Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Jan & Dean

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

 

 

Jan Berry and Dean Torrence made music that was very similar in many ways to the early Beach Boys music. Actually Jan often collaborated with Brian Wilson on songwriting - Surf city, Drag city, Dead man's curve and Ride the wild surf being among the songs they wrote together. Further evidence of their close ties is provided here by the inclusion of several covers of Beach Boys classics. Although not included here, Barbara Ann (originally released on the Beach Boys Party album) features one member of Jan and Dean as lead singer - I've seen different reference source naming Jan or Dean so I can't say which one.

Jan and Dean's music was about more than just surfing as some of their other recordings (Linda, Heart and soul, a cover of Norwegian wood) but if you don't enjoy surf music, you won't find much to get excited about here. The duo's career ended abrubtly when Jan nearly died in a horrific accident. He recovered sufficiently to be able to record again in the seventies but was unable to recapture past glories. Meanwhile, Dean quit music and established a successful career in graphics design, though Jan and Dean re-united to provide the support act for the 1978 Beach Boys tour.

If you enjoy the early music of the Beach Boys, you'll probably enjoy this too, especially as Brian Wilson contributed so much tothese recordings.

Jan Barry and Dean Torrence met at University High School in West Los Angeles during the mid-1950s and by June 1958 broke in the national Top 10 chart as Jan and Arnie with their single "Jennie Lee." The following year as Jan and Dean, they again entered the Top 10 chart with "Baby Talk" which inspired Brian Wilson to write "Surfin" which became the first hit from the Beachboys.

Jan and Brian Wilson during the winter of 1963 wrote "Drag City." Jan produced the song with a group of session musicians which included Glen Campbell.

Jan and Dean more than the Beachboys were the early heralders of the Southern California lifestyle and were the seminal messengers of the idyllic sun, fun and cars lifestyle. This is a great album which features more than the hits and includes songs that later became hits for groups such as the Beatles, Four Seasons, Beachboys, and the McCoys. More than Surf City, this is Southern California in the late 50s and early 60s. Enjoy.

I think this CD is one of the best J&D collections I've ever heard. In addition to their hits, it also has several songs that you probably won't find on many other J&D comps. Those songs are "covers" of other artists' songs. (In a weird sort of way, I actually think that their "hammed-up" take on "Hang On Sloopy" is better than the version by the McCoys!) For some reason, the songs are in a strange mixture of stereo and mono versions, but they all sound good to me. The CD has some mostly good liner notes --- I say "mostly good" because, for one thing, part of them are missing! Don't know how the notes got put out like that! There also seems to be at least one misleading claim in the notes, as they state that the "most recent" single on the CD is "Here They Come." Technically, that song is the most recent A-side, but "Norwegian Wood" was a B-side (backing "Popsicle," which isn't here) later on, after Jan's accident. ("Norwegian Wood" was supposed to be the A-side, but Dean managed to get the songs reversed.) Oh well. What really matters is the music. No, Jan & Dean may not have been as good as the Beach Boys, at least not in my opinion, but most of their stuff is still pretty cool. The only thing about this CD that I really don't like is that it's copy-protected, so you can't put any of the tracks on it on any of your own custom CDs...but even that's not really a major problem, at least not if you want to copy the hits, because there are plenty of other CDs that you can copy them, or most of them, from! (By the way, I am by no means advocating piracy!)

If you like great surf music, this is the cd for you! Since you have so many top songs on the cd, beats buying one tune at a time i.e. mp3. Also lot of other top tunes, some sound as good as the original hits. I've always liked their harmonizing similar to the Beach Boys. A strong recommend to buy.

Terrible sound quality.
Cheap CD case. Fell abart upon opening.
A total waste of money!
thanx Amazon

Jan And Dean surfaced around the same time as The Beach Boys, in fact Beach Boys members wrote some songs here.
The best here are Surf City, Little Deuce Coupe and Ride The Wild Surf.
Intepretations of the McCoys Hang On Sloopy (My Girl Sloopy) and The Beatles Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) don't quite work, however The Four Season's Walk Like A Man is excellent.
Sadly some songs are not really high quality, such as Honolulu Lulu, Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp), Linda and (Here They Come) From All Over The World.
The Little Old Lady and Dead Man's Curve have a certain early 1960s charm, but overall although The Beach Boys put out some below par stuff, they can easily put out a double CD of real quality hits.
Sorry lads, I can't give this more than 2 stars.