Surf's Up (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Distinguish Template:Use mdy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: Template:Start date | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Sunflower1970Carl and the Passions – "So Tough"1972studioSurf's UpSurfsUpCover.jpgthe Beach BoysTemplate:Start dateNovember 1966 – July 1971Template:Hlist*Progressive popTemplate:Sfn

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:DurationBrother/Reprise/Warner Bros.The Beach BoysThe Beach Boysx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

Surf's Up is the 17th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on August 30, 1971, on Brother/Reprise/Warner Bros. It received largely favorable reviews and reached number 29 on the U.S. record charts, becoming their highest-charting LP of new music in the U.S. since 1967. In the UK, Surf's Up peaked at number 15, continuing a string of top-40 records that began in 1965.

The album's title and cover artwork (a painting based on the early 20th-century sculpture "End of the Trail") are a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware nod to the band's early surfing image. Originally titled Landlocked, the album took its name from the closing track "Surf's Up", a song originally intended for the group's unfinished album Smile. Most of Surf's Up was recorded from January to July 1971. In contrast to the previous LP Sunflower, Brian Wilson was not especially active in the production, which resulted in thinner vocal arrangements.

Lyrically, Surf's Up addresses environmental, social, and health concerns more than the group's previous releases. This was at the behest of newly recruited co-manager Jack Rieley, who strove to revamp the group's image and restore their public reputation following the dismal reception to their recent albums and tours. His initiatives included a promotional campaign with the tagline "it's now safe to listen to the Beach Boys" and the appointment of Carl Wilson as the band's official leader. The record also included Carl's first major song contributions: "Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows".

Two singles were issued in the U.S.: "Long Promised Road" and "Surf's Up". Only the former charted, when it was reissued with the B-side "[['Til I Die|Template:-'Til I Die]]" later in the year, peaking at number 89. In 1993, Surf's Up was ranked number 46 in NMETemplate:'s list of the "Top 100 Albums" in history. In 2000, it ranked number 230 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. Session highlights, outtakes, and alternate mixes from the album were collected for the 2021 compilation Feel Flows.

Background

The Beach Boys in 1971. Left to right, starting from back row: Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson, Bruce Johnston.

On the evening of July 29, 1970, Brian Wilson, accompanied by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, granted his first-ever full-length radio interview to KPFK DJ John Frank, also known as Jack Rieley.Template:Sfn In the interview, Wilson mentioned that although he is "proud of the group and the name", he felt that "the clean American thing has hurt us. And we're really not getting any kind of airplay today."Template:Sfn Among other topics, Wilson stated that the group was not "putting enough spunk in our production and I don't know who to blame. ... Another thing is that we haven't done enough to change our image, though. ... we sort of operate a democracy thing in our productions. Maybe that's the problem. I don't know."Template:Sfn The subject eventually turned to "Surf's Up", an unreleased song from the band's unfinished album Smile. Brian said he did not want to release the song because it was "too long".Template:Sfn

Template:Quote box

On August 8, Rieley sent the band a six-page memo that explained how to stimulate "increased record sales and popularity".<ref name=White2000 /> At the end of August, the group's latest record Sunflower was released as their first album on Reprise Records. It became the worst-selling album in the group's history.Template:Sfn Band promoter and co-manager Fred Vail remembered one meeting with the band in which "we were talking about ... Sunflower not charting, and they were wondering why. I said to them, 'Listen, this is a phase right now. If you stay the course, your real audience won't forget you. They won't desert you.' But the Beach Boys really didn't believe in themselves."Template:Sfn Vail was soon replaced by Rieley, primarily at the instigation of Love and Johnston.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

Some of Rieley's earliest initiatives were to end the group's practice of wearing matching stage uniforms and to appoint Carl Wilson as the band's official leader.Template:Sfn The group spent the majority of September and October rehearsing for upcoming concerts.Template:Sfn On October 3, at the invitation of Van Dyke Parks, the band performed two sets at the eighth annual Big Sur Folk Festival in California to an audience of 6,000. According to music historian Keith Badman, the performances "help[ed] to establish the group's image in the eyes of the rock hierarchy, and they were subsequently 'rediscovered' as an important live act."Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Biographer David Leaf wrote that the concert inspired what was effectively an apologetic review from Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner, who previously criticized the band for pulling out of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.Template:Sfn A rumor circulated among news outlets that Brian was then writing music with Parks for an upcoming Beach Boys television special, H-2-0.Template:Sfn

In early November, Brian temporarily rejoined the touring band to play four dates at the Whisky a Go Go.Template:Sfn The group had not played a concert in Los Angeles since 1966, while Brian had not performed with the touring group since early 1970, when he briefly filled in for Love.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn. Guitarist Ed Carter and keyboardist Daryl Dragon accompanied the band on this tour, along with supporting act the Flame.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Reports from this period suggested that the group was planning to move from Los Angeles to Britain once their recording commitments were finished.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn From January to early April 1971, they worked intermittently on their second album for Reprise.Template:Sfn

Production and style

The artwork of Surf's Up is based on the sculpture "End of the Trail" by James Earle Fraser.

Surf's Up was recorded between January and July 1971, excluding a few tracks.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn After the release of Sunflower, band engineer Stephen Desper assembled a collection of songs consisting mostly of outtakes deemed suitable for a follow-up LP, which he labelled "Second Brother Album".Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Rieley later called these selections "forgettable" and said that he was "totally perplexed ... I met with [Warner executive] Mo Ostin, a true Brian Wilson fan, at Warner Bros., who listened to the songs, and he declared: 'No way.'"Template:Sfn

Rieley encouraged them to write songs with more socially conscious and topical lyrics,Template:Sfn although he stated in a 2013 interview, "It was not part of a master plan. ... We never had any 'What are we gonna write about?' meeting. Never once did anything like that ever occur."<ref name="Rieley2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He assigned the project the brief working title of Landlocked to represent "a demarcation line, separating striped-shirted bullshit that had become irrelevant, an object of public scorn, from artistry, creativity and great new songs."Template:Sfn An album cover was designed with this title, featuring white sans-serif letters printed atop a photograph of a dark field.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

The Landlocked cover was ultimately discarded in favor of a different design. Rieley said that the final cover "was something that caught my eye at an antique record shop near Silver Lake. It was a painting and I bought it. It reminded me a bit of the Brother Records logo, but it was different."Template:Sfn Conversely, Desper recalled that a print of a painting of the End of the Trail, "use[d] to hang in Murry Wilson's office behind his desk, as Brian recalls from his childhood. Brian always like[d] the painting as it was part of Denny's, Carl's and his youth."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Surf's Up was the first album for which the group printed the lyrics of each song on the record sleeve.<ref name="Schmidt"/>

In 1974, Rieley stated that his growing involvement with the songwriting process attracted the ire of Love, Johnston, and Al Jardine, who "tried to force me to march into Mo Ostin's and sell him on their 1969 track 'Loop De Loop'". I refused and Brian, Dennis, and Carl backed me up."Template:Sfn Due to Brian's reduced involvement, the vocal arrangements were not as dense as those for Sunflower. Johnston recalled, "It was strange to be doing vocal arrangements to make it sound like the Beach Boys when we were the Beach Boys. That's a little weird to me."Template:Sfn

Songs

Template:Listen

"Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" were Carl's first significant solo compositions and were recorded almost entirely by himself.<ref name=White2000 /> "Student Demonstration Time" (a topical reworking of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's R&B classic "Riot in Cell Block Number 9") and the environmental anthem "Don't Go Near the Water" found Love and Jardine embracing the group's new socially conscious direction.<ref name=White2000 />

"[['Til I Die|Template:-'Til I Die]]" was a song Brian had been working on since mid-1970.Template:Sfn It was written while he was suffering from an existential crisis,Template:Sfn and he took weeks to refine the arrangement, using an electronic drum machine and crafting a harmony-driven, vibraphone and organ-laden background.Template:Sfn "A Day in the Life of a Tree", written by Brian and Rieley, is about a tree succumbing to the effects of environmental pollution; the accompaniment includes harmonium, an antique pump organ, and a smaller pipe organ.Template:Sfn

Johnston said that he wrote "Disney Girls (1957)" "because I saw so many kids in our audiences being wiped out on drugs," and wanted to capture the feeling of an era in which people were "a little naive but a little healthier."Template:Sfn Jardine also contributed "Take a Load Off Your Feet", a Sunflower outtake,<ref name="DOE7071"/> and "Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)", both co-written with longtime friend Gary Winfrey.Template:Sfn Biographer Timothy White wrote that the latter song was "a poignant mini-soliloquy from a jobless rounder, seems like a coda to 'Long Promised Road,' the pioneer busted in his starry-eyed ambitions but still 'looking at tomorrow' for fresh potential."<ref name="White2000">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Jardine said that it was "actually an old folk song" to which he "rewrote the lyrics to reflect the times".<ref name="Sharp01">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Rieley had asked Brian about including "Surf's Up" on Landlocked, and in early June, Brian suddenly approved Carl and Rieley to finish the song.Template:Sfn Carl overdubbed a new vocal in the song's first part, the original backing track dating from November 1966. The second movement consisted of a December 1966 solo piano demo recorded by Brian, augmented with vocal and Moog synthesizer overdubs.Template:Sfn Johnston recalled, "We ended up doing vocals to sort of emulate ourselves without Brian Wilson, which was kind of silly."Template:Sfn With the song completed, Landlocked was given the new title of Surf's Up.Template:Sfn

Leftover material

Dennis Wilson while filming Two-Lane Blacktop in 1970. His songs were left off Surf's Up to preserve harmony within the group.Template:Sfn

Dennis Wilson's songs "4th of July" and "(Wouldn't It Be Nice to) Live Again" were recorded in early 1971 but left off the record.Template:Sfn In a September 1971 interview, Dennis stated, "I have a belief in my music. And it sounds nothing like it should on the album – it should have a flow from one song to another ... It didn't sound like The Beach Boys. They thought it did. I said ‘Bullshit’ and pulled my songs off."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Rieley, the absence of any Dennis songs on Surf's Up was for two reasons: to quell political infighting within the group concerning the album's share of Wilson-brother songs, and because Dennis wanted to save his songs for a solo album, projected for release in 1971.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

In 1993, "4th of July" was included on the box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys.<ref name="allmusic30">{{#ifeq: yes | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/album/r189381{{ 

 #if: 
 | /{{{tab}}}
 }}

| {{#if: r189381 

 | {{#if: 
   | {{#if: |[[{{{author-link}}}|{{#if: |, {{{first}}} }}]]|{{#if: |, {{{first}}} }}}}. 
   }}[https://www.allmusic.com/album/r189381{{
   #if: 
   | /{{{tab}}}
   }} {{
   #if: 
   | {{{title}}}
   | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
   }}] at AllMusic{{
   #if: 
   | . Retrieved .
   }}

 | {{#if: {{#property:P1728}}
   | Template:First word {{#if:  | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata

   | {{#if: {{#property:P1729}}
     | Template:First word {{#if:  | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata

     | {{#if: {{#property:P1730}}
       | Template:First word {{#if:  | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata

       | {{#if: {{#property:P1994}}
         | Template:First word {{#if:  | {{{title}}} | Template:PAGENAMEBASE }} at AllMusicTemplate:EditAtWikidata

         | {{AllMusic}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.Template:Main other

         }}
       }}
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}</ref> "(Wouldn't It Be Nice to) Live Again" was written with Stanley Shapiro.<ref name="mic13"/> According to Beach Boys biographer Jon Stebbins, Dennis had wanted the song to close the record, following Template:" 'Til I Die", but Carl objected.Template:Sfn In 2013, it was released on the box set Made in California, along with a 1974 recording of "Barnyard Blues", a song that Dennis had composed during the Surf's Up sessions.<ref name="mic13">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dennis also recorded "Barbara", a piano demo named after his then-girlfriend, and a track called "Old Movie".Template:Sfn "Barbara" was released in 1998 for the Endless Harmony SoundtrackTemplate:Sfn while "Old Movie" would be released on the 2021 box set Feel Flows.<ref name="rsfeelflows">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Other outtakes include Brian's "My Solution" and "H.E.L.P. Is On the Way".Template:Sfn "H.E.L.P. Is On the Way" would later be reused for the unreleased 1977 album Adult/Child and saw release on the 1993 box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys.Template:Sfn<ref name="allmusic30"/> According to singer Terry Jacks, the group asked him to be their producer for a session. On July 31, 1970, they attempted a rendition of the Jacques Brel/Rod McKuen song "Seasons in the Sun", but the session went badly, and the track was never finished. Jacks later had a hit with his own version of the song in 1974.Template:Sfn Afterward, Mike Love told an interviewer: "We did record a version [of 'Seasons'] but it was so wimpy we had to throw it out. ... It was just the wrong song for us. I'm glad Terry had a hit with it."Template:Sfn Love's "Big Sur", recorded in August 1970, was later remade in a different time signature for the 1973 album Holland.Template:Sfn In March 1971, Carl recorded a Moog synthesizer sound collage titled "Telephone Backgrounds (On a Clear Day)".Template:Sfn "My Solution", "Seasons in the Sun", and the original version of "Big Sur" were released on the 2021 box set Feel Flows.<ref name="rsfeelflows"/>

Release

Rieley arranged for the group to appear in a series of commercials with the tagline "It's now safe to listen to the Beach Boys."Template:Sfn He also arranged a guest appearance at a Grateful Dead concert at Bill Graham's Fillmore East in April 1971 to foreground the band's transition into the counterculture.Template:Sfn For their performances this year, the Beach Boys enlisted a full horn section and additional percussionists.Template:Sfn A journalist who attended the show later reported that Bob Dylan, who was watching from the sound booth, remarked aloud, "You know, they're pretty fucking good."Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Contrary to what is later written of the show, the Grateful Dead's audience was unfavorable toward the Beach Boys' appearance.Template:Sfn On May 1, the band performed at The Peace Treaty Celebration Rock Show, an anti-war rally concert organized by the Mayday Collective, with approximately 500,000 people in attendance.<ref name="goldmine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="sugarmeds">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Footage of the band performing "Student Demonstration Time" later appeared in the 1985 documentary An American Band.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

The Beach Boys performing at Central Park in July 1971.Template:Sfn The concert was broadcast as part of an ABC-TV special on August 19.Template:Sfn

On May 24, "Long Promised Road" (B-side "Deirdre") was issued as the lead single, becoming their sixth consecutive U.S. single that failed to chart.Template:Sfn In July, the American music press rated the Beach Boys "the hottest grossing act" in the country, alongside Grand Funk Railroad.Template:Sfn On July 7, the film Two-Lane Blacktop, co-starring Dennis, made its worldwide premiere in New York City. Despite critical acclaim, the film was largely unnoticed by cinema-goers.Template:Sfn

Surf's Up was released on August 30 to more public anticipation than the Beach Boys had had for several years.Template:Sfn Aided by some FM radio exposure,<ref name=White2000 /> it outperformed Sunflower commercially and was their best selling album in years.Template:Sfn On September 6, Time reported that the album was "doing well enough. Barely out, it is fast approaching $250,000 in sales."Template:Sfn From September 22 to October 2, the band toured the eastern US, but the performances received mixed reviews. Their setlists included every song from the album except Template:" 'Til I Die" and "A Day in the Life of a Tree".Template:Sfn Dennis also played solo piano renditions of his unreleased songs "Barbara" and "I've Got a Friend".Template:Sfn

On October 28, the Beach Boys were the featured cover story on that date's issue of Rolling Stone. It included the first part of a lengthy two-part interview, titled "The Beach Boys: A California Saga", conducted by journalists Tom Nolan and David Felton.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Unusually, the story devoted minimal attention to the group's music, and instead focused on the band's internal dynamics and history, particularly around the period when they fell out of step with the 1960s counterculture.<ref name="hep"/>Template:Refn At the end of the month, Surf's Up peaked on the U.S. charts at number 29, becoming their highest-charting album there since Wild Honey (1967).Template:Sfn

In the UK, Surf's Up was released by EMI's Stateside label in October and peaked at number 15.Template:Sfn Rieley was unhappy with the delay, remarking that the album "sold more import copies than they sold of British pressings."Template:Sfn The UK singles, "Long Promised Road" (B-side "Deirdre") and "Don't Go Near the Water" (B-side "Student Demonstration Time"), failed to chart.Template:Sfn In November, "Surf's Up" (B-side "Don't Go Near the Water") was released as the last U.S. single and failed to chart.Template:Sfn

Contemporary reviews

Surf's Up received generally favorable reviews.Template:Sfn TimeTemplate:'s reviewer described it as "one of the most imaginatively produced LPs since last fall's All Things Must Pass by George Harrison and Phil Spector".Template:Sfn A Rolling Stone writer stated: "the Beach Boys stage a remarkable comeback ... an LP that weds their choral harmonies to progressive pop and which shows youngest Wilson brother Carl stepping into the fore of the venerable outfit."Template:Sfn In his review for the magazine, Arthur Schmidt was effused with the record, highlighting "Surf's Up" and "Disney Girls" as his favorite songs, and wrote: "This is a good album, probably as good as Sunflower, which is terrific ... It is certainly the most original in that it has contributed something purely its own."<ref name="Schmidt">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Richard Williams of The Times called the record "mostly very good" in his review;"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in another review of the album from 1972, he wrote that it "won't disappoint anyone at all ... they've produced an album which fully backs up all that's recently been written and said about them."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> NMETemplate:'s Richard Green called it a "very good album, very different from anything they've done before."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was less impressed. While highlighting "Take a Load Off Your Feet" and "Disney Girls (1957)", he found most of the other songs forgettable and the album the group's worst since 1968's Friends, before writing, "Van Dyke Parks's wacked-out lyricist meandering is matched by the sophomoric spiritual quest of Jack Rieley, and the music drags hither and yon."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In The Rag, Metal Mike Saunders lamented that most of the press furor over the Beach Boys' reputed comeback "has been rubbish" and opined that Surf's Up suffered from the same issues as Sunflower, namely "horrendous production and engineering" and a lack of "focus".<ref name="saunders"/> He wrote, "At any rate, the Brian Wilson Enigma remains unanswered, and the Beach Boys without him are just another rock group."<ref name="saunders">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The GuardianTemplate:'s Geoffrey Cannon felt that the album was inconsistent.<ref name="Out of the city">Template:Cite news</ref>

In a 1971 interview, Paul McCartney praised the album, commenting while discussing contemporary releases, "Have you got the new Beach Boys album, Surf’s Up? That's good, too."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Aftermath

Bruce Johnston later criticized the record: "To me, Surf's Up is, and always has been, one hyped up lie! It was a false reflection of The Beach Boys and one which Jack [Rieley] engineered right from the start. ... It made it look like Brian Wilson was more than just a visitor at those sessions. Jack made it appear as though Brian was really there all the time."Template:SfnTemplate:Refn In another interview, Johnston said: "All I can say is that at the beginning, I thought that what he was trying to do was absolutely right on the money. He helped the band become aware of what our niche was in pop music."Template:Sfn

Retrospective assessments

Template:Music ratings Music critic John Bush wrote "[Most of the] songs are enjoyable enough, but the last three tracks are what make Surf's Up such a masterpiece."Template:Sfn Mojo critic Ross Bennett regarded Surf's Up as "the definitive version" of the Smile recordings, "with those crystalline vocals imbuing Parks' cryptic verses with a grace and simplicity missing from the 2004 reboot".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Keith Phipps from The A.V. Club called it "the darkest album of the group's career, a record that also spotlighted a growing social conscience".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1974, the staff of NME ranked Surf's Up number 96 in its list of the Top 100 Albums of All Time. When the magazine surveyed its writers again in 1993, the album's position rose to number 46.Template:Sfn In 2000, the record was voted number 230 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.<ref name="Larkin">Template:Cite book</ref> The record is also listed in the musical reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.<ref name="Dimery">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2004, Surf's Up was ranked number 61 on PitchforkTemplate:'s list of "The Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". Contributor Dominique Leone wrote: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Template:ErrorTemplate:Main other{{#if:|

|}}{{#if:|

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Conversely, Scott Schinder wrote in Icons of Rock (2006) that Surf's Up "lacked the solid group dynamic that had elevated Sunflower" despite two "impressive songwriting contributions from Carl".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> James E. Perone, writing in The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time (2015), opined that "the album's lyrical themes are so wide ranging that the social commentary tended to get somewhat lost, and the year 1971 was late enough in the counterculture era that 'Student Demonstration Time' and 'A Day in the Life of a Tree' seem like a case of too little, too late."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Stebbins opined that the album suffered from a lack of Dennis songs and was not as strong as Sunflower in its totality.Template:Sfn Record CollectorTemplate:'s Jamie Atkins said that the lack of Dennis songs was balanced by the strong offerings from Carl, although Rieley's "awkward wordplay ... was rather less clever than he had perhaps intended. Happily, they did not detract from the quality of the songs:"<ref name="Atkins">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

John Wetton named Surf's Up his favorite prog album of all-time, elaborating: "The summer of '71 had so many musical milestones ... but Surf's Up was a revelation. I was in Family, a major player in the first wave of British progressive bands, but this collection from the iconic California surf-pop band shifted my parameters, blurring all the boundaries of my musical vocabulary. ... And the cover? Mega prog!"<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Feel Flows

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 2021, expanded editions of Sunflower and Surf's Up were packaged within Feel Flows, a box set that includes session highlights, outtakes, and alternate mixes drawn from the two albums.<ref name="rsfeelflows"/> The set also includes the first ever releases of the Surf's Up-era outtakes "Big Sur" (1970 version), "Sweet and Bitter", "My Solution", "Seasons in the Sun", "Baby Baby", "Awake", and "It's a New Day".<ref name="rsfeelflows"/>

Track listing

Template:Track listing Template:Track listing

Personnel

Credits per Craig Slowinski.<ref name="Slowinski2021">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The Beach Boys

  • Al Jardine – lead (1, 3, 7, 8, 10) and backing vocals (1–5, 7–10); electric guitars (1); acoustic guitars (3, 7); banjos (1); piano (1); bass guitar (7)
  • Bruce Johnston – lead (4) and backing vocals (1, 2, 4–10); pianos (4); Hammond organ (4, 7?, 9); Moog synthesizer (4); mandolins (4)
  • Mike Love – lead (1, 5, 9) and backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 8–10); tambourine (5)
  • Brian Wilson – lead (3, 9, 10) and backing vocals (1–4, 6, 8–10); Baldwin organ (1?, 3); Hammond organ (9); harmonium (1?, 8); Moog synthesizer (8, 10?); Rocksichord (9); piano (10); harmonica (1?); bass guitar (3); snare drum (9); percussion (3, 9); Rolls-Royce Phantom V (3)
  • Carl Wilson – lead (2, 6, 9, 10) and backing vocals (all tracks); electric guitars (1, 2, 5, 6); acoustic guitars (2, 8, 9); pianos (2, 6); pianos w/ taped strings (6); Wurlitzer electric pianos (2); Baldwin organ (6); Hammond organ (2, 10); Moog synthesizer (2, 6, 10?); bass guitar (6); drums (2, 7?); percussion (1, 2, 6, 10)
  • Dennis Wilson – backing vocals (5, 10); drums (5)

Additional members from the touring band

  • Ed Carter – electric guitar (4); acoustic guitars (4)
  • Daryl Dragon – Moog synthesizer (1, 5?); pipe organs (8); piano (1, 5); electric guitar (1); bass guitar (1, 9); vibraphone (9)
  • Dennis Dragon – drums (4)
  • Mike Kowalski – drums (1); percussion (1)

Guests

  • Blondie Chaplin – bass guitar (5)
  • Bill DeSimone – backing vocals (10)
  • Kathy Dragon – flutes (4)
  • Van Dyke Parks – vocals on "A Day in the Life of a Tree"
  • Jack Rieley – lead vocals on "A Day in the Life of a Tree" and backing vocals in "Surf's Up" tag, breathing effects on “Feel Flows”
  • Diane Rovell – backing vocals (2, 6)
  • Marilyn Wilson – backing vocals (2, 6)
  • Gary Winfrey – backing vocals (3)

Additional session musicians Template:Div col

  • Arthur Brieglab – French horn (10)
  • Jimmy Bond – double bass (10)
  • Frank Capp – car keys (10); hi-hat (10)
  • Al Casey – electric guitar (10)
  • Roy Caton – trumpet (10)
  • Al De Lory – pianos (10)
  • David Duke – French horn (10); Wagner tuba (10)
  • Glenn Ferris – trombone (5)
  • Sam Freed – violin (3)
  • David Frisina – violin (3)
  • George Hyde – French horn (10)
  • Anatol Kaminsky – violin (3)
  • Nathan Kaproff – violin (3)
  • George Kast – violin (3)
  • Carol Kaye – bass guitar (10)
  • Charles Lloyd – tenor saxophone (6); flute (6)
  • Sal Marquez – trumpet (5)
  • Roger Neumann – tenor saxophone (5)
  • Nick Pellico – glockenspiel (10)
  • Joel Peskin – tenor saxophone (5)
  • Mike Price – trumpet (5)
  • Claude Sherry – French horn (10)
  • Woody Theus – bass drum (6); jingle sticks (6)

Template:Div col end

Additional musicians and production staff

Charts

Chart (1971) Peak
position
Australia (Go-Set) 32
Canadian RPM 100 Albums 22
UK Top 40 AlbumsTemplate:Sfn 15
U.S. Billboard Top LPs & TapeTemplate:Sfn 29

Notes

Template:Reflist

References

Template:Reflist

Bibliography

Further reading

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

  • {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

Template:Surf's Up Template:The Beach Boys main

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Surf%27s_Up_(album)&oldid=479103"