The real breakthrough, as Brian Wilson asserts himself in the studio as both songwriter and arranger on a set of material that was much stronger than Surfin' Safari. Besides the hit title track and its popular drag-racing flip side ("Shut Down"), this has a lovely, heartbreaking ballad ("Lonely Sea") and a couple of strong Brian Wilson originals ("The Noble Surfer" and "Farmer's Daughter"). There are also a surprisingly high quotient of instrumentals (five) that demonstrate that, before session musicians took over most of the parts, the Beach Boys could play respectably gutsy surf rock as a self-contained unit. Indeed, the album as a whole is the best they would make, prior to the late '60s, as a band that played most of their instruments, rather than as a vehicle for Brian Wilson's ideas. The LP was a huge hit, vital to launching surf music as a national craze, and one of the few truly strong records to be recorded by a self-contained American rock band prior to the British Invasion.
Surfin' U.S.A.
The Beach Boys
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Surfin' U.S.A. Review
by Richie Unterberger
Track Listing
| Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Beach Boys | 02:30 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 2 | The Beach Boys | 01:53 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 3 | The Beach Boys | 02:06 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 4 | The Beach Boys | 01:59 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 5 | The Beach Boys | 02:23 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 6 | The Beach Boys | 01:51 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 7 | The Beach Boys | 01:53 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 8 | The Beach Boys | 02:05 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 9 | The Beach Boys | 01:48 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 10 | The Beach Boys | 02:13 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 11 | The Beach Boys | 02:01 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 12 | The Beach Boys | 01:44 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 13 | The Beach Boys | 02:29 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 14 | The Beach Boys | 01:51 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 15 | The Beach Boys | 02:06 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 16 | The Beach Boys | 02:01 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 17 | The Beach Boys | 02:23 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 18 | The Beach Boys | 01:51 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 19 | The Beach Boys | 01:53 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 20 | The Beach Boys | 02:04 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 21 | The Beach Boys | 01:41 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 22 | The Beach Boys | 02:12 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 23 | The Beach Boys | 01:59 | SpotifyAmazon | |||
| 24 | The Beach Boys | 01:39 | SpotifyAmazon |
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