Surfin' USA

Bruce Beatlefan (January 2, 2008)

When the single "Surfin' USA" roared up the charts and made the still teenaged Beach Boys into a national phenomenom, they were herded into the recording studio to issue this second album a mere five months after their debut album "Surfin' Safari". "Surfin' USA" (the album) featured 12 new Beach Boys songs (7 1/2 by Brian Wilson, 1 by Carl Wilson, and 3 1/2 covers) packaged in a dazzling album cover depicting the 'Noble Surfer' negotiating a 20-foot wave, and is both better and worse than the preceding album.

Better because chief songwriter Brian Wilson is already beginning to refine his songcraft into a razor-sharp weapon, in spite of straining to produce nearly an album's worth of new material in such a short time. He produces two national hits, "Surfin' USA" (which is actually an effervescent rewrite of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen", and the Beach Boys' first truly great track) and "Shut Down". He also impresses with two superb tracks, the gentle "Farmer's Daghter" (later covered by Fleetwood Mac) and the hauntingly lovely "Lonely Sea". He tries his hand at a surfin' instrumental ("Stoked") and churns out two workmanlike songs, "Noble Surfer" and "Lana" as well as the paper-thin "Finders Keepers".

Worse because the non-Brian music consists entirely of instrumentals which deprive the listener of the group's strongest quality, its harmonies, and focuses the spotlight on the competent but unremarkable guitar work. But don't entirely dismiss the first original from 16-year-old Carl Wilson ("Surfin' Jam"), nor the superb instrumental classic "Misirlou", which they perform quite well.

The production of this album is vastly superior to "Surfin' Safari", with Mike Love's vocals given much better treatment. The Beach Boys show marked improvement in their instrument playing (including a mean sax on "Shut Down" and xylophone on "Noble Surfer"), and their unsurpassed harmonies are given greater prominence and ambition on this album. "Surfin' USA" is a worthwhile followup to "Surfin' Safari", and show the Beach Boy's to be a group with staying power.