SURF'S UP: A concept album??

[KokoMoses]

I'll probably get dumped over this, but think about it..... If you approach Surf's Up, sorta along the lines of Smile as it was a sort of outlaw/misfit history lesson on California, or something like that..... consider Surf's UP as something, well, not totally similar, but.....

Don't Go near The Water:

modern day California: the water is polluted. The beach is no longer the sunny, lovely place where guys like Dennis surfed and picked up chicks.

Long Promised Road:

the will to emerge out of depressing reality and to grasp at the wonderful via the esoteric and pure personal drive..... or something.

Take A Load Off Your Feet:

a silly interlude, yet perhaps related to going inward and focusing on the personal and one's own health after turmoil or abuse.... Kind of like Brian's health food obsession.

Disney Girls:

obviously, looking backward at the innocence of another time. A time  that someone said probably never really existed in the first place.

Student Demonstration Time:

being yanked from the Disney Girls dream to chaos and death, police, riots, Mike mixed up WAY too loud, screaming in your ear! What is the world coming to?

Feel Flows:

once again, we reach inward for strength after turmoil, and battles with forces we cannot control.

Lookin At Tommorow:

another slog through everyday work and toil, once again moving inward to gather strength, but this time from one's own accomplishments and the will to never give up.

A Day In The Life Of A Tree:

once again we move toward to ecological and the threat of destruction we cannot ignore because it paralells so closely our own struggles.

Till I Die:

being almost broken and beaten by one's struggles and inner pain. depressing stuff, but somehow uplifting and affirming.

Surf's Up:

destruction and rebirth. the stuff all history, both human and natural is made of. Creation is one big circle.


Hmmmmmm,

maybe I'm being silly, but if you look at Surf's Up in this way, it really ends up being a PERFECT album.

[Mark H.]

Surf's Up is a good album.  Far from perfect IMO.  Ditch the Al tracks and SDT.  Add the tracks by Dennis and you'd have a very strong album.

Concept?  These guys were going all over the place....not much cohesion in the creativity department.

The concept was to get an album out that everyone could agree on.......a compromise for sure

[Smilin Ed H]

I'd add WIBNTLA and 4th of July AND Mike's Big Sur (and I wouldn't change Hollad one bit).  Might even introduce it with Over The Waves. I'm not sure I'd want to ditch any tracks, but if I had to, it would be SDT first and maybe, just maybe TALOYF or DGNTW, but it would be at a serious push.  Lookin' at Tmorrow stays where it is.

[KokoMoses]

Surf's Up is a good album.  Far from perfect IMO.  Ditch the Al tracks and SDT.  Add the tracks by Dennis and you'd have a very strong album.

Concept?  These guys were going all over the place....not much cohesion in the creativity department.

The concept was to get an album out that everyone could agree on.......a compromise for sure

You're absolutely correct on that.

But, you gotta admit, for an album thrown together as it was, it hangs together amazingly well, warts and all, if you really examine the sentiment to each song.

Also, isn't it the only BBs album with no love songs on it?

[Chris Brown]

Disney Girls is a love song, kinda.  But yes otherwise you're right erik, its odd for an album to be so lacking in love songs.