The Beach Boys - Surf's Up (1971)

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Emerging at the vanguard of the "California Sound", the band's early music gained international popularity for their distinct vocal harmonies and lyrics evoking a southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance. Influenced by jazz-based vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and doo-wop, Brian led the band to experiment with several genres ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic and baroque while devising novel approaches to music production and arranging. While initially managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, Brian's creative ambitions and sophisticated songwriting abilities dominated the group's musical direction.


Surf's Up is the seventeenth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released in 1971. It was met with a warm critical reception, and reached number 29 on US record charts, becoming their best performing album in years. In the UK the album peaked at number 15

Both the album's title and cover artwork are an ironic, self-aware nod to the removedness from the band's surf rockroots.[1] Its name was taken from the song of the same title written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks five years earlier for the abandoned studio album Smile. Surf's Up's creative direction was largely influenced by newly employed band manager Jack Rieley, who strove to reinvent the group's image and reintegrate them back into music counter-culture. Two singles were issued in the US: "Long Promised Road" and "Surf's Up". Only the former charted, peaking at number 89.

In 2004, the album was voted 154 in Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and ranked 61 on Pitchfork Media's "The Top 100 Albums Of The 1970s". It is listed in the musical reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

more info Wiki

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocal(s)Length
1. "Don't Go Near the Water"-   Mike Love/Al Jardine Mike Love/Al Jardine/Brian Wilson 2:39
2. "Long Promised Road" -Carl Wilson/Jack Rieley Carl Wilson 3:30
3. "Take a Load Off Your Feet" -Jardine/Brian Wilson/Gary Winfrey Brian Wilson/Jardine 2:29
4. "Disney Girls (1957)"-   Bruce Johnston Bruce Johnston 4:07
5. "Student Demonstration Time" -Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller/Mike Love Love 3:58

Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocal(s)Length
1. "Feel Flows" -C. Wilson/Rieley C. Wilson 4:44
2. "Lookin' at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)" -Jardine/Winfrey Jardine 1:55
3. "A Day in the Life of a Tree"-   B. Wilson/Rieley Jack Rieley/Van Dyke Parks/Jardine 3:07
4. "'Til I Die" -B. Wilson C. Wilson/B. Wilson/Love 2:41
5. "Surf's Up" -B. Wilson/Van Dyke Parks C. Wilson/B. Wilson/Jardine 4:12

δοςνλαοδ