Customer Reviews

The Best of Jan & Dean

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Life and fame were very good to Jan and Dean, at least for a while, when they started out as a Garage Duo making the tours of local recording studios. They quickly took advantage of the happenstance of the rise of southern California surfer music to catch a wave to the top with an early hit, "Linda". Later came "Surf City", and a raft of together, such as "Honolulu Lulu", "The New Girl In School', and "Sidewalk Surfing" (which robbed the melody and chord progressions from Beach Boy pal Brian Wilson's "Catch A Wave). Later came such popular numbers as "Ride The Wild Surf", "You really Know How to Hurt A Guy", and of course, "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena".

In what is one of the most ironic twists involving their career, one of their biggest hits was with a song called "Dead Man's Curve", which chronicled a fateful race between a Jaguar XKE and a Corvette Sting Ray, which ends with the protagonist badly mangled in the crash. Just a year later Jan was himself badly injured in such a crash in his own Corvette, and suffered a number of permanent disabilities from it. Still, Jan and Dean performed for years later with rock and roll revival tours, and Jan still records, although in a very limited sense. This was wonderful music, and it still plays well. I listen to them often, and I'm sure you will too once you listen to this album of their collected hits. Enjoy

I wonder about the people who gave this CD those "favorable" reviews. I too am a fan of J&D (despite the facts that I wasn't around in the '60s and don't, and never have, lived in California). However, there is one very important thing about this CD that they fail to mention, and that is that the recordings on the CD are not the originals. (This is also not mentioned in the site's product description, or if it is, I somehow missed it.) It seems to me that if those people had actually heard this CD, they would have pointed that out. These recordings aren't really even "Jan And Dean," as there is no Jan on them (as far as I know)! To me, the fact that these are re-recordings renders the "best of" part of the CD's title false, as the ORIGINALS are the best ones!! I find it rather annoying when record labels use inferior re-recordings and make it look, at least at first, like they are the originals by calling the CD "greatest hits" or "best of," or some such phony "slapped-on-the-package-to-make-the-CD-sell" title. I don't know how many times I've been taken in by this ruse. Fortunately, I discovered the truth about this CD before I ignorantly ordered my own copy. It was put out by K-Tel, who seem to specialize in re-recordings, but there are probably a lot of people who don't know that about them. I'm not saying that these recordings are bad; they just can't compare to the originals, at least not to me. I give this CD three stars. If you're looking for the REAL recordings, sorry --- you'll have to look elsewhere.

These are newer recordings made by Dean during the 1980s, without Jan's involvement. Not the original recordings from the '60s.

Great collection of great songs. The good old days when Huntington Beach, California was Surf City and drive-in restaurants throughout the United States were pit areas for street-racers.

Friday nights at the local burger joint as '55 and '56 Chevys line up, 327/375hp fuel-injected engines roaring and rumbling through open headers. Rear ends jacked up as street tires are replaced with racing slicks.

The 60s before the Viet-Nam War, social protesting, and the psychedelic sounds from San Francisco. Enjoy those good times before war destroyed the USA.

Surf City: Best of Jan and Dean is a better album but for the money this is a bargain and certainly an inexpensive way to load your MP3 player. All the songs are great. So, grab this album. It's fun, fun, fun.