Surf's Up

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Surf's Up
Studio album by The Beach Boys
Released	30 August 1971
Recorded	January - June 1971, Except "Take a Load Off Your Feet: Late 1969, "Til I Die": begun in Mid-1970, "Surf's Up": music track recorded November 1966, Brian's piano/vocal December 1966. All the above were finished during 1971
Genre	Rock
Length	33:56
Label	Brother Records/Reprise
Producer(s)	The Beach Boys
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (B-) link
The Beach Boys chronology
Sunflower (1970)	Surf's Up (1971)	Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" (1972)

For the upcoming 2007 film, see Surf's Up (film).

Surf's Up is the twenty-second official album by The Beach Boys, released in 1971. The title track was originally recorded for the abandoned Smile album, recorded in late 1966.

Contents 1 History 2 Artwork 3 Track listing 3.1 Singles 4 Landlocked (Second Warner Brothers Album) 4.1 Sources 5 External links

[edit] History

In the fall of 1970, after the commercial failure of the Sunflower album, The Beach Boys hired Jack Rieley as their manager. Rieley was a Californian DJ who had impressed the band with his ideas on how to regain US respect from the music fans and critics. His first initiative was to have The Beach Boys record songs with more socially aware lyrics. Next, Rieley insisted that the band officially appoint Carl Wilson "musical director" in recognition for the integral role he had played keeping the group together since 1967. Finally, Rieley claims a key condition on his working with the band would be for Brian Wilson to finish Surf's Up for release. Rieley 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 brilliant, drug abusing, highly unmotivated Wilson brothers and the commercially motivated, 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 assert itself. To this end, Rieley all but ordered Al Jardine to stop work on "Loop de Loop", an intentionally juvenile collaboration with Brian Wilson that Jardine thought would revive the band's commercial prospects. (At the time, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson were recording tracks that were intentionally childlike.)

Rieley convinced the band to include a finished version of "Surf's Up", and it became the title track. The song had been performed by Brian Wilson on an American television special during the abandoned Smile sessions and was considered the centerpiece of the unfinished album; its inclusion would bolster the new album's threshold for success. Carl Wilson overdubbed a new vocal in the song's first part, a backing track dating from 1966. The second movement was comprised of a 1966 solo piano demo recorded by Brian Wilson augmented with vocal and Moog bass overdubs.

Haunted by memories of the Smile era and likely embarrassed by his new cocaine and tobacco-ravaged baritone, the elder Wilson brother initially refused to work on the song. He suddenly emerged from his bedroom near the end of the sessions to aid Carl Wilson 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 vocals were sped up by Desper for continuity purposes.

The album also included "'Till I Die". The brooding song was dismissed by Mike Love as being "too depressing" and was not considered for the group's 1969 and 1970 albums until the other Beach Boys reluctantly acquiesced, most likely at the insistence of Rieley. Wilson spent weeks arranging the song, crafting a harmony-driven, vibraphone and organ-laden background that closely resembled the sonic tapestries of his masterpiece Pet Sounds.

"Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" were Carl Wilson's first significant solo compositions; both songs were almost entirely recorded by him. According to co-writer Rieley, the jazzy "Feel Flows" was inspired by their mutual use of cocaine. "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 (at Wilson's request) and equally jarring background vocals from Van Dyke Parks could be interpreted as perfectly befitting the song's weary tone or as a joke on the part of the composer. Bruce Johnston's "Disney Girls (1957)" was hailed as a masterpiece by Brian Wilson and has been covered by Art Garfunkel and Mama Cass Elliot.

The Dennis Wilson song "4th of July" (and possibly "Fallin' In Love" (also known as Lady) and/or "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again") was left off the album in favor of Al Jardine's "Take a Load off Your Feet", a novelty in the vein of "Loop De Loop" extolling the virtues of feet dating from the Sunflower era. This decision was scorned by Rieley, who continually referred to the number in the aforementioned Internet posts as "the feet song"; "4th of July"'s elagaic tone and lyrical relevance made it the more logical choice. Nevertheless, considering Wilson's precarious position in the group (he was most frustrated with their "irrelevant" direction, frequently argued with Mike Love, and nearly left after a debilitating hand injury in the summer), the song's inclusion managed to preserve a semblance of group harmony. It should also be noted that Wilson was assembling an unfinished solo album (with Daryl Dragon) throughout the era.

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 Honey) and #15 in the UK. Like "Sunflower", the "Surf's Up" album was released on EMI's Stateside label internationally.

[edit] Artwork

The painting on the cover of this album is based on the sculpture 'The End of The Trail' by James Earle Fraser (1876 - 1953).

This lone figure on his weary horse is one of the most recognized symbols of the American West. Here, it almost certainly also symbolizes the last great effort by an immensely talented group struggling to deliver one last testament to their greatness. The title Surf's Up juxtaposed with what appears to be an exhausted and thirsty warrior adds an ironic quality to a title that only ten years before would have carried no hint of irony whatsoever.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Don't Go Near the Water" (Mike Love/Al Jardine) – 2:39
   • Features Mike Love and Al Jardine on lead vocals
2. "Long Promised Road" (Carl Wilson/Jack Rieley) – 3:30
   • Features Carl Wilson on lead vocals
3. "Take A Load Off Your Feet" (Al Jardine/Brian Wilson/Gary Winfrey) – 2:29
   • Features Al Jardine and Brian Wilson on lead vocals
4. "Disney Girls (1957)" (Bruce Johnston) – 4:07
   • Features Bruce Johnston on lead vocals
5. "Student Demonstration Time" (Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller/Mike Love) – 3:58
   • Features Mike Love on lead vocals
6. "Feel Flows" (Carl Wilson/Jack Rieley) – 4:44
   • Features Carl Wilson on lead vocals
7. "Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)" (Al Jardine/Gary Winfrey) – 1:55
   • Features Al Jardine on lead vocals
8. "A Day in the Life of a Tree" (Brian Wilson/Jack Rieley) – 3:07
   • Features Jack Rieley on lead vocal, with Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson on the tag
9. "'Til I Die" (Brian Wilson) – 2:41
   • Features Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson and Mike Love on lead vocals
10. "Surf's Up" (Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks) – 4:12
    • Features Carl Wilson on lead vocals on the first section (Recorded 1971) and Brian Wilson on the second section (Recorded 1966) and coda (Recorded 1971)

[edit] Singles

• "Long Promised Road" b/w "Deidre" (from Sunflower (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.

[edit] Landlocked (Second Warner Brothers Album)

Heavily bootlegged, it is commonly thought that the following songs were for an album entitled "Landlocked." It has since been discovered that the songs were apart of a compilation reel of songs considered for the "Surf's Up" album. Part of the reason this is not spectacularly likely are the presence of "Fallin' In Love," "Susie Cincinnati," "Take A Load Off Your Feet," "I Just Got My Pay," "Good Time," and "When Girls Get Together" which were intended for the rejected Add Some Music album, but discarded when the album was reworked into Sunflower. Also, Jardine seems to have not been happy with "Loop De Loop." The version of "'Til I Die" featured here appears on Endless Harmony Soundtrack and the liner notes say it was definitely not intended for release but the engineer's own personal pleasure.

Nonetheless, this tape somehow made it to Jack Rieley with orders to submit to Warner for opinion (by whom is uncertain; Desper disputes the existence of Landlocked as intended for release). He proposed that an appropriate title for a new Beach Boys album be called "Landlocked" before actually hearing it. He then decided that the album was completely inappropriate for the title (it is unknown who compiled it, and who ordered its submission, but what is clear is that no Wilson, engineer or Rieley approved the material). He then played the material he rejected to the executives for comments, perhaps without telling anyone (hence the album's myth).

1. "Loop De Loop"
2. "Susie Cincinnati"
3. "San Miguel"
4. "H. E. L. P. Is on the Way"
5. "Take A Load Off Your Feet"
6. "Carnival"
7. "I Just Got My Pay"
8. "Good Time"
9. "Big Sur"
10. "Fallin' In Love"
11. "When Girls Get Together"
12. "Lookin' at Tomorrow"
13. "'Til I Die"

[edit] Sources

• Sunflower/Surf's Up CD booklet notes, Timothy White, c.2000.
• "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience", Timothy White, c. 1994.
• "Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story", Brian Wilson and Todd Gold, c. 1991.
• "Top Pop Singles 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
• "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
• All Music Guide.com

[edit] External links

• Surf's Up lyrics

The Beach Boys
Brian Wilson | Carl Wilson | Dennis Wilson | Mike Love | Al Jardine | Bruce Johnston
Studio albums
Surfin' Safari (1962) | Surfin' USA (1963) | Surfer Girl (1963) | Little Deuce Coupe (1963) | Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) | All Summer Long (1964) | The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964) | The Beach Boys Today! (1965) | Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965) | Beach Boys' Party! (1965) | Pet Sounds (1966) | Smiley Smile (1967) | Wild Honey (1967) | Friends (1968) | 20/20 (1969) | Sunflower (1970) | Surf's Up (1971) | Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" (1972) | Holland (1973) | 15 Big Ones (1976) | Love You (1977) | M.I.U. Album (1978) | L.A. (Light Album) (1979) | Keepin' the Summer Alive (1980) | The Beach Boys (1985) | Still Cruisin' (1989) | Summer in Paradise (1992) | Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 (1996)
Live albums
Beach Boys Concert (1964) | Live in London (1970) | The Beach Boys in Concert (1973) | Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980 (2002)
Related articles
Song List | Lead Vocalists | Capitol Records | Brother Records | Sea of Tunes | Discography | Solo Discography