on "Surf's Up", now the eponymous track of the band's new album. Nevertheless, an undaunted Carl Wilson overdubbed a new vocal in the song's first part, a backing track dating from 1966. The second movement was composed of a 1966 solo piano demo recorded by Brian Wilson augmented with vocal and Moog
bass overdubs.
To the surprise and glee of his associates, Brian Wilson emerged near the end of the sessions to aid his brother and engineer Stephen Desper in the completion of the third movement, which combined the end of the 1966 demo with the "Child Is Father Of The Man" vocal tag and a final lyrical couplet possibly written by Rieley. The newly recorded lead vocals - sung by Al Jardine over a choral backdrop featuring all the Beach Boys - were sped up by Desper for continuity purposes in an attempt to make them sound more like they did in 1966.
The album also included "'Til I Die" a song Brian had been working on for well over a year. Though Mike Love was reported at the time to dislike it (his first response was: "What a downer!"), he has praised and performed the song in recent years. Brian Wilson spent weeks arranging the song, crafting a harmony-driven, vibraphone and organ-laden background that closely resembled the halcyon-era sonic tapestries of Pet Sounds.
"Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" were Carl Wilson's first significant solo compositions; both songs were almost entirely recorded by him. "Student Demonstration Time" (essentially the R&B classic "Riot In Cell Block #9
") and "Don't Go Near the Water" found Love and Jardine eagerly embracing the group's new topical-oriented direction. "A Day in the Life of a Tree" was Brian Wilson's sole new contribution. Although it is often dismissed by fans as a throwaway effort, several attempts at recording the song were made before the pump organ-led arrangement was nailed. The slightly off-key lead vocal from Rieley and equally jarring background vocals from Van Dyke Parks
could be interpreted as perfectly befitting the song's weary tone or a joke on the part of the composer. According to Al Jardine
, Rieley sang the song because "no one [else] would sing it because it was too depressing." Bruce Johnston's "Disney Girls (1957)" was hailed as a masterpiece by Brian Wilson and has been covered by Art Garfunkel
and Cass Elliot
.
The Dennis Wilson songs "4th of July", "Fallin' In Love" (also known as Lady
), and "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again" were excised from the final running order shortly before release. Although "4th of July"'s elagaic tone and lyrical relevance made it a logical thematic choice, Rieley has claimed that it was met with a reception of "glaring envy" by Wilson's bandmates. The song was duly replaced with Jardine's "Take A Load Off Your Feet", a novelty in the vein of "Loop De Loop". In the case of "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again", a disagreement between the middle and younger Wilson brothers resulted in the song being left off the album. Dennis wanted the song to be the final track on the album, segueing out of "'Til I Die", while Carl felt "Surf's Up" should have that place. As a consequence, Dennis took the song out of the album's final running order. "Fallin' In Love" was released in late 1970 as the B-side of a solo single. Wilson (in collaboration with Beach Boys touring keyboardist Daryl Dragon
) had been stockpiling songs for a potential solo album throughout the era and left the band on a provisional basis for a brief time in early 1971. Dennis's work during this period ultimately produced two songs for the next album, the solo single, "Lady," and the solo album itself finally came out in 1977 as Pacific Ocean Blue
.
This LP was mixed for Quadraphonic reproduction (also compatible for Stereo). It was to be played back by using the long extinct Dynaco or EV Stereo-4 decoders. However, this recording (LP or CD) can be played back in Quad by most of today's audio-video receivers. The surround sound information can be extracted using the Dolby Pro Logic setting. The Carl and the Passions LP and some of the songs on the Sunflower LP were also mixed with this process.
) and #15 in the UK. Like Sunflower, Surf's Up was released on EMI
's Stateside
label internationally.
The album was ranked #61 on Pitchfork Media's The Top 100 Albums Of The 1970's list.
Surf's Up is now paired on CD with Sunflower
.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, released in 1971. The album was released that August to more public anticipation than the Beach Boys had had for several years. It outperformed Sunflower commercially, reaching #29 in the US (their first Top 40 album since Wild Honey
Wild Honey (album)
-Singles:* "Wild Honey" b/w "Wind Chimes" , 23 October 1967 US #31; UK #29* "Darlin'" b/w "Here Today" , 18 December 1967 US #19; UK #11....
) and #15 in the UK. Like Sunflower, Surf's Up was released on EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
's Stateside
Stateside Records
Stateside Records is a British record label which initially released licenced American recordings and is now a reissue label....
label internationally.
The album title is taken from the song with the same title
Surf's Up (song)
"Surf's Up" is the title of a song written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. The song was intended as one of the centrepieces for the aborted Beach Boys' album Smile, which was begun in late 1966 but shelved in mid-1967. It was reworked and used as the title track for the twenty-second official...
written by Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
and Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
for the abandoned 1966–1967 Beach Boys Smile sessions. The song was reworked and used as part of the 2004 Brian Wilson album Smile
Smile (Brian Wilson album)
Smile, sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE, or referred to as Brian Wilson Presents Smile is a solo album by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks released on September 28, 2004 on CD and two-disc vinyl LP...
.
Production
In the fall of 1970, after the commercial failure of the SunflowerSunflower (album)
Sunflower is the sixteenth studio album by American rock group The Beach Boys, their first on Reprise Records. The album achieved number 151 on the US albums chart during a four week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the...
album, the Beach Boys hired Jack Rieley
Jack Rieley
Jack Rieley is an American record producer. He was the manager of the pop music group the Beach Boys during the early 1970s, and is credited with guiding them back to acclaim. He would also sometimes a co-songwriter with the rest of the band, usually penning lyrics.He also worked with Kool and the...
as their manager. Rieley, a DJ, had impressed the band with his falsified credentials (a supposed Peabody Award-winning stint as NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
bureau chief in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
) and ideas on how to regain respect from American music fans and critics. His first initiative was to have the Beach Boys record songs with more socially aware lyrics. Rieley also insisted that the band officially appoint Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
"musical director" in recognition of the integral role he had played keeping the group together since 1967. Most importantly, he demanded the completion of "Surf's Up
Surf's Up (song)
"Surf's Up" is the title of a song written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. The song was intended as one of the centrepieces for the aborted Beach Boys' album Smile, which was begun in late 1966 but shelved in mid-1967. It was reworked and used as the title track for the twenty-second official...
" for release by composer and erstwhile bandleader Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
, a song that had taken on mythical proportions in the underground press since the demise of Smile three years earlier. He also organized a guest appearance at a Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
concert in April 1971, further enhancing the Beach Boys' once-lacking hip credentials.
According to Rieley in 1996 posts to the "Smiley Smile" message board, the band had split into two camps: the artistically inclined, drug using, bashful Wilson brothers and the commercially-oriented, teetotalling triumvirate of Mike Love
Mike Love
Michael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...
, Al Jardine
Al Jardine
Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...
, and Bruce Johnston
Bruce Johnston
Bruce Arthur Johnston is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band...
. In his opinion, if the group were to return to their mid-60s heights, the former group would have to fully assert itself. To this end, Rieley all but ordered Al Jardine to stop work on "Loop de Loop", an intentionally juvenile and childlike collaboration with Brian Wilson that Jardine thought would revive the band's commercial prospects.
Haunted by memories of the Smile era, Brian Wilson initially refused to work on "Surf's Up", now the eponymous track of the band's new album. Nevertheless, an undaunted Carl Wilson overdubbed a new vocal in the song's first part, a backing track dating from 1966. The second movement was composed of a 1966 solo piano demo recorded by Brian Wilson augmented with vocal and Moog
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
bass overdubs.
To the surprise and glee of his associates, Brian Wilson emerged near the end of the sessions to aid his brother and engineer Stephen Desper in the completion of the third movement, which combined the end of the 1966 demo with the "Child Is Father Of The Man" vocal tag and a final lyrical couplet possibly written by Rieley. The newly recorded lead vocals - sung by Al Jardine over a choral backdrop featuring all the Beach Boys - were sped up by Desper for continuity purposes in an attempt to make them sound more like they did in 1966.
The album also included "'Til I Die" a song Brian had been working on for well over a year. Though Mike Love was reported at the time to dislike it (his first response was: "What a downer!"), he has praised and performed the song in recent years. Brian Wilson spent weeks arranging the song, crafting a harmony-driven, vibraphone and organ-laden background that closely resembled the halcyon-era sonic tapestries of Pet Sounds.
"Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" were Carl Wilson's first significant solo compositions; both songs were almost entirely recorded by him. "Student Demonstration Time" (essentially the R&B classic "Riot In Cell Block #9
Riot In Cell Block Nine
"Riot In Cell Block #9" is a classic and pervasive R&B song composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.In this song, a man is serving his sentence in federal prison for armed robbery. At 4:00 AM on July 2, 1953, he wakes up to a rather alarming disturbance: a jail riot! It started in cell block #4...
") and "Don't Go Near the Water" found Love and Jardine eagerly embracing the group's new topical-oriented direction. "A Day in the Life of a Tree" was Brian Wilson's sole new contribution. Although it is often dismissed by fans as a throwaway effort, several attempts at recording the song were made before the pump organ-led arrangement was nailed. The slightly off-key lead vocal from Rieley and equally jarring background vocals from Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
could be interpreted as perfectly befitting the song's weary tone or a joke on the part of the composer. According to Al Jardine
Al Jardine
Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...
, Rieley sang the song because "no one [else] would sing it because it was too depressing." Bruce Johnston's "Disney Girls (1957)" was hailed as a masterpiece by Brian Wilson and has been covered by Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
and Cass Elliot
Cass Elliot
Cass Elliot , born Ellen Naomi Cohen and also known as Mama Cass, was an American singer and member of The Mamas & the Papas. After the group broke up, she released five solo albums. Elliot was found dead in her room in London, England, from an apparent heart attack after two weeks of sold-out...
.
The Dennis Wilson songs "4th of July", "Fallin' In Love" (also known as Lady
Lady (Dennis Wilson song)
"Lady" is a song written by Dennis Wilson that was released with Daryl Dragon as "Dennis Wilson & Rumbo" in the United Kingdom on the 4th of December, 1970 on Stateside Records. The song served as the B-side of the "Sound of Free" single. However, the single was not issued in the United States. The...
), and "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again" were excised from the final running order shortly before release. Although "4th of July"'s elagaic tone and lyrical relevance made it a logical thematic choice, Rieley has claimed that it was met with a reception of "glaring envy" by Wilson's bandmates. The song was duly replaced with Jardine's "Take A Load Off Your Feet", a novelty in the vein of "Loop De Loop". In the case of "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again", a disagreement between the middle and younger Wilson brothers resulted in the song being left off the album. Dennis wanted the song to be the final track on the album, segueing out of "'Til I Die", while Carl felt "Surf's Up" should have that place. As a consequence, Dennis took the song out of the album's final running order. "Fallin' In Love" was released in late 1970 as the B-side of a solo single. Wilson (in collaboration with Beach Boys touring keyboardist Daryl Dragon
Daryl Dragon
Daryl Frank Dragon is a keyboardist, known as Captain in the successful 1970s pop musical duo Captain & Tennille, with his wife, Toni Tennille....
) had been stockpiling songs for a potential solo album throughout the era and left the band on a provisional basis for a brief time in early 1971. Dennis's work during this period ultimately produced two songs for the next album, the solo single, "Lady," and the solo album itself finally came out in 1977 as Pacific Ocean Blue
Pacific Ocean Blue
Pacific Ocean Blue is Dennis Wilson's only solo album, released in 1977. After several attempts, starting in 1970, to release his own project, some of which made it to the finished album, Wilson recorded the bulk of Pacific Ocean Blue in the months spanning the fall of 1976 to the following spring...
.
This LP was mixed for Quadraphonic reproduction (also compatible for Stereo). It was to be played back by using the long extinct Dynaco or EV Stereo-4 decoders. However, this recording (LP or CD) can be played back in Quad by most of today's audio-video receivers. The surround sound information can be extracted using the Dolby Pro Logic setting. The Carl and the Passions LP and some of the songs on the Sunflower LP were also mixed with this process.
Reception
Surf's Up was released that August to more public anticipation than the Beach Boys had had for several years. It outperformed Sunflower commercially, reaching #29 in the US (their first Top 40 album since Wild HoneyWild Honey (album)
-Singles:* "Wild Honey" b/w "Wind Chimes" , 23 October 1967 US #31; UK #29* "Darlin'" b/w "Here Today" , 18 December 1967 US #19; UK #11....
) and #15 in the UK. Like Sunflower, Surf's Up was released on EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
's Stateside
Stateside Records
Stateside Records is a British record label which initially released licenced American recordings and is now a reissue label....
label internationally.
The album was ranked #61 on Pitchfork Media's The Top 100 Albums Of The 1970's list.
Artwork
The cover art is a painting based on the iconic and popular sculpture End of The Trail by James Earle Fraser (1876 – 1953).Track listing
Singles
- "Long Promised Road" b/w "Deirdre" (from SunflowerSunflower (album)Sunflower is the sixteenth studio album by American rock group The Beach Boys, their first on Reprise Records. The album achieved number 151 on the US albums chart during a four week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the...
(Brother 1015), 24 May 1971 - "Long Promised Road" b/w "'Til I Die" (Brother 1047), 11 October 1971 US #89
- "Surf's Up" b/w "Don’t Go Near the Water" (Brother 1058), 8 November 1971
Surf's Up is now paired on CD with Sunflower
Sunflower (album)
Sunflower is the sixteenth studio album by American rock group The Beach Boys, their first on Reprise Records. The album achieved number 151 on the US albums chart during a four week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the...
.