The Beach Boys – Surfer Girl (1963/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

The Beach Boys – Surfer Girl (1963/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 25:53 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

Newly remastered for vinyl and in hi-res by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, Surfer Girl is presented here in stereo.

The stereo editions of Surfer Girl were originally mixed in stereo by their own preferred engineer, Chuck Britz, ostensibly under the group’s supervision.

“Brian may or may not have been present for those mixing sessions — evidence suggests that he trusted Chuck’s skills enough to let him prepare those mixes on his own — but the group held onto their multitrack tapes and delivered stereo masters to Capitol, rather than allowing Capitol to prepare their own stereo versions. Later, when Brian was only delivering mono masters, Capitol would prepare the Duophonic pseudo stereo editions for the stereo market,” says Alan Boyd, producer and Beach Boys’ archivist.

Surfer Girl was the third album by The Beach Boys and was originally produced by Brian Wilson on his own. The album featured numerous hits, including the title track, “Catch A Wave,” “In My Room,” “Hawaii,” “Our Car Club,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “Your Summer Dream,” and more.

Capitol pushed the Beach Boys for too much material in too short a time for the group to maintain as much quality control as would have been desirable. Consequently, most of their pre-1965 albums contain a high degree of filler, and thus stack up poorly next to those of such contemporaries as the Beatles, who were able to maintain high standards on almost all of their tracks. Surfer Girl does have some great tunes, including the title song, the hot rod ditty “Little Deuce Coupe,” and “Catch a Wave” (which could have been a substantial hit single on its own merits). Most significant of all is the gorgeous ballad “In My Room,” which anticipated future Beach Boys releases both in its sophisticated production (strings, organ, dense harmonies) and its personal, solipsistic lyrics. The rest is surprisingly mediocre filler, especially as at this point they were restricting their lyrical themes to beach culture almost exclusively; “Your Summer Dream,” with its unusual harmonies, is about the most interesting of the obscure tracks. If you’re not a dedicated Beach Boys fan, though, you should pass, as you can find the first-rate tracks on best-of anthologies. –AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger

Tracklist:
01. The Beach Boys – Surfer Girl (02:29)
02. The Beach Boys – Catch A Wave (02:10)
03. The Beach Boys – The Surfer Moon (02:14)
04. The Beach Boys – South Bay Surfer (01:48)
05. The Beach Boys – Rocking Surfer (02:02)
06. The Beach Boys – Little Deuce Coupe (01:42)
07. The Beach Boys – In My Room (02:15)
08. The Beach Boys – Hawaii (02:02)
09. The Beach Boys – Surfer’s Rule (01:58)
10. The Beach Boys – Our Car Club (02:26)
11. The Beach Boys – Your Summer Dream (02:30)
12. The Beach Boys – Boogie Woodie (02:09)

Personnel:
Al Jardine – backing and harmony vocals; bass guitar; hand claps
Mike Love – lead, backing and harmony vocals; hand claps
David Marks – rhythm guitar; hand claps
Brian Wilson – lead, backing and harmony vocals; bass guitar; piano, organ; hand claps
Carl Wilson – backing and harmony vocals; lead guitar, bass guitar; hand claps
Dennis Wilson – lead, backing and harmony vocals; drums, hand claps

Additional:
Hal Blaine – drums, percussion
Steve Douglas – tenor saxophone
Maureen Love – harp

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