Surf's Up

Sad beach boys, aww

This is a great record with strong contributions by all six band members. Should have been a classic in it's day. Also a reminder of a time when MIke Love wasn't a total fucking dickhead.

not what i expected from this scary ass album cover but it is what i expected from the beach boys. beautiful harmonies as always

Surf's Up is probably my favorite of all The Beach Boys albums here. When i first looked at this album's cover art and saw how dark it looked, i thought that this album was gonna sound very dark and depressing and while the lyrical subject matter is a bit dark, it doesn't seem to stray too far from the path that The Beach Boys Today and Pet Sounds follow. The songs here have that very psychedelic sound which was the other main one alongside the one that the Beatles did. I thought that the songs on offer were pretty good even if that last song felt like it was having a bit of an identity crisis. Could it just be the fact that it's the most fresh in my mind, i don't know but i can say its my favorite Beach Boys album that i have heard.
Best Song: A Day In The Life Of A Tree
Worst Song: Surf's Up
Side note: Oh, and since this is my last Beach Boys album, you know what that means:
1. Surf's Up
2. Pet Sounds
3. The Beach Boys Today

Love the Beach Boys 70’s discography

The cover art almost fooled me, but these are indeed still the Beach Boys.

Stronger first listen than Pet Sounds, but I don't think this one has the same legs to go into my rotation.

Standouts: Long Promised Road • Disney Girls (1957)

Wasn't aware of this Beach Boys record and yet I'm presently surprised by this. Memorable hooks and generally very pleasant recording, deserving 4 stars probably

Really strange album, from the cover/title juxtaposition to the musical styles being all over the place.

The great tracks are great and the oddities are odd enough to be fun.

Ohh the beach boys- a band perpetually and forever in an identity crisis.

Wilson’s y’all can explore emotion like no-one but leave the social commentary at home, you’re just not good at it.

lowlights:
- disney girls er trash og har ærligt talt nogle underlige vibes
- student demonstration time - titlen er ligeså ulideligt kedelig og uinspirerende som valget af en standard blues-rundgang beklædt med en hvirvlende synth, der lyder som en heliumballon der er sluppet løs i studiet for at demonstrere den nye smarte stereo-funktion
- a day in the life of a tree - virkelig?

highlights:
- take a load off your feet er fire, varm og analog som en tæppe af vinyl-lp'er

jeg er glad for, at man ikke laver så meget musik, der lyder sådan her længere, men det er heller ikke det værste i verden.
2.1

Has that prime Beach Boys’ sensibility/vibe: innocent and child-like but with more social consciousness. The result sounds like a record that comes across as motivational to me.

First impression notes (from when I listened to this before getting this album: The Beach Boys updated to a soft-rock/soul/70s pop sound. So serious like Pet Sounds)

Oh nice. I like The Beach Boys. Love ‘em actually. Pet sounds, forever, heroes and villains… all phenomenal experiences. So I was glad to get this one! And I enjoyed it plenty. Even when the political stuff kinda gets in the way of the overall enjoyment, because, it sucks, specifically that annoying student demonstration song, but the lush air of the whole thing is still very enjoyable, especially the fantastic b-side, culminating in one of the best tracks of the Boys’ careers. Overall it’s pretty alright. It left AN impression on me. I like it! It’s pretty great!
8.6/10

This isn’t what i want from the Beach Boys. Student Demonstration Time is a good old rock n roll stomper, but this sort of thing is done far better than others. The whole thing comes across as a contract obligation filler.
I quite like Feel Flows, but spent most of the time trying to think what song it reminded me of….turns out it was just I knew the song from the Almost Famous soundtrack.
‘A Day in the Life of a Tree’ is just abysmal.

Look, I mostly prefer my Beach Boys Brian Wilson-shaped and this album is very much BW-lite in the vocals. I miss the multi layered vocals a lot - they're still here obviously (the title track being an obvious example) but not as Beach Boysy as normal. However, this is a really interesting Beach Boys album because it does feel so different to their hits. Darker. A bit more melancholic (coupled with it's gentle cheesyness).

That being said, Student Demonstration Time is, erm... weird. I'm not sure what message Mike Love was aiming for but it comes across a bit "look, war is bad, but you can't stop it, so just forget about it". Which is, erm, yeah...

But then Feel Flows happens and that's great, with the flute warbling in the right ear (I'm genuinely dead against noodling, but for some reason find it charming here) and nice vocals.

I think I have a sort of baseline level for The Beach Boys where I don't think anything can truly be poor, which means nothing is ever getting a poor score. This album is at the lower end for me, but that's still a good score. As no half stars, I'm going for 3 but just know I very much think it's a solid 3.5.

3/5

Langweiliges Werk der 70er. Wenig Spirit wenig Spaß .. dunkel wie das Cover irgendwie ein Album gemacht um Kohle zu scheffeln..

I’m glad the boys had it in them to make an album this weird even if I didn’t enjoy it all that much in the end. I think you have to be able to willing to try stuff like this if you are also going to be a band good enough to make Pet Sounds.

I'm not really into this type of music, but this was an interesting listen (I even felt compelled to listen twice). It has public service messages (take care of your teeth because no one else will), social justice announcements (student demonstrations and the environment), and dark tones mixed in. I had heard of the Beach Boys, and I knew they were known for surf music, but this was better than I expected.

This was kind of sold to me as The Beach Boys' sad album, but I think that aspect made have been a little oversold. That being said, at its best, Surfs Up *does* capture some of the strung out darkness underscoring the psychedelic movement. Don't Go Near The Water, 'Til I Die, and Surfs Up feel less like marmalade skies and more like sinking helplessly. But, at the same time, there are a lot of songs here I don't find nearly as memorable. Feel Flows, Lookin' At Tomorrow, and A Day In The Life Of A Tree did not leave nearly as strong an impression on me, even though they are similarly well crafted. Also, I liked Student Demonstration Time, but it does kind of come out of nowhere. On the other hand, a somg that doesn't quite fit the vibe that I liked a lot is Take A Load Off Your Feet, which has some really cool soundscape work. Overall, I enjoyed Surfs Up as a whole, but it kind of feels like it's being carried by a few extremely strong songs, but the other ones aren't necessarily taking a ton away from the whole. I'm feeling middle of the road overall.

It’s important to push your boundaries and try new things … and sometimes the experiment doesn’t work.

The cover VS the band LMAO