1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 223. The Beach Boys – Surf’s Up (1971)

 

So much of this album feels a million miles away from the chirpy surf-pop of early Beach Boys, even down to the gloomy cover. I thought it was a Goya depiction of Don Quixote, an emaciated figure riding an emaciated horse painted in dull, muted colours. Turns out the figure is a Native American, based on a sculpture called The End Of The Trail. Possibly the Trail of Tears, cheers Andrew Jackson. The title of the album is ambiguous as well, being more a reference to being done with the surfing imagery than an exhortation that it’s a good day for surfing. 

Musically it isn’t a massive departure with still roughly the same Beach Boys sound, albeit without the usual harmonies – vocal duties are predominantly taken up by Carl Wilson. Brian Wilson, meanwhile, is a faint presence at best throughout most of the album but the final three tracks are written by him. 

There’s a pervading ecological feel to the album, starting with Don’t Go Into The Water about pollution in the seas (good things that 54 years later we’ve heeded that warning, eh?), while Take A Load Off Your Feet includes references to broken glass on the beaches. The Beach Boys have a bit of a foray into political comment with Student Demonstration Time, a riff on Riot In Cell Block Number Nine, which feels like a bit of a clunky intrusion into the album.  

It’s Wilson B’s tracks at the end of the album that really travel to the same kind of dark place that he was mentally at the time. A Day In The Life Of A Tree is a sombre piece backed by organ, where the narrator describes the life of a tree beset by the environmental pressures of modern life, but could equally be about Wilson himself. 

If you think of The Beach Boys as Surfin’ USA and Help Me Rhonda then this album will leave you feeling a bit baffled, it’s all a lot deeper and introspective and, while most of the tunes may not be as catchy as the classic surf-pop stuff, they would, I think, be more rewarding for repeat listening. 

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