Let's turn back the clock 60 years; The Beach Boys were still a fledgling new music act, rooted in both the early sensibilities of early rock artists like Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry with a tinge of rich harmonies akin to The Four Freshmen. Even in this early, arguably primitive era, The Boys had a characteristic sound, mostly due to bandleader Brian Wilson's harmonic influences (see The Four Freshmen reference last sentence) - Brian's knack for vocal arrangement over the simple rock and roll style made them stick out from other rock acts of the era - it's arguably one of the sole unique factors of this album, with another being a use of mostly original material. Even with these distinguishing factors, it's almost hard to imagine that this is the same group that would make "I Get Around" in not even two years time, a song that is more musically rich and mature than any given song on this debut.
If ever there were an album that suffers from "Debut Syndrome," it would be this lightweight little number. Some debuts are weak because the artist would change drastically following its release (see David Bowie's debut), or some are weak simply because their sound hadn't really matured yet (see Bob Dylan's debut), and some are weak for a little bit of both - see exhibit A. Keep in mind that The Beach Boys only had the surfing image for about two years at the most before Brian began doing damn near anything to rid the group of that image, not to mention the fact that the group's surf rock sound had yet to hit puberty on this release. Undoubtedly part of this issue is the production, which lacks Brian's trick of double-tracking vocals to create a richer sound. When listening to this again for the first time in a while, I was wondering why the vocals sounded so flat - now I know.
Songwriting-wise, these guys are no masters at it yet. That's not to say that there's no great moments on this, because I'd be lying if I said that. The title track and it's accompanying B-Side "409" are excellent straight-cut rock, boosted by a solid Mike Love performance and some interesting vocal harmonies. As a longtime fan of the deeper stuff in the catalog, I've thought that "Cuckoo Clock" is a standout on the album for a long period of time now, in part due to the interesting vocal harmonies and Brian's performance which at points feels both silly and earnest - if any song can compete with the title track for title of the album's best song, this is it. Honorable mentions go to the simple-but-enjoyable "Heads You Win, Tails I Lose," Dennis Wilson's earnest cover of "Little Girl (You're My Miss America)," and the group's primitive, yet nevertheless fun debut single of "Surfin'." Outside of those moments, however, this album contains the usual filler of the era. These range from passable covers, such as the standard sounding "Summertime Blues" with an even more standard performance from Carl Wilson, to the uninteresting "County Fair" and "Chug-a-Lug," the latter of which contains probably some of Mike Love's weakest songwriting to this day, to the flat-out cringe-inducing moments of "The Shift" and "Ten Little Indians," both songs that I'm too comfortable calling among the group's most throwaway.
In comparison to every other album that the group has made (yes, even the 90s ones), Surfin' Safari is not just simple, but arguably outdated. The best music from The Beach Boys, in my opinion, has a certain timelessness to its sound; moments like the gentle verse into pounding chorus of "Cabin Essence" or the emotional earnesty of "Please Let Me Wonder" have no age in my mind, where as a good chunk of this album feels very stuck in the past. Of course, this is all stuff we know with hindsight, as even the album right after this shows leaps and bounds of creative exploration at points; because The Beach Boys seemingly matured so quickly, it does make this retrospective approach to this album in particular somewhat difficult. In spite of this, I can confidently call this a fine enough first album, as it shows what the group is capable of while carrying the momentum of the preceding singles. It has high points and it has low points; seemingly an inconspicuous release, but one that would serve as the genesis for one of the most glorious careers in music.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Surfin' Safari.
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