Surfer Girl/Shut Down, Vol. 2 [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

The Beach Boys

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 13, 2001)
• Original Release Date: May 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00005A1MU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,509 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Surfer Girl may have been the band's third album release, but it was the first to bear the imprimatur of founder and creative mainstay Brian Wilson as producer, and the difference is palpable from the confident opening tracks onward. That one-two combo, "Surfer Girl" and "Catch a Wave," also effectively serves as the blueprint for much of the Beach Boys' subsequent sound. On the former, Wilson's falsetto soars over a tender, yet musically sophisticated, ballad, while the latter features Mike Love's trademark twang urgently proselytizing SoCal surf, both over band harmonies that seemed to grow tighter and more adventurous with every cut. That artistic axis is revisited yet again on "Little Deuce Coupe" and "In My Room," the latter ballad showcasing Wilson's full artistic arsenal and giving an early glimpse into his introspective soul. The curiously titled "Shut Down, Part II" (a de facto sequel to an earlier hit EP) sought to further the band beyond its ironic sea-and-sun fetish (none but Dennis Wilson ever surfed) into the burgeoning hot-rod subculture as well. The results were understandably uneven, but the high points remain nothing short of spectacular, including the Love-propelled "Fun, Fun, Fun," Wilson's knowing nod to Phil Spector, "Don't Worry Baby," and the underrated "The Warmth of the Sun." Bonus cuts include the single mix of "Fun, Fun, Fun," a German-language version of "In My Room," and the previously unreleased, largely experimental "I Do" by Wilson and Love. Brian offers up a brief commentary on both albums in the notes, while David Leaf (author of the pioneering bio The Beach Boys and the California Myth) documents the music track-by-track. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

Beach Boys Photos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Cool Beach Boy Two-Fer, April 22, 2001

By	John Peterson "bigtimemusiclover" (Marinette, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's another wonderful two-fer from the Beach Boys. Murray Wilson (Brian, Dennis, and Carl's father) was still the tyrant in the studio which may have slowed Brian's amazing development as a producer. Still, his songwriting was maturing very rapidly, while still keeping the "Fun Fun Fun" aspects commercial.

"Surfer Girl" is the stronger album of the two, with "In My Room" showing Brian's sanctuary away from the world even if Gary Usher wrote the lyrics. There's also the title cut, "Little Deuce Coupe", "Catch A Wave" (which Jan and Dean would steal the music for "Sidewalk Surfin"), and others. Marvelous.

"Shut Down Volume 2" has two of the finest songs to come out of the "60's, "Don't Worry Baby" and "The Warmth Of The Sun". "Fun Fun Fun" is pretty nifty, too.

The bonus tracks are cool, too. And a personal note to one of the reviewers; check out the last two tracks on the CD which both have intros that are NOT on the 1990 reissue. They're remixed better, too (in stereo and not mono). When the last song "I Do" is over, wait about 20 seconds and you'll get a nice little bonus of some acappella singing that also is not on the 1990 reissue.

If you have the 1990 reissue, check out the songwriting credits and compare them to this version. It's very enlightening.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Brian Brilliance, Some Filler, March 19, 2001

By	Joseph C. Clark "clark_j" (Hyattsville, MD USA) - See all my reviews

In the early 1960's, Capitol Records was forcing 3 or 4 albums a year from Brian and the Boys, so there is some inevitable filler amidst brilliance such as "Surfer Girl", "Catch A Wave", "In My Room", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Don't Worry, Baby", and "The Warmth of the Sun." In fact, the tunes on this CD are either great or filler, very little mediocrity.

Great songs on this two-fer which are not on the greatest hits cds would be underrated gems such as "Hawaii", the gorgeous Brian solo ballad, "Your Summer Dream", and the anthemic "In The Parkin' Lot." Dennis Wilson (the only BB who actually surfed) gets to sing lead on the rockin' "Surfer's Rule", which lays down a lyrical challenge in its coda to the then hugely popular Four Seasons. "I Do" is an expansion of "County Fair" from the Surfin' Safari album. It has some of the most romantic lyrics of any Beach Boys song. "The Surfer Moon" is lyrically silly but, musically, an interesting ballad which features Brian duetting with himself. At this point, Brian was singing all the ballads and letting Mike Love sing all the uptempo hits. Dennis, like Ringo Starr in The Beatles, would be given an album track to sing on almost every album.

Throwaway tunes here would be sophomoric fluff like "South Bay Surfer", and the instrumentals ("The Rockin' Surfer", "Boogie Woodie", "Shut Down, Pt. 2", and "Denny's Drums.") "This Car Of Mine" is a junker, "Pom Pom Playgirl" is slightly interesting with some complex key changes, but a trifle at only about 1:25 long, and "Keep An Eye On Summer" is pretty but is one of Brian's least interesting ballads, featuring the conventional rock and roll ballad chords (I-vi-ii-V). It sounds as if it was churned out to meet a deadline, but it is superior to the version of the tune appearing on Brian's recent Imagination cd.

"Cassius" Love vs. "Sonny" Wilson is a weird recreation of a Beach Boys rehearsal with Mike Love and Brian ragging on each other's singing voices with really lame, sophomoric, and dated putdowns. The interesting thing here is that the putdowns reflected the true feelings of the participants, as Mike and Brian have always had an intense love-hate relationship, full of mutual fear and jealousy. "Cassius" and "Sonny" were from Cassius Clay (soon to become Muhammad Ali) and reigning heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, who were about to fight for the heavyweight title (Clay/Ali won). But even more embarrassing is "Louie, Louie" with the worst lead vocals ever laid down by Mike Love or anybody else. Confirms all of Brian's putdowns. On the other hand, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" is a fantastic remake of the Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers 1956 classic doo-wop tune. Brian puts in his most complex production to date, using for the first time Phil Spector's production techniques, studio, and musicians (a practice which would be used for the entire Pet Sounds album). There is a stunning moment where all the instruments suddenly drop out and the group does about 15 seconds of amazing acapella work before the instrumentation kicks in again. Gives me goosebumps every time.

Interesting Note: "Don't Worry, Baby" was intended by Brian to be the follow-up for The Ronettes to "Be My Baby", hence the similiar drum intro and title lyric. But Phil Spector was too proud to accept tunes from Brian, who he admired but considered an upstart. So, thankfully, the BB's recorded it, and it later became the B-side to "I Get Around", making for one of the best singles ever done by anyone.

Unfortunately, Capitol, as they did in 1990, has issued this music in lame, primitive 1960's 3-track stereo (usually with double-tracked voices coming out the side channels with the instrumentation left in mono in the center channel) instead of either using Brian's original mono mixes, which packed more power (listen to how the mono single version of "Fun, Fun, Fun" shuts down the wimpy stereo mix.), or doing modern stereo remixes of all the material. But even this flaw cannot prevent one from enjoying the greatness present on this two-fer which is a great value, with about 16 great songs. Buy and enjoy hearing the genius, romanticism, and beautiful voice of the young Brian Wilson in his early bloom.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two early classics full of surf and car songs, April 8, 2005

By	Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This twofer pairs the third and fifth albums recorded by the Beach Boys. Their fourth album, a themed collection of car songs, contains four songs (including the title track) previously released on earlier albums and was therefore put on a different twofer to avoid duplication on the same CD.

The first album here, Surfer girl, yielded the double-sided American hit featuring the title track and Little deuce coupe, plus a further American hit, In my room. The second album here, Shut down volume 2, yielded two further American hits, Fun fun fun (though the album version differs slightly from the single version, added as a bonus track to this twofer) and Don't worry baby. None of these songs charted in Britain, which was gripped by Beatle mania at the time. However, Brits eventually came to love the music of the Beach Boys and these songs are now regarded as classics on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Surfer girl album is the stronger of the two albums here, with seven of the twelve songs being surfing music, of which I particularly like the title track, Hawaii and Catch a wave. Shut down volume 2 starts strongly with the two American hits and contains another outstanding track (Warmth of the sun) and covers of Why do fools fall in love and Louie Louie It is a fine album in its own way but not quite as strong overall as Surger girl.

Three bonus tracks include the single version of Fun fun fun, a version of In my room recorded in German and a previously unreleased recording of a song, I do, that the Beach Boys wrote for the Castells.

If you enjoy the early music of the Beach Boys, you will find plenty to get excited about here.