Are we allowed a thread about "Surf's Up" the album, particularly the album cover

Disney Girls -> Student Demonstration Time: worst segue ever? I get the most poisonous vertigo every time I listen to that goddamed album.

personally, i tend to hate songs "with a message," in that sense at least.

and i completely disagree with you on pet sounds cindy. that thing hits me viscerally and emotionally as well as intellectually as i consider the meticulous production.

"surf's up" is fast becoming one of my favorite songs of all time. who here can actually hit the notes in "columnated ruins domino"? i need to practice my falsetto.

did anyone see that faux "looking back with love" cover page to thesmileshop.com a bit back? funny funny.

i can!

Hell, I still see these old discarded paintings in junk shops in New Mexico.

For me, this is a kitsch, almost racist image which fits nicely alongside ring-holding yardboy statues and Sambo figurines - which my fascist grandparents and their friends also had.

I would be interesting to know where this image truly originates.

I don't think I was even aware of this Beach Boys cover until the late 1970s, at which point it was a bargain bin staple.

'Holland' ('Surf's Up' omnipresent bargain bin companion), on the other hand, that was a really nice looking cover.

To be accurate, what exactly is memorable on this record, other than the truly vile songs? You got a somewhat dull-sounding rendition of "Surf's Up", maybe the tree song and, uh, what else? Some barely remembered Carl Wilson thing that goes on endlessly and, er, I forget what else.

I like "Take Care Of Your Feet" - it's like a throwback from Smiley Smile or Sunflower and it lightens the mood after the first two tracks.

"dull-sounding rendition of surf's up"? you gotta be joking around or just trying to start a fight!

That Carl Wilson thing is ace - what about the phased "baba ba ba baba ba" bit? Really haunting.

As for the lp version of "Surf's Up" sounding dull, well, I think compared to earlier (unfinished, of course) versions it DOES sound rather dull. Maybe it's a production or mastering problem. The 'Surf's Up' lp - like all of the Beach Boys' Warner Bros. lps -does sound murky and lifeless.

I heard a story about how one of the Beach Boys saw this image in a local diner and thought it'd look good on an album, exactly the sort of dumb thing you'd expect a Beach Boy to do. Given that this album contains not one but two of the greatest songs ever recorded: "Surf's Up" and "'Til I Die" then it's certainly worth of everyone's attention, however.... "Student Demonstration Time" is dire tho lyrically it's fairly clever, in fact Mike Love is a lot cleverer than he's given credit for, or indeed, appears to be. "Don't Go Near the Water" reminds me too much of the BMX Bandits for comfort and the "Disney Girls" is indeed the best thing Bruce Johnston ever did .... but that's not saying much is it?

haha great story!

For me, Surf's Up is all about "Feel Flows," "'Til I Die" and the title track. Beyond that, the album dovetails quickly. I kind of like the chorus of "Disney Girls," but the lyrics give me a headache ("kisses and a Tootsie Roll," "she's really swell because she likes church Bingo chances and old-time dances," barf). "Student Demonstration Time" is entertaining in a train-wreck way - it's as if Mike Love's trying to write his own version of "Revolution," complete with its antipathy toward violent revolt, but it fails because, you know, it's Mike Love and not John Lennon. The rest of the album is just kind of forgettable to me.

I much prefer Friends and Sunflower from this period.

what you said. i think it's fascinating. not that i ever found lennon that masterful a protest singer either, but it's fun to watch someone as california-diner-art as mike love aspire to emulate that.

As for the cover, actually, I love it — as tacky as its origins might've been, it very much fits in with the decay theme of the record. But it's no classic.

Not true, I like California Girls.

As for the LP itself; well of course it's wonderful. Side 2 is seamless perfection, side 1 has Long Promised Road & Disney Girls, isn't that enough?

Although James Earle Fraser (who also designed the famed Indian Buffalo Nickel) hoped his masterpiece would be cast in bronze and placed on Presidio Point overlooking San Francisco Bay, material restrictions during the First World War made the project impossible. Instead, in 1920, the city of Visalia, California, obtained the discarded statue and placed it in Mooney Park, where it remained, in a gradually deteriorating condition, for 48 years. In 1968, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum acquired this original plaster statue, restored it to its original magnificence, and made it a focal point of the museum.

from http://www.goldmountainmining.com/endoftrail.html

The reason I loved it so much at an early age was the idea of the juxtaposition of this dark, biblical painting with the semi-ironic title - "Surf's Up!" - and the way the Beach Boys were percieved as this sunny California band.
Q
But it's really just a racist redneck image? Fuck that.

Reclaim Satan! Long live Satan!

http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Tips/BeachboysSurfsup.jpg

yeah, i always think of that nixon-era tv spot where the indian looks out over his polluted land and sheds a lonely tear (so ably sent up in an episode of the simpsons).

the only beach boys song that has an interesting political idea is "the trader," and even that is fairly clunkily expressed. (though the song itself is awesome.)

Huey totally OTM, I couldn't have put it better myself. That's exactly why I love this cover (having never seen the art anywhere else, like kjoerup and others apparently did).

An acquaintance of my father's was recently showing me this room filled with random antiques and all kinds of collectable junk, and I was happy to see a print of this on the wall (though it was lumped in with the appalachian folk art section). I told him it was used as a Beach Boys album cover and he was surprised. That was the first time I'd ever seen the art outside of the Surf's Up cover.

this is the best album i have ever heard.

(just got it four days ago on vinyl.. side two over and over and over and over and over)

It is a great album. Shame about "Student Demonstration Time", but not letting one bad track spoil an otherwise wonderful album.

mp3s make it easy to remove mike love's garbage ^__^

"Feel Flows" = most underrated Beach Boys song, ever. The way it shifts into the stonered flute jam at 1:45 in is perfect. Best production on the album, too, with the backward voices in the final section drifting around the melody.

Side 2 rules.

I'm still trying to warm up to the first side.

Here's a photo I took of the statue at the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

http://www.howlongittakes.com/images/surfsup.jpg

And here's one facing the same direction as the album cover.

http://www.howlongittakes.com/images/surfsup2.jpg

feel flows ia pretty highly rated among music fans

esp since 2000, the almost famous thing, i think feel flows got put back on the radar in a big way. underrated? of the great songs on the album, it's the only one that gets much recognition at all. Til I Die is the best candidate for underrated on this album.

"esp since 2000, the almost famous thing"

Yeah, I sought out "Feel Flows" after seeing AF for the 1st time.. For some reason I thought it was Todd Rundgren. Also I have trouble deciding which I like best among "Feel Flows," "Til I Die," and "Surf's Up." It may have something to do with their production, but since a year or 2 ago, I have preferred these 3 songs to the best moments on Pet Sounds.. and all 3 are likely in my 5 favorite beach boys songs (along with "Caroline No" and "In My Room").

Oh, well I guess you're right. I've never seen Almost Famous. I'm not sure about "of the great songs on the album, it's the only one that gets much recognition at all", though. I'm pretty sure that thought would apply much more aptly to the title track.

doh, in my haste to make a point i completely forgot about surf's up! yeah, surf's up obviously, but feel flows isn't a million miles behind in terms of recognition. says me.

this is all about "Disney Girls" and "Long Promised Road" for me...something about the lead vocal performances on those two have just always stuck out to me

disney girls often gets written off as being overly sentimental, but i like that.

2nd side is so good

I heard a story about how one of the Beach Boys saw this image in a local diner and thought it'd look good on an album, exactly the sort of dumb thing you'd expect a Beach Boy to do.

still lol'ing at this

something very special about the phrase "exactly the sort of dumb thing you'd expect a Beach Boy to do"

I think about it whenever I hear a song off surfs up (which, now, is disney girls)

"dis-a-ney girls"

http://tllh.home.xs4all.nl/endofamerica.jpg

i'm glad everyone loves dis a ney girls

that song title has kind of different implications in this day and age

dis a ney goths