4th Of July (The Beach Boys Song)
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''Surf's Up'' is the 17th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released August 30, 1971 on Brother/ Reprise. It received largely favorable reviews and reached number 29 on the US record charts, becoming their highest-charting LP of new music in the US since 1967. In the UK, ''Surf's Up'' peaked at number 15, continuing a string of top 40 records that had not abated since 1965. The album's title and cover artwork (a painting based on the early 20th-century sculpture " End of the Trail") are an ironic, self-aware nod to the band's early
surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...
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 The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...
'',
Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...
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 Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...
as the band's official leader. The record also included Carl's first major song contributions: "
Long Promised Road "Long Promised Road" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by Carl Wilson and Jack Rieley. Aside from a few guitar instrumentals written in the early days of the band and collectiv ...
" and "
Feel Flows "Feel Flows" is a song recorded by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by guitarist Carl Wilson and band manager Jack Rieley, and was one of Wilson's first songs. Background and recording The ...
". Two singles were issued in the US: "Long Promised Road" and "Surf's Up". Only the former charted, when it was reissued with the B-side "
Til I Die "Til I Die" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up'', subsequently issued as the B-side of the single " Long Promised Road". With autobiographical lyrics about death and hopelessness, it is one of the fe ...
" later in the year, peaking at number 89. In 1993, ''Surf's Up'' was ranked number 46 in '' NME''s list of the "Top 100 Albums" in history. In 2000, it ranked number 230 in Colin Larkin's '' All Time Top 1000 Albums''. , it is ranked as the 761st highest rated album of all time on
Acclaimed Music Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
. Session highlights, outtakes, and alternate mixes from the album were collected for the 2021 compilation ''
Feel Flows "Feel Flows" is a song recorded by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by guitarist Carl Wilson and band manager Jack Rieley, and was one of Wilson's first songs. Background and recording The ...
''.


Background

On the evening of July 29, 1970,
Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...
, accompanied by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, granted his first-ever full-length radio interview to
KPFK KPFK (90.7 FM) is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves Southern California, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet. It was the second of five stations in the non-commerci ...
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". At the end of August, the group's latest record ''
Sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...
'' was released as their first album on
Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
. It became the worst-selling album in the group's history. Band promoter and co-manager Fred Vail remembered one meeting with the band in which "we were talking about ... ''Sunflower'' not charting, and they were wondering why. I said to them, 'Listen, this is a phase right now. If you stay the course, your real audience won't forget you. They won't desert you.' But the Beach Boys really didn't believe in themselves." Vail was soon replaced by Rieley, primarily at the instigation of Love and Johnston. Some of Rieley's earliest initiatives were to end the group's practice of wearing matching stage uniforms and to appoint
Carl Wilson Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...
as the band's official leader. The group spent the majority of September and October rehearsing for upcoming concerts. On October 3, at the invitation of Van Dyke Parks, the band performed two sets at the eighth annual
Big Sur Folk Festival The Big Sur Folk Festival, held from 1964 to 1971 in California, was an informal gathering of prominent and emerging folk artists from across the United States. Nancy Jane Carlen (1941-2013) was working at the Esalen Institute when Joan Baez was ...
in California to an audience of 6,000. According to music historian Keith Badman, the performances "help dto establish the group's image in the eyes of the rock hierarchy, and they are subsequently 'rediscovered' as an important live act." Biographer David Leaf wrote that the concert inspired what was effectively an apologetic review from '' Rolling Stone'' co-founder
Jann Wenner Jann Simon Wenner ( ; born January 7, 1946) is an American magazine magnate who is a co-founder of the popular culture magazine ''Rolling Stone'', and former owner of '' Men's Journal'' magazine. He participated in the Free Speech Movement while ...
, who previously criticized the band for pulling out of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. A rumor circulated among news outlets who reported that Brian was then writing music with Parks for an upcoming Beach Boys television special, ''H-2-0''. In early November, Brian temporarily rejoined the touring band in playing four dates at the Whisky a Go Go. The group had not played a concert in Los Angeles since 1966, while Brian had not performed with the touring group since early 1970, when he briefly filled in for Love. These performances served as a warm-up to the band's second major tour of the year, which lasted from November 19 to December 20, around the UK and Europe. Guitarist Ed Carter and keyboardist Daryl Dragon accompanied the band for this tour, along with supporting act the Flame. Reports from this period suggested that the group were planning to move from Los Angeles to Britain once their recording commitments were finished. From January to early April 1971, they worked intermittently on their second album for Reprise.


Production and style

''Surf's Up'' was recorded between January and July 1971, with the exception of a few tracks. After the release of ''Sunflower'', band engineer
Stephen Desper Stephen W. Desper is an American audio engineer who is best known for his work with the Beach Boys during the early 1970s and for inventing the Spatializer. The Spatializer is an effects unit which employs psychoacoustic techniques that emulate th ...
assembled a collection of songs consisting mostly of outtakes deemed suitable for a follow-up LP, which he labelled "Second Brother Album". Rieley later called these selections "forgettable" and said that he was "totally perplexed ... I met with
arner executive Arner is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Elias Arnér (born 1966), Swedish biochemist *Gwen Arner, American television director and actress *James G. Arner (born 1951), American judge *Sivar Arnér Sivar Arnér (13 March 19 ...
Mo Ostin, a true Brian Wilson fan, at Warner Brothers, who listened to the songs, and he declared: 'No way.'" Rieley encouraged them to write songs with more socially conscious and topical lyrics, although he stated in a 2013 interview, "It was not part of a master plan. ... We never had any 'What are we gonna write about?' meeting. Never once did anything like that ever occur." He assigned the project the brief working title of ''Landlocked'' to represent "a demarcation line, separating striped-shirted bullshit that had become irrelevant, an object of public scorn, from artistry, creativity and great new songs." An album cover was designed with this title, featuring white san-serif icletters printed atop a photograph of a dark field. The ''Landlocked'' cover was ultimately discarded in favor of a different design. Rieley said that the final cover "was something that caught my eye at an antique record shop near
Silver Lake Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
. It was a painting and I bought it. It reminded me a bit of the Brother Records logo, but it was different." Conversely, Desper recalled that a print of a painting of the ''End of the Trail'', "use to hang in Murry Wilson's office behind his desk, as Brian recalls from his childhood. Brian always like the painting as it was part of Denny's, Carl's and his youth." ''Surf's Up'' was the first album for which the group printed the lyrics of each song on the record sleeve. In 1974, Rieley stated that his growing involvement with the songwriting process attracted the ire of Love, Johnston, and Al Jardine, who "tried to force me to march into Mo Ostin's and sell him on their 1969 track '
Loop De Loop "Loop de Loop" is a song written by Teddy Vann and Joe Dong and performed by Johnny Thunder featuring The Bobbettes. It reached No. 4 on the U.S. pop chart and No. 6 on the U.S. R&B chart in 1963. It was featured on his 1963 album ''Loop De ...
'". I refused and Brian, Dennis, and Carl backed me up." Due to Brian's reduced involvement, the vocal arrangements were not as dense as those for ''Sunflower''. Johnston recalled, "It was strange to be doing vocal arrangements to make it sound like the Beach Boys when we were the Beach Boys. That's a little weird to me."


Songs

"
Long Promised Road "Long Promised Road" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by Carl Wilson and Jack Rieley. Aside from a few guitar instrumentals written in the early days of the band and collectiv ...
" and "
Feel Flows "Feel Flows" is a song recorded by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by guitarist Carl Wilson and band manager Jack Rieley, and was one of Wilson's first songs. Background and recording The ...
" were Carl's first significant solo compositions and were recorded almost entirely by himself. "
Student Demonstration Time "Student Demonstration Time" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It is an altered version of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller's "Riot in Cell Block Number 9" with new lyrics by Mike Love. Backgr ...
" (a topical reworking of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's R&B classic " Riot in Cell Block Number 9") and the environmental anthem " Don't Go Near the Water" found Love and Jardine embracing the group's new socially conscious direction. "
Til I Die "Til I Die" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up'', subsequently issued as the B-side of the single " Long Promised Road". With autobiographical lyrics about death and hopelessness, it is one of the fe ...
" was a song Brian had been working on since mid-1970. It was written while he was suffering from an
existential crisis In psychology and psychotherapy, existential crises are inner conflicts characterized by the impression that life lacks meaning. Some authors also emphasize confusion about one's personal identity in their definition. Existential crises are acc ...
, and he took weeks to refine the arrangement, using an electronic drum machine and crafting a harmony-driven, vibraphone and organ-laden background. "
A Day in the Life of a Tree "A Day in the Life of a Tree" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by Brian Wilson and the group's manager Jack Rieley, who also performed lead vocal. The lyrics were inspired by Wils ...
", written by Brian and Rieley, is about a tree succumbing to the effects of environmental pollution; the accompaniment includes harmonium, an antique pump organ, and a smaller
pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
. Johnston said that he wrote " Disney Girls (1957)" "because I saw so many kids in our audiences being wiped out on drugs" and wanted to capture the feeling of an era in which people were "a little naive but a little healthier." Jardine also contributed "
Take a Load Off Your Feet "Take a Load Off Your Feet" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by Al Jardine, Brian Wilson and Gary Winfrey. Background and recording After completing his service obligation in ...
", a ''Sunflower'' outtake, and "Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)", both co-written with longtime friend Gary Winfrey. Biographer Timothy White wrote that the latter song was "a poignant mini-soliloquy from a jobless rounder, seems like a coda to 'Long Promised Road,' the pioneer busted in his starry-eyed ambitions but still 'looking at tomorrow' for a fresh potential." 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 gave approval for 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 The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...
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

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 on it 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. "(Wouldn't It Be Nice to) Live Again" was written with Stanley Shapiro. According to Beach Boys biographer Jon Stebbins, Dennis had wanted the song to close the record, following Til I Die", but Carl objected. In 2013, it was released for the box set '' Made in California'', along with a 1974 recording of "
Barnyard Blues "Livery Stable Blues" is a jazz composition copyrighted by Ray Lopez ''(né'' Raymond Edward Lopez; 1889–1979) and Alcide Nunez in 1917. It was recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band on February 26, 1917, and, with the A side "Dixieland J ...
", a song that Dennis had composed during the ''Surf's Up'' sessions. 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''. Other outtakes include Brian's " My Solution" and "
H.E.L.P. Is On the Way "H.E.L.P. Is On the Way" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys that was recorded during the making of their 1971 album '' Surf's Up''. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love about H.E.L.P., a Los Angeles restaurant that the band had ...
". According to singer Terry Jacks, the group asked him to be their producer for a session. On July 31, 1970, they attempted a rendition of the
Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...
/
Rod McKuen Rodney Marvin McKuen (; April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range ...
song " Seasons in the Sun", but the session went badly, and the track was never finished. Jacks later had a hit with his own version of the song in 1974. Afterward, Mike Love told an interviewer: "We did record a version
f 'Seasons' F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...
but it was so wimpy we had to throw it out. ... It was just the wrong song for us. I'm glad Terry had a hit with it." Love's "
Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of California between Carmel and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. Big Sur ha ...
", recorded in August 1970, was later remade in a different time signature for the 1973 album '' Holland''. In March 1971, Carl recorded a
Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...
sound collage titled "Telephone Backgrounds (On a Clear Day)".


Release

Rieley arranged for the group to appear in a series of commercials with the tagline "It's now safe to listen to the Beach Boys." He also arranged a guest appearance at a
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
concert at Bill Graham's Fillmore East in April 1971 to foreground the band's transition into the counterculture. For their performances this year, the Beach Boys enlisted a full horn section and additional percussionists. A journalist who attended the show later reported that Bob Dylan, who was watching from the sound booth, remarked aloud, "You know, they're pretty fucking good." Contrary to what is later written of the show, the Grateful Dead's audience was unfavorable toward the Beach Boys' appearance. On May 1, the band performed at ''The Peace Treaty Celebration Rock Show'', an anti-war rally concert organized by the Mayday Collective, with approximately 500,000 people in attendance. Footage of the band performing "Student Demonstration Time" later appeared in the 1985 documentary '' An American Band''. On May 24, "Long Promised Road" (B-side " Deirdre") was issued as lead single, becoming their sixth consecutive US single that failed to chart. That same month, Dennis accidentally punched his hand through a glass window, severing nerves and tendons. The injury left him unable to play drums for the band, and so he was replaced by the Flame's Ricky Fataar. Dennis continued to make occasional appearances at concerts, singing or playing keyboards. 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 premier 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, it outperformed ''Sunflower'' commercially and was their best selling album in years. On September 6, '' Time'' reported that the album was "doing well enough. Barely out, it is fast approaching $250,000 in sales." From September 22 to October 2, the band toured the eastern US, but the performances received mixed reviews. Their setlists included every song from the album except Til I Die" and "A Day in the Life of a Tree". Dennis also played solo piano renditions of his unreleased songs "Barbara" and "I've Got a Friend". On October 28, the Beach Boys were the featured cover story on that date's issue of ''Rolling Stone''. It included the first part of a lengthy two-part interview, titled "The Beach Boys: A California Saga", conducted by journalists Tom Nolan and David Felton. Unusually, the story devoted minimal attention to the group's music, and instead focused on the band's internal dynamics and history, particularly around the period when they fell out of step with the
1960s counterculture The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...
. At the end of the month, ''Surf's Up'' peaked on the US 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 Stateside may refer to: * stateside, an informal adjective or adverb meaning "in the United States" **Stateside Puerto Ricans **Stateside Virgin Islands Americans Stateside Virgin Islands Americans are West Indian Americans who hold US citizens ...
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 US single and failed to chart.


Contemporary reviews

''Surf's Up'' received generally favorable reviews. ''Time''s 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." ''NME''s Richard Green called it a "very good album, very different from anything they've done before."
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
was less impressed in '' The Village Voice''. 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 ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'', 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". He wrote, "At any rate, the Brian Wilson Enigma remains unanswered, and the Beach Boys without him are just another rock group." '' The Guardian''s Geoffrey Cannon felt that the album was inconsistent.


Retrospective assessments and legacy

In 1974, the staff of '' NME'' ranked ''Surf's Up'' number 96 in their 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''. In 2004, ''Surf's Up'' was ranked number 61 on ''Pitchfork''s list of "The Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". Contributor Dominique Leone wrote: Music critic John Bush wrote " ost of thesongs 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". 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 Collector''s 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:" ''Surf's Up'' was the last Beach Boys album recorded with Bruce Johnston until 1979's '' L.A. (Light Album)''. He 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 ieleyengineered 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." The record is also listed in the musical reference book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''. In 2014, John Wetton named ''Surf's Up'' his favorite
prog Prog may refer to: Music * Progressive music ** Progressive music (disambiguation) ** Progressive rock, a subgenre of rock music also known as “prog” *** Progressive rock (radio format) * Prog (magazine), a magazine dedicated to progressive ...
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!" , it is listed as the 761st-highest rated album of all time on
Acclaimed Music Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
.


Track listing


Original release


''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 set also includes the first ever releases of the ''Surf's Up''-era outtakes "Big Sur" (1970 version), "Sweet and Bitter", "My Solution", "Seasons in the Sun", "Baby Baby", "Awake", and "It's a New Day".


Personnel

Credits per Craig Slowinski. The Beach Boys * Al Jardine - lead and backing vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, banjo, piano, bass guitar * Bruce Johnston - lead and backing vocals, pianos, Hammond organ,
Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...
, mandolins * Mike Love - lead and backing vocals, tambourine *
Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...
- lead and backing vocals, Baldwin organ, Hammond organ, harmonium, Moog synthesizer, Rocksichord, piano, harmonica, bass guitar, snare drum, percussion, Rolls-Royce Phantom V *
Carl Wilson Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...
- lead and backing vocals, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, pianos, pianos w/ taped strings, Wurlitzer electric pianos, Baldwin organ, Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, bass guitar, drums, percussion * Dennis Wilson - backing vocals, drums Additional members from the touring band * Ed Carter - electric guitar, acoustic guitars * Daryl Dragon - Moog synthesizer, pipe organs, piano, electric guitar, bass guitar, vibraphone * Dennis Dragon - drums * Mike Kowalski - drums, percussion Guests * Blondie Chaplin - bass guitar * Bill DeSimone - backing vocals * Kathy Dragon - flutes * 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” *
Marilyn Wilson Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford (née Rovell; born February 6, 1948) is an American singer who is best known as the first wife of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Raised in Los Angeles, she started her singing career in the late 1950s, initially as part ...
- backing vocals * Gary Winfrey - backing vocals Additional session musicians * Arthur Brieglab - French horn * Jimmy Bond - double bass * Frank Capp - car keys, hi-hat * Al Casey - electric guitar * Roy Caton - trumpet *
Al De Lory Alfred V. De Lory (January 31, 1930 – February 5, 2012) was an American record producer, arranger, conductor and session musician. He was the producer and arranger of a series of worldwide hits by Glen Campbell in the 1960s, including John H ...
- pianos * David Duke - French horn, Wagner tuba * Glenn Ferris - trombone * Sam Freed - violin * David Frisina - violin * George Hyde - French horn * Anatol Kaminsky - violin * Nathan Kaproff - violin * George Kast - violin *
Carol Kaye Carol Kaye (née Smith, born March 24, 1935) is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 50 years. Kaye began play ...
- bass guitar * Charles Lloyd - tenor saxophone, flute * Sal Marquez - trumpet *
Roger Neumann Roger Neumann (3 January 1941 – 28 November 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, arranger, and music educator. He wrote arrangements for Count Basie, Buddy Rich, and The Beach Boys. He taught in Los Angeles and at the ...
- tenor saxophone * Nick Pellico - glockenspiel * Joel Peskin - tenor saxophone *
Mike Price Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at Weber State College from 1981 to 1988, Washington State University from 1989 to 2002, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 2004 ...
- trumpet * Claude Sherry - French horn * Woody Theus - bass drum, jingle sticks Additional musicians and production staff * The Beach Boys – producer *
Stephen Desper Stephen W. Desper is an American audio engineer who is best known for his work with the Beach Boys during the early 1970s and for inventing the Spatializer. The Spatializer is an effects unit which employs psychoacoustic techniques that emulate th ...
– chief engineer and mixer, Moog synthesizer, bird sfx * Ed Thrasher – original art direction


Charts


Notes


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

* {{Authority control 1971 albums The Beach Boys albums Capitol Records albums Reprise Records albums Progressive pop albums Albums produced by the Beach Boys Albums recorded at United Western Recorders Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders Albums recorded in a home studio Environmental songs