Let's Discuss Bruce Johnston's Surfin' Round the World

Mr. Cohen

Smiley Smile Associate

Offline

Posts: 1746

Let's Discuss Bruce Johnston's Surfin' Round the World

« on: November 18, 2014, 12:34:02 PM »

This is some heavy, punky garage rock. It's brimming with fuzzy distortion. And wouldn't you know it, Bruce actually has a wonderful sense of humor on the album. Not only is "Jersey Channel Islands - Part 7" a hilarious name for a song, it's a downright vicious surf groove with wicked horns.

Where the hell did he come up with the idea for "Hot Pastrami, Mashed Potatoes, Come On To Rincon?" It's downright Ramones-like, with its repetitive "baby do it again" riff.

Bruce could play this stuff live now and front a cult band. In my hometown of Detroit, there's a band called The Amino Acids that packs shows with this exact same kind of music.

The hits keep coming.

"Makaha at Midnight" is wonderfully trippy and a nice slow dance song.

"Surfin's Here to Stay" and "Surfin' Round the World" are more Ramones style songs.

If you haven't heard the album, it's available on Spotify.


	Logged

Eric Aniversario

Smiley Smile Associate

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 1847

Keep the Summer Alive!

Re: Let's Discuss Bruce Johnston's Surfin' Round the World

« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2014, 10:06:04 PM »

I've always thought this to be an underrated album. The instrumentals are great, and the songs with vocals are great too. I've always thought that the title track would fit into a Mike & Bruce show pretty well, and would give Bruce a chance to shine with a non-ballad.


	Logged

kookadams

Smiley Smile Associate

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 656

Re: Let's Discuss Bruce Johnston's Surfin' Round the World

« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2014, 10:07:52 PM »

I love that album, very raw. Bruce_s preBBs output is way better than his 77 solo album, big time!


	Logged

Eric Aniversario

Smiley Smile Associate

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 1847

Keep the Summer Alive!

Re: Let's Discuss Bruce Johnston's Surfin' Round the World

« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2014, 10:15:18 PM »

Quote from: kookadams on November 18, 2014, 10:07:52 PM

I love that album, very raw. Bruce_s preBBs output is way better than his 77 solo album, big time!

100% agreed, my fellow San Diegan!


	Logged

Jason Penick

Smiley Smile Associate

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 580

Re: Let's Discuss Bruce Johnston's Surfin' Round the World

« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2014, 08:30:06 PM »

I agree with everyone else; I enjoy both this album as well as the Surfer's Pajama Party release quite a bit.

I've been playing with a surf rock review lately, and as a result I'm always looking for new (old) material we can cover. Bruce scored quite a few mentions on this very cool list:

http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-surf.html


	Logged

SUICIDE
It only makes things worse. You can't solve anything by killing yourself. I mean, things can only get better, but if you're dead, they may not. -- Brian Wilson

Micha

Smiley Smile Associate

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 3133