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The Beach Boys
LIST OF ALBUM REVIEWS: Surfin' Safari (1962)
Send your comments about the surfing guys here. Brief album summaries:
Surfin' Safari (1962)The Beach Boys aren't ready for prime time! But for such a low-scoring album, they managed to come up with two endurable classics: the title track and "409." Overall Album Score: 7.2 out of 10 Average Song Score: 7.6
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Surfin' USA (1963)They're improving though not by leaps and bounds. There's too many instrumentals present in here, but one of them is "Misirlou." The best, however, is still yet to come. Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10 Average Song Score: 8.3
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Surfer Girl (1963)The filler material is boring but the classics are golden! The Beach Boys still have a way to go. Overall Album Score: 7.8 out of 10 Average Song Score: 8.0
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Little Deuce Coupe (1963)A serious misstep for this group. Thank goodness it was Capitol Records' error. This is a boring album, and the best songs already appeared on the groups' earlier releases. Overall Album Score: 6.7 out of 10 Average Song Score: 7.0
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Shut Down Vol. 2 (1964)A few gems amidst some more of that nonsense! Oh well, it's better than that car thing at least. Overall Album Score: 7.8 out of 10 Average Song Score: 7.8
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All Summer Long (1964)The Beach Boys are beginning to be unrelentless! Oh, what melodies and harmonies! Overall Album Score: 8.6 out of 10 Average Song Score: 8.7
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Today! (1965)The album title = the time you should hear this album if you haven't already. Overall Album Score: 9.0 out of 10 Average Song Score: 9.0
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Summer Days & Summer Nights (1965)They continue to improve their craft -- there isn't one bad song on here. Plus "California Girls" greatly surpasses any single song they released previously... Overall Album Score: 9.3 out of 10 Average Song Score: 9.4
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Party! (1965)This was a weird idea of Brian Wilson to record a bunch of toss-off covers in the studio, and invite his friends to be rude during the section. This was nothing more than a toss-off, but it's somewhat fun. Overall Album Score: 7.5 out of 10 Average Song Score: 7.9
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Pet Sounds (1966)Don't be underratin' this 'un... Overall Album Score: 10 out of 10 Average Song Score: 9.9
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Smiley Smile (1967)The pop-rock album of the century was on the horizon, but it blew up. Here is the debris. Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10 Average Song Score: 8.2
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Wild Honey (1967)They're slowly gaining back their footing --- or trying to. This is another bizarre album but more polished and deliberate. Overall Album Score: 8.3 out of 10 Average Song Score: 8.4
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Friends (1968)Homely and fantastic. They're concentrating on writing great music that's so very pretty to hear... Overall Album Score: 8.8 out of 10 Average Song Score: 9.0
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Stack-O-Tracks (1968)This is a Beach Boys compilation with the vocals taken out. Payola? Overall Album Score: N/A Average Song Score: N/A
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20/20 (1969)The songwriting and production values are STRONG in this album, and the diversity is crazy. Do you know what that means? More great Beach Boys music. Overall Album Score: 8.8 out of 10 Average Song Score: 8.8
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All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael C. Lawrence. He goes serfing for peasants.
