Surf's Up is the seventeenth 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" later in the year, peaking at number 89. In 1993, Surf's Up was ranked number 46 in NMEs 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
left|thumb|The Beach Boys in 1971. Left to right, starting from back row: [[Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson, Bruce Johnston.|285x285px]]
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. 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." 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." 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".
On August 8, Rieley sent the band a six-page memo that explained how to stimulate "increased record sales and popularity". 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".
"Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" were Carl's first significant solo compositions and were recorded almost entirely by himself. Jardine said that it was "actually an old folk song" to which he "rewrote the lyrics to reflect the times".
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. 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. Johnston recalled, "We ended up doing vocals to sort of emulate ourselves without Brian Wilson, which was kind of silly." With the song completed, Landlocked was given the new title of Surf's Up.
Leftover material
thumb|Dennis Wilson while filming [[Two-Lane Blacktop in 1970. His songs were left off Surf's Up to preserve harmony within the group.]]
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. 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." 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.
In 1993, "4th of July" was included on the box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys. "(Wouldn't It Be Nice to) Live Again" was written with Stanley Shapiro. Dennis also recorded "Barbara", a piano demo named after his then-girlfriend, and a track called "Old Movie". "Barbara" was released in 1998 for the Endless Harmony Soundtrack, while "Old Movie" would be released on the 2021 box set Feel Flows.
Other outtakes include Brian's "My Solution" and "H.E.L.P. Is On the Way". "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. Footage of the band performing "Student Demonstration Time" later appeared in the 1985 documentary An American Band.
thumb|right|The Beach Boys performing at [[Central Park in July 1971. The concert was broadcast as part of an ABC-TV special on August 19.]]
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. In July, the American music press rated the Beach Boys "the hottest grossing act" in the country, alongside Grand Funk Railroad. 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.
Surf's Up was released on August 30 to more public anticipation than the Beach Boys had had for several years. Aided by some FM radio exposure, 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).
In the UK, Surf's Up was released by EMI's Stateside label in October and peaked at number 15. Rieley was unhappy with the delay, remarking that the album "sold more import copies than they sold of British pressings." The UK singles, "Long Promised Road" (B-side "Deirdre") and "Don't Go Near the Water" (B-side "Student Demonstration Time"), failed to chart. 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.
Contemporary reviews
Surf's Up received generally favorable reviews. Times 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". 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." 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." Richard Williams of The Times called the record "mostly very good" in his review;" 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." NMEs Richard Green called it a "very good album, very different from anything they've done before."
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." 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". The Guardians Geoffrey Cannon felt that the album was inconsistent.
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."
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." 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."
Retrospective assessments
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." 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". 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".
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. In 2000, the record was voted number 230 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. The record is also listed in the musical reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2004, Surf's Up was ranked number 61 on Pitchforks list of "The Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". Contributor Dominique Leone wrote:
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". 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." Stebbins opined that the album suffered from a lack of Dennis songs and was not as strong as Sunflower in its totality. Record Collectors 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:"
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!"
Feel Flows
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.
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
- 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)
Additional musicians and production staff
- The Beach Boys – producer
- Stephen Desper – chief engineer and mixer; Moog synthesizer (6, 8–10); bird sfx (8)
- Ed Thrasher – original art direction
Charts
{|class="wikitable"
!Chart (1971)
!Peak<br/>position
|-
| Australia (Go-Set)
| style="text-align:center;"|32
|-
| Canadian RPM 100 Albums
| style="text-align:center;"|22
|-
| UK Top 40 Albums
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
| U.S. Billboard Top LPs & Tape
| style="text-align:center;"|29
|}