When I say “I want to listen to ‘Surf’s Up’”, what I really mean is “I want to listen to side b of ‘Surf’s Up’”. Great review by the way, it made washing the dishes much more enjoyable :)
Again, for what it’s worth, GREAT videos dude!! Absolutely wonderful in the analytical and educational aspect. Just discovered these vids the other day , haven’t stopped watching/listening since! Thank you
I kinda love this album, warts and all. It was only a couple of months ago that I listened to it for the first time and it hooked me right in. I love the dark melancholy atmosphere that it has. It's unexpected but it retains that Beach Boy feeling and sounds wonderful. With some changes to the tracklist, this album would've been a masterpiece and would probably jump from being my 5th favourite Beach Boys album (behind Sunflower, Pet Sounds, Smile and Holland) to being my 1st or 2nd favourite one. My alternate tracklist for Surf's Up is pretty similar to yours, only I've added Sound Of Free as the 2nd song for side two to make the album an even 12 tracks long and 4th Of July is the moved to be the 5th song on side one leading into Surf's Up.
FINALLY! Some love for Day in the Life of a Tree! I think you're the first reviewer I've seen/heard/read that doesn't think this is kind of a regrettable outlier on the album. I was blown away by it from the first time I heard it. So poignant, and both lovely and refulgent at the same time. I do think it's literally about an almost animistic view of nonhuman beings *as well* as a metaphor for human sorrow (in keeping with the album's ecological aspect). So glad to see this album in your top 5. It's in my top 5 too and I'm still struggling whether to put it above or below Sunflower. They're such an awesome bright/dark pairing. Great series. Thanks!
It’s absolutely one of the best beach boys songs they ever made. Van Dyke Parks cameo, beautiful harmony coda, pretty much the only tolerable song with the mixing.
Surf’s up is one of the few songs that just leave me in awe and are so special to me, alongside Visions of Johanna, Desolation Row and most of Revolver. It’s the second non pet sounds beach boys song I listened to and the first time listening it felt surreal, I was in disbelief that this song existed and that feeling never really fully went away. I can’t wait for you to talk about it in length on the Smile review, I could listen to a whole video or podcast about the song. Keep it up!
The Feel Flows boxset helped me fully realize how truly awesome this album is. Even the alternate, scrapped versions of the songs and the backing tracks/instrumentals/backing vocals are masterful. Yes, there is some corny, out-of-place stuff occasionally and the track list isn't perfect but this is a great, deep listen and worthy of a high ranking. Also, you're 17? I teach kids your age. I hung this album cover up in my classroom once and several kids asked; "Is this the one with Surfin' USA on it? It does have 'surf' in the title." I should have said yes just to troll them LOL Great review as always!
Totally agree, I have to hit the skip button when Student Demonstration Time comes up. Til I Die never fails to amaze me. So simple yet so beautiful, and Surfs Up so complex as to defy an form of simple explanation. So happy to see a 17 year old so linked to The Beach Boys. I have to disagree about Til I Die being about suicide. I feel that it is a simple observation in regard to death being inevitable and more importantly unpredictable. Thanks for all your hard work ...
Seriously this album’s B-side is probably the greatest B-side to an album. Feel flows, Lookin’ at tomorrow, A day in the life of a tree, ‘Til I die and Surf’s Up. Seriously the only album with that good of a B side is Abbey Road and pet sounds!
All this album needed were a few different tracklist decisions and it would've been a complete masterpiece. It's a shame the guys had to compromise so much during this time due to egos and disagreements, but eh what can you do. My alternate tracklisting is really similar: replace Take a Load Off Your Feet with 4th of July, and replace Student Demonstration with Live Again. It's the saddest album ever but it really sticks with you. Til I Die is my favorite Beach Boys song because it helped me during a hard time as well. I was in a rough patch with my mental health back in Dec 2020, and this song felt almost cathartic with how it so eloquently displayed the mindset of isolation and depression. It actually made me feel a lot better because it made me realize how not alone I was in feeling this way. For as relatable and bittersweet as Pet Sounds is in its lyrics, I don't think Brian ever got as *real* as he did with this song.
@@sheatiller2465 No, it's too happy and innocent for such a serious album (or maybe I'm just unnecessarily depressive 😁). It's a lovely song though, I think if Student Demonstration Time was released as a novelty single and not on the album, this could've been the B side, or maybe another single itself.
Honestly? Take A Load Off Your Feet is one of my favorites from this album lol. Thematically it doesn't really work with the rest but it sounds as bubbly, sunken and long lost as the rest of the songs. It's a bit of a breather from the depressing stuff while sounding similar. Agree with the rest tho
I've made it to the end of your currently published videos on your ranking of the BB albums. Well done! Cool shirt btw. Please please finish off your rankings. I'm rambling, I'm drunk lol.
I love this album 9 songs out of 10 for me least favorite song is student demonstration time keep up the good work I love your reviews the Beach Boys are my favorite band
Back in the garage!! This album is an absolute banger. Opening with don't go near the water and long promised road. Then ending with till I die and surf's up. Any one of these tracks are out and out brilliant. And they shake me every time. This album is top 2 or 3 for me. Unlike a lot of people I don't count SMiLE as part of canon. Otherwise it would probably be number 4. But I love your ranking and can't wait to see how the last 4 come out.
Great review! I really agree with a lot of what you say, and you have a lot of good points, from the sound effects to the other track listing possibilities. As a counterpoint about the opener, I've never loved the lyrics of Don't Go Near the Water, although I entirely agree with taking care of the environment. It seems to say that all of this pollution being caused by a few big corporations is actually everyone's individual responsibility, when in reality I don't think we can't do *that* much as individuals. The alternate version on the Feel Flows Box Set with the dark lyrics Al sings in a lower, bluesy voice is cool to me. I really like the bridge harmonies on Disney Girls. The high part Bruce sings on "church, bingo chances, and old time dances" sounds just like a line Brian would've sung. I think maybe it's an example of what Bruce was referencing when he talked about the band adding Brian Wilson-esque harmonies to songs that Brian didn't actually arrange or sing on. I totally agree about Student Demonstration Time as well. It has little to no dynamics in it, and to me it seems that the lyrics downplay war and racism, putting both sides of these protests on a morally level playing field. That said, there's an interesting live performance of Riot in Cell Block #9 from Syracuse in 1971, where Mike sings a couple of rapid-fire verses he'd written for Student Demonstration Time in a higher octave, and then drops into his more comfortable range to sing Cell Block #9. Landlocked was, I think, an early potential title for what became Surf's Up, but not an actual finished album. I think a lot of the confusion around it comes from the fact that a bootleg called Landlocked was released as if it was a separate, unreleased album, as opposed to a collection of various outtakes.
Just reached where you talk about Surf's Up (the title track). We have the same favorite song! I do prefer Brian's lead to Carl's, too. I see the song as a prophecy of things to come--perhaps things we've been living through (or heading towards) with greater intensity every four years (and lately, every year).
I’ve been a big fan of the Beach Boys for a couple years now but for whatever reason I never really got into Surf’s Up as an album until a few weeks ago. I think it’s great, but I feel like its reputation as being really dark is kind of overstated. Don’t Go Near the Water and Long Promised Road definitely have a different sound from their previous work, maybe a little darker, but I think side A is still pretty upbeat and cheerful overall. imo it’s really only side B that has the dark sound and themes that the album is known for. Great review though, I’m looking forward to the last 4!
Just listened to this album a few days ago for the first time, probably my second favorite. If Sunflower got rid of some of its (imo) clunkers like It's About Time, it'd surpass this one. Excluding SDT and Take A Load Off Your Feet, this record is incredibly cohesive. All it needed was [Wouldn't It Be Nice To] Live Again.
i dont think 'til i die' is exactly about suicide. it might have been written in a suicidal mindset but i think its more life affirming than anything else. just one of those "speck in the universe" sentiments disney girls has great wah wah guitar and there's this one part where it breaks down and some really high quality recorded handclaps or snaps happen i was listening on headphones and looking all around for a while! in my humble opinion most of the best smile material got released on the albums between smiley smile and this one i guess (i forget if any fragments came out after this album). I prefer the 1993 good vibrations box set mixes of the then unreleased smile material to what ive heard from the box set personally.
First thoughts upon seeing the title and getting 3 minutes in (mainly responding to the rankings and thinking about my own): For many years, I preferred Sunflower to Surf's Up. Probably more than 10 years from the start of my Beach Boys fandom. Then, my friend (who is much more a Beatles fan than Beach Boys, though he does love 1966-1971 Beach Boys) shared with me about how Surf's Up has made some "Top 100 Albums Ever" lists. I listened more closely, and it started to surpass Sunflower for me. My top 2 are always SMiLE and Pet Sounds, with Pet Sounds gaining on SMiLE over the years but never QUITE surpassing it (it's a very close race that takes a lot of thought for me each time I rank them). Then, spots 3 and 4 are Surf's Up and Sunflower, again with a lot of back-and-forth within me. Surf's Up has higher highs (and a single lower low) so to speak, whereas Sunflower has a steadier, more cohesive (and happier) quality throughout. Sunflower is easier to imagine listening to in the car with my future children some day. Surf's Up has my favorite song ever written, the title track. But if I could only choose 4 to listen to ever again, I would only pick one album between Sunflower and Surf's Up, and then figure out my favorite pre-Pet Sounds album, which I thought was Shut Down Vol. 2 but one of your earlier reviews has me considering Surfer Girl instead.
@@purevycara Thanks. I'm enjoying your reviews a lot, and the fact that you are 17 gives me hope that good art is not completely being lost. I was 18/19 when my Beach Boys deep dive began, and other than one musician/engineer friend of mine, I was definitely the only person I knew, who knew the discography--or even anything after the early hits.
@@kjuergens1985 Yeah irl I don't know a single soul who's into the beach boys but they do seem to have a rather young following online. On reddit both the actual and the circle jerk sub are super active for such an old band. And with the whole vinyl revival and such there might be a good chance that the beach boys will gain a lot of extra fans too. Future looks good, I'd say
Hi, I'm listening to Feel Flows sessions box set just now, surf's up and Sunflower are so good, they are definitely in my top 5, it doesn't matter which position they are, they can swap position
If Dennis wouldn't have self sabotaged and actually allowed some of his songs to be on the record it probably would've been a masterpiece. Imagine Student Demonstration Time being replaced by Fourth of July...
I thought the group rejected 4th of July, or maybe both. Also, from what Jack Rieley has said, it sounds like this track listing was a result of group politics. Like, obviously Brian's songs were going on it (and Surf's Up had to close it because Carl thought it should), Al quite possibly insisted on Take a Load Off Your Feet making the cut, Mike probably felt he Student Demonstration Time to have a song on it.
@@sheatiller2465 Oh yeah I'm no real expert on the making of Surf's Up so group politics and stuff like that surely could've been there. But as far as I know Dennis himself really started pulling a lot of his songs, too. But since Mike's song was just a cover while Dennis had an actual original song that contributed to the sound the album seemed to be building up to, I'd say there could've been a good chance that he could've talked the rest of the band into replacing Mike's song with his, if he really wanted to. But since Carl already put out two songs, there might've been a Wilsons vs the rest mentality for the remaining spots. So it was probably both haha
@@sheatiller2465 Yeah definitely. I believe that at one point Bruce even put up a sign saying 'No Wilsons allowed' on the door of the studio room when he was recording Disney Girls lol
This is a very good album, not one of my all time favourites as I feel it's inconsistent and all the songs didn't come from the most organic place but on the whole this is a good album.
The original Big Sur is in 4/4, whereas the Holland version is in 6/8. I already liked the Holland version, and it had influenced a song I never ended up using on the Kennedy album. But when I heard the original from Feel Flows, it hit so good, man. It's got a warmer, cozier vibe. And the last verse makes it personal ("From time to time, I must go away; the thoughts of Big Sur won't let me stay away..."). Dare I say it's got more Sunflower than Surf's Up vibes. I did a cover last summer, and to my surprise it became my most-viewed video ever, beating out proper music videos, official audio tracks of my songs, other cover songs I've done, etc.: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vUFTu1EXSLE.html
