Track Listing

1. Surfin' Safari
2. County Fair
3. Ten Little Indians
4. Chug A Lug
5. Little Miss America
6. 409
7. Surfin'
8. Heads You Win Tails I Lose
9. Summertime Blues
10. Cuckoo Clock
11. Moon Dawg
12. Shift
13. Surfin' USA
14. Farmer's Daughter
15. Misirlou
16. Stoked
17. Lonely Sea
18. Shut Down
19. Noble Surfer
20. Honky Tonk
21. Lana
22. Surf Jam
23. Let's Go Trippin'
24. Finders Keepers
25. Cindy Oh Cindy
26. Baker Man
27. Land Ahoy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21708 in Music
• Released on: 2001-03-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Extra tracks, Original recording reissued
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

CD Description
Heard in retrospect after PET SOUNDS or TODAY!, the Beach Boys' first album may sound somewhat embryonic. In the context of its time, however, SURFIN' SAFARI is a solid and entertaining listen filled with songs based on everyday middle-class teen life in early-1960s California. Foremost among theseis the group's first hot-rod tune, "409". In some ways an even better song than "Surfin' Safari" (the bigger hit on theother side of their first Capitol single), "409" isn't as full of car-spotter lingo as the group's later hot-rod singles (most of them co-written by L.A. disc jockey and car nut Roger Christian), but it has a stripped-down, almost punky garage-rock sound that thunders along mightily behind the chanting background singers and one of Mike Love's better lead vocals.

Customer Reviews

First two Beach Boys albums
Throughout 2001 Capital Records went through the Beach Boys catalogue re-issuing them all in re-mastered sound using the best-available masters, with extensive liner notes and usually two albums plus bonus tracks on each release.

In the early years, Capital managed to squeeze a large number of albums out of the group and there is a steep learning curve as the group became more proficient and mature, and Brian Wilson's songwriting, arranging and production skills evolved.

Surfin' Safari (1962) was the band's first album, rushed out in the wake of the success of the title track as a hit single and its hot-rod B-side, 409, replete with the sound effects of a 348 Chevy as they couldn't afford a 409. Surf, hot-rods and girls are the preoccupations of most of the songs, mainly original compositions, though there is a stab at Summertime Blues, and the Gamblers' Moon Dawg, considered to be the first surf record.

It includes some of the demo recordings that got the band signed in the first place, and their first single, Surfin', from 1961, which had first been released on the tiny X Records label and then on Candix. The version here is the Candix version speeded up, despite the "production notes" in the liner. Most of the lead vocals are by Mike Love, though Brian sings Cuckoo Clock and Dennis Wilson, the Ringo Starr of the group, debuts as lead singer on Little Miss America. Ten Little Indians was also released as a single from the album, against Brian Wilson's wishes (his choice was Chug-A-Lug). At this stage the Beach Boys were strong vocally and harmonically but their instrumental skills were rudimentary. Although some of the tracks have previously appeared in 3-track stereo (vocals left and right, instruments at centre), they are all in mono here, although Land Ahoy!, an outtake included as a bonus track, is stereo.

Surfin' USA (1963) was similarly built around the hit title track which really put the Beach Boys on the map, a surf lyric re-write of Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen that defined their vocal sound. Again the B-side was a hot-rod song, Shut Down, on which Brian collaborated for the first time with DJ and drag racing enthusiast Roger Christian. Apart from being in stereo, this album is mostly more of the same, though Brian takes three lead vocals, including Lonely Sea, a ballad that prefigures the wistful melancholia of his later productions, and the instrumental Surf Jam marks Carl Wilson's first released composition

The beginnings of a legend
This CD is made up of the first two Beach Boys albums, plus three bonus tracks. The overall sound of the album owes as much to simple rock'n'roll as it does to surf. Subsequent albums would bring many changes as the band evolved, but these recordings, while not the best they ever recorded, were of an extremely high quality.

There is a lot of great music here, including Surfin' USA, County fair, Cuckoo Clock and Farmers' daughter. Precisely because this music was recorded before they hit big, many of the tracks are not well-known, unlike the later stuff.

So, this is an interesting and welcome addition to any collection of Beach Boys music. If you haven't got any Beach Boys music, start with some of their mid-sixties music or a greatest hits.

Expecting to Surf...
I must admit i'd been putting off buying these two particular beach boys albums, the very beginnings of the group. I was expecting a primitive work but put on 'Lonely Sea' and marvel that all which was to come later on 'Pet Sounds' is already here in this song albeit in embryonic form. 'Farmers Daughter' is also lovely and although the 'Surfin USA' album does have an excess of instrumentals, these can be seen as charming period pieces if you choose not to take them too seriously. The 'Surfin Safari' album contains no songs as great as on 'Surfin USA' but does have one or two catchy moments and is actually great fun to listen to! When you remember these two albums were recorded around 1962/63 right at the very beginning ( pre-beatles! ) they really are some acomplishment for what was a very young group still in their teens.