Surfin' USA

[Charles LePage @ ComicList]

Discuss, review and rate Surfin' USA, released March 1963.

[I. Spaceman]

4, nearly perfect. Great tunes, ragin' instrumentals.

[the captain]

I'm less a fan of the earlier things. A few good songs, but not something I listen to.

[Jason]

One of the best albums of 1963 and one of the best American rock 'n roll albums. 4.

[Matinee Idyll]

Their best album to listen to at the beach house (yep, moreso than All Summer Long)...  My uncle (big Surf Instros fan) was staggered that the BB's could rock that much   "Lonely Sea" is Brians best ballad... perhaps ever.  Fantastic track sequencing.

4 stars.

[SurferGirl7]

Not a bad album. I like all the songs on it. I like Noble Surfer. Lana and The Lonely Sea are very nice. The instrumentals are also cool. Not bad for a second album.

4 stars

[Jason]

Dig SOT 2 for this album. Awesome stereo mixes. Oh yeah, but SOT 2 has Pink Champagne aka Side Two on it. Yuck.

[HighOnLife]

4 Big Stars!

 

[APPLEI]

FARMERS DAUGHTER is one of the most underrated songs of all-time,
but the whole album is a good listen!
i gave it 4 stars

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I'd give it 3.5 stars if there were that option.

[Shady]

Great album, just got it 2day with surfin safari,

Farmers daughter is amazing, and im lovin misirlou.

4 stars

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I love Misirlou, but it was a cover song, so I don't give them too much credit for it. Lonely Sea is one of the prettiest songs Brian wrote.

[mikeyj]

I gave it a 3. Surfin USA is a great song, as is Lonely Sea.  As for the covers they dont really do anything for me. Brians instrumental Stoked and Carls Surf Jam are decent efforts at writing a surf instrumental. I also like a lot of the other songs (eg: Shut Down, Finders Keepers, Farmers Daughter, Lana) even though some of them sound incomplete (mainly Finders Keepers).

[thomasogg]

A huge improvement over their twee debut, there's a few real classics on here (the title track, Lonely Sea, Farmer's Daughter (anyone heard Fleetwood Mac's cover version? Great stuff!) I'm also a big fan of 'Noble Surfer', insanely catchy and i love that musical interlude, and although their's a few too many, the instrumentals are mainly pretty good. A solid 3 out of 5.

[TimeToGetAlone]

Well it's considerably better than Surfin' Safari, but there was still a ways to go.  I'll just let my voting petty much sum up where I place compared to the albums I commented on here.

Surfin' USA - 4/5
Farmer's Daughter - 4/5
Misirlou - 3.5/5
Stoked - 2.5/5
Lonely Sea - 5/5
Shut Down - 3.5/5
Noble Surfer - 4/5
Honky Tonk - 2.5/5
Lana - 4/5
Surf Jam - 2.5/5
Let's Go Trippin' - 3/5
Finders Keepers - 4/5

This rounds to a 4 but I think a 3 is much more accurate, but I'll vote 4 anyways.  Lonely Sea comes out as the big song to me, though the numerous instrumentals don't do too much for me.

[lance]

An improvement over the debut. The originals are great, the instrumentals kick ass, although...there are a lot of them. 7/10

[Poprocks]

Better than Surfin' Safari.  But still a lot of filler.

Track picks:  Lonely Sea (+++), Farmer's Daughter (++), Surfin' USA (+)

[MBE]

One of the best albums of 1963 and one of the best American rock 'n roll albums. 4.

Exactly how I feel. It's rock and roll in a very pure form. It's so much better then the first one, and I put in in my top ten.

[LetHimRun]

A 4 for me. A little too many instrumentals for me, but the ones on there are pretty good.

I love Lonely Sea (amazing vocals), Shut Down (great drumming), and Surfin' USA (The Boys' vocals on top over a true Chuck Berry sound).

4/5 Surfin' USA
4/5 Farmer's Daughter
3/5 Misirlou
3.5/5 Stoked
5/5 Lonely Sea
5/5 Shut Down
3/5 Noble Surfer
3/5 Honky Tonk
4/5 Lana
3.5/5 Surf Jam
3/5 Let's Go Trippin
3/5 Finders Keepers

[Mahalo]

Also giving this a 3, but a bit higher 3 than Safari.

Again, this album is lots of fun. The instrumentals are cool but the blues progressions get a little old fast. Brian's voice on this record gleams. Farmer's Daughter is incredible.
This music is great, original, and totally underrated in the annals of time.


Afterthought...

The point is that while listening to the twofer I feel like I'm taking a summer vacation from reality. Once the music starts it's 85 degrees, sunny, the air is salty, the beach is right here, and I'm 19 years old all over again. Did I mention it's currently about 12 degrees in NY as I write this on the second day of winter? The timing couldn't have been better to buy this CD.

[rogerlancelot]

I gave it a 2. I listened to it just the other day. Not bad but I would say (being a musician myself) below par music-wise. I do like their cover of "Miserlou" for instance. And the album mostly rocks but if I had a choice between this one and any album released between 1965-1973 this one would lose.

[sockittome]

It's a fun album for sure.  Miles ahead of their debut.  I toggled between 3 and 4, but ultimately went with 3.  It's a solid album, but it is nearly impossible to not compare it with what was to come.

[Mike's Beard]

Everything the debut wasn't. Leaps and bounds ahead production wise compared to Safari. Dennis has learned to keep time. Much fuller sounding vocal harmonies  and Brian is now starting to falsetto all over the place - notice he sings virtually no high notes on the first LP. Perhaps one instrumental too many but they are all fun.  I'm a big fan of surf music and this is one of the best.  Definitely a four star effort!

[DefMode66]

Surfin' USA peaked at #2 on the charts and had a 78 week run on the charts. I like the raw sound the best. This album would sound great back in '63 if the Beach Boys were playing in a garage party!

 Side one
# Title Writer(s) Lead Vocals Length
1. "Surfin' USA"   Brian Wilson/Chuck Berry Mike Love 2:27
2. "Farmer's Daughter"   B. Wilson/Love B. Wilson 1:49
3. "Misirlou"   Roubanis/Wise/Leeds/Russell instrumental 2:03
4. "Stoked"   B. Wilson instrumental 1:59
5. "Lonely Sea"   B. Wilson/Gary Usher B. Wilson 2:21
6. "Shut Down"   B. Wilson/Roger Christian Love 1:49

Side two
# Title Writer(s) Lead Vocals Length
1. "Noble Surfer"   B. Wilson/Love Love 1:51
2. "Honky Tonk"   Doggett/Scott/Butler/Sheper/Glover instrumental 2:01
3. "Lana"   B. Wilson B. Wilson 1:39
4. "Surf Jam"   Carl Wilson instrumental 2:10
5. "Let's Go Trippin'"   Dick Dale instrumental 1:57
6. "Finders Keepers"   B. Wilson/Love Love 1:38

Very guitar driven sound with Carl Wilson lead and David Marks rhythm. It's a classic!

[Nicko]

Certainly an improvement on their debut album in terms of production and songwriting but doesn't really hang together as an album at all.

Side one has a couple of fine hits, the lovely Lonely Sea (credit to Gary Usher if he did write the majority of it) and Farmer's Daughter which is underrated by many.

Side two however, has 3 instrumentals and the underproduced Lana which really kill the album a little. The blend of Mike's bass vocal and the group harmonies on Finders Keepers is a good way to finish things though.

2 1/2 out of 5 for me.