Surfin' USA Album Review

"If everybody had an ocean, across the USA..."

Hello! Welcome to the second review in this series, The Beach Boys' second album, 1963's Surfin' USA!

HISTORY:

Surfin' USA was released in 1963, after the huge success of the title track. It was the first full Brian Wilson production, as Nik Venet helped with the production on Surfin' Safari. All original songs with lyrics are by Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and Gary Usher, I believe, with the instrumental Stoked by Brian Wilson, and the instrumental Surf Jam by Carl Wilson.

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

This album's got kind of a punk-ish quality to it, and it's cool. The Boys aren't making truly great songs just yet, but they're still dang good. However, the many instrumentals sort of bog down the album, but it's still enjoyable.

TRACK-BY-TRACK BREAKDOWN:

Surfin' USA: A significant improvement over Surfin' Safari, even though it is a ripoff of Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen. The vocals are better, the production is fuller, and it's just a better song. 4/5

Farmer's Daughter - Another good song, but I'm not entirely sure what it's about. That's all there is to it. 3.5/5

Misirlou - This cover of the classic instrumental is the first of many surf instrumentals on this album. It's not bad, though it's not as good as the original. 3/5

Stoked - Another surf instrumental, and a very rudimentary one at that. 2/5

Lonely Sea - The first hints of Brian's true talent. It's a good song, though truthfully I find it a bit boring. 4/5

Shut Down - One of my favorite Beach Boys car songs, this one's fast and a lot of fun. 4/5

Noble Surfer - I don't really know why this song exists. I mean, what's it about? I know it's about a noble surfer, but...why? Is it a pun on "no bull?" I don't know. Not a bad song though. 3/5

Honky Tonk - Another instrumental, this time a reverb-drenched cover of the rock n roll classic Honky Tonk. It's not very good. 2/5

Lana - A decent song, though the falsetto is a bit annoying. 3/5

Surf Jam - Another instrumental, and the first ever Carl Wilson composition. It's not half bad. 3/5

Let's Go Trippin' - The last instrumental is a cover of a Dick Dale classic, and it's not bad, but it is rather unimaginative. 2.5/5

Finders Keepers - It's not bad, though the verses and the chorus sound like they're from entirely different songs. Still, pretty decent. 3/5

So, that's Surfin' USA. A big improvement over Safari, to be sure, but still not amazing.

RATING

3.5/5