Updating the Beach Boys on cd Pt.2

Continuing backwards I did pick up a number of other newer cd versions of late and we might as well kick off here.

 The Beach Boys albums begins with 1962's Surfin' Safari, a fairly basic set of surf, car and teen scene songs that include the single Surfin' Safari, a remake of Surfin', their first record in 1961, Ten Little Indians, a second 1962 single and the surf instrumental Moon Dawg that showed  promise when it came to playing and arranging a track.
This super audio cd is all mono as there's no stereo mix.

 That was followed by March 1963's Surfin' U.S.A. which included the Chuck Berry re-write title track that managed to mention all the States, the drag racing number Shut Down, a Brian Wilson masterpiece in the form of the Lonely Sea and two surf instrumentals Let's Go Trippin' and Misirlou.

Because this originally had mono and stereo mixes, you get both on this which as it has been ages since I heard them was well worth getting.

Surfer Girl issued September 1963, was a break through as while on the surface it seemed a mainly surf based album when the Surf Sound was riding the charts with Pipeline by the Chantay's and Surf City by Jan & Dean topping the charts, chief writer/composer Brian Wilson was getting the hang of making exceptional arrangements and using jazz influences.

Lyrically In My Room was a breakthrough, exploring what it meant to be alone, Surfer Girl was a paean to female surfers that showed the Beach Boy's amazing harmonies off while Boogie Woodie showed piano based jazz influences.

This also has noticeably different mono and stereo mixes, the Mono surfer Girl with its vocal gi-gi-girl enunciation differing compared the straight girl in stereo. 

 This album emerged one month after Surfer Girl being a protective grab the tracks and release as two tracks had been used by Capitol Records, their recording label for a Hot Rod compilation against their wishes.

Thus it adds 409 from Surfin' Safari with its roaring spin, Shut Down  from Surfin' U.S.A. plus Our Car Club and Little Deuce Coupé from last months Surfer Girl album to eight new songs.

It's almost a car themed album with just Be True To Your School a single whose high school simplistic non questioning innocence soon seemed a part of a different era weeks later after President Kennedy's assassination placed as the first song on the album .
The single arrangement with its wind marching band and cheerleader interjections is very different and all time favourite.

What lifted the subject were the arrangements, vocal harmonies coupled with Roger Christian co writing the lyrics that told stories of cars and riders you could relate to.

Again this has mono and stereo mixes with 409 appearing in Duophonic echo laden stereo as it did on original lp records in the stereo portion

 As America worked its way through the tremendous loss of President Kennedy - something that was just shocking at the time - America adopted and made stars of what had been a little known act in the States that was massive in their native Britain, The Beatles.

Even sharing the same record label, America it seemed embraced that act that offered hope and a new start and in some respects the musical world around American acts prior to that tragic loss just seemed dated to the point the achievements of the Beach Boy's with the Californian surf and car sound had been eclipsed.

Thus that this album would sound in places a bit tired shouldn't surprise anyone but this said an album that has Don't Worry Baby, The Warmth of The Sun, the close harmonies in In The Parking Lot and the high school sunshine of Pom Pom Play Girl can't be all bad.

 Augusts 1964's All Summer Long was however a stronger album whose lead off 45, I Get Around even managed to crack top ten in the Beatles backyard and offered signs the beach boys were back although it was the last time they visited teen car and high school life.

This is the home to "Wendy", the 50's homage We'll Runaway and two pieces of high school life, Little Honda, the two wheels of teen freedom and Drive-In, that american concept where couples would drive, park up and watch a movie in a car.

This album uses the original stereo album masters so I Get Around and All Summer Long appear in Duophonic fake stereo as they always did and the mono portion still has the rough sounding Drive In and Don't Back Down as every copy of the mono lp British or American had.
This is my favourite of the bunch followed by Surfer Girl.

Each disc is a Super Audio cd  with a regular layer for normal cd playing equipment and an extra layer for higher sound quality for those of us with super audio cd players in our stereos.

To conclude this length piece, I hope I have introduced a number of albums, what makes them stand out even over fifty years on from release and what makes these discs  special.