Background: In the summer of 1963 the Beach Boys were very active touring and Brian Wilson was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the impossible burden of both touring and writing new material. He decided to miss some shows especially those that required long distance journeys. Apart from giving him more time and energy to write new songs, he was also able to hone his creative and production skills with other artists such as the Honeys (which included Brian’s future wife Marilyn Rovell) and Jan & Dean. The association with the latter caused great problems with Capitol Records since Brian had written and sung on the song Surf City which promptly went to number 1 in the charts for Jan & Dean and Liberty Records! However, Brian was pleased with his success as the writer of a number 1 hit and started recording the Beach Boys’ third album and the first to ‘officially’ credit him as the producer.

Review: Apparently the first song Brian wrote, Surfer Girl is a two and a half-minute encapsulation of the essence of Brian Wilson’s music in the early 1960s. A seemingly simple ballad, the great chord changes compliment the lush vocal harmonies under Brian’s pure falsetto lead. Catch A Wave continues the surfing theme with strong bass vocals from Mike Love and dense block harmonies from the group. This song features a fine instrument track which was used for Jan & Dean’s Sidewalk Surfing, and also turns up on the Stack o’ Tracks album in 1968. The pizzicato violins at the start of The Surfer Moon is totally unexpected as is what sounds like a single castanet click on the up-beat. This is one of Brian’s sweetest melodies which he sings beautifully (dueting with himself!) and the string arrangement supports it sensitively. South Bay Surfer is a simple shuffle-rock tune about young guys asserting themselves in South LA. The Rocking Surfer introduces an organ as the lead instrument on a surf-rock tune and Carl Wilson delivers one of his best guitar solos. If you listen carefully to the fade on the track you can hear the unmistakable ‘clip-clop’ sound Brian would use prominently and to great effect 3 years later on the Pet Sounds album. Little Deuce Coupe is another of the automotive classics written with Roger Christian and covers just about every aspect of the Californian car culture at the time. In My Room reveals Brian Wilson’s innermost feelings and the melody, harmonies and voices could only be those of the Beach Boys. Hawaii has a great Mike Love lead extolling the virtues of that Pacific island in everybody’s imagination and a signature Brian Wilson swooping falsetto. Surfer’s Rule gives Dennis Wilson a chance to flex his lead vocal muscles with a song that he could sing with authority as the only true surfer in the group. Our Car Club features a varied and highly skilled drum part from legendary session man Hal Blaine. Your Summer Dream showcases another exquisite Brian Wilson melody and vocal against a backdrop of major 7th and minor 7th chords usually found in jazz compositions. Boogie Woodie uses ‘Flight of the bumble-bee’ by Rimsky-Korsakov’ as inspiration for this boogie-woogie instrumental interpretation. It is said that Brian chose the boogie-woogie style when working out seemingly unrelated musical phrase throughout his career.

Summary:Surfer Girl is a very good album. Brian now fully understands how to blend increasingly complex instrumentation with a maturing Beach Boys harmony style. His confidence is growing, and with these arranging and production skills Brian Wilson shows he had come a long way in just over a year.

Highlights: Surfer Girl, Catch A Wave, The Surfer Moon, In My Room, Hawaii, Your Summer Dream

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