1962 ORIG THE BEACH BOYS SURFIN' SAFARI Surf HOT ROD

$

32

         RARE 1962 MONO FIRST PRESSING 

            THE BEACH BOYS

              SURFIN' SAFARI 

\                                    USA - RAINBOW CAPITOL - T 1808  (MONO)

Original 1962 first pressing vinyl of the very first BEACH BOYS album on the highly collected RAINBOW Capitol label....

Includes the original blue printed Capitol inner sleeve...

The Beach Boys’ debut album was released only months before the Beatles’ debut, ensuring that retrospective comparisons are inevitable.  Overall, the Beatles’ album stands up better but the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ Safari must be admired for containing a greater amount of original material, no matter how weak.  Nine original tracks was an astounding achievement for most albums released as early as 1962.

Inevitably, it is the title track and hit single “Surfin’ Safari” that remains the best known and most effective track on the Beach Boys’ debut.  In reality only Dennis Wilson, the heart-throb of the band, was actually a surfer.  Brian Wilson was exploiting a fad of the time for his own commercial intentions, a despicable act by today’s standards but par for the course during rock ‘n’ roll’s infancy.  Whether or not he knew a surf board from an ironing board, Brian certainly observed the fad accurately enough to convince everyone of his authenticity.  Along with his band-mate and fellow non-surfer Mike Love, Brian put together a winning, uplifting track packed with surfing jargon and a very tight vocal arrangement, the like of which the Beach Boys would become well-known for.  It’s an uplifting, feel good summer song with a peppy, amusingly nasal lead vocal from Mike which is instantly recognisable.  “Surfin’ Safari” remains the one track from the album that has stood the test of time. 

Some of the other tracks are modeled exactly after the lead singles (Heads I Win, Tails I Lose : Surfin’ Safari, The Shift: 409) and nearly all the lyrical content will offer nothing beyond a good feeling. But hey, this is what the people wanted, and they got it: Beach music.

The songs (as was the standard for the time) are all tightly wrapped and nicely packaged and you won’t feel bored during the album. It’s somewhat interesting hearing how The Beach Boys started and comparing that to where they came from.

There are incredibly quick glances into the vocal talents of Brian & Dennis Wilson (primarily on the verses) as well, even if not through the entire song. “Little Miss America” and “Cuckoo Clock”. There is even a pretty interesting song, “Moon Dawg”, consisting of pretty much as heavy of a jam you will get on this album, with occasional backing vocal support.

This the Beach Boys finding it easy to fit in the growing popularity of the Surf Rock trend at that moment and fortunately, thanks to the hit singles such as "Surfin' Safari", "409" or "Surfin'", they managed to break into the mainstream and later would develop the successful career full of sensational music.

Surfin' Safari

County Fair

Ten Little Indians

Chug-A-Lug

Little Miss America

409

B: 

Surfin'

Heads You Win, Tails I Lose

Summertime Blues

Cuckoo Clock

Moon Dawg

CONDITION: The Cover: strong on front & back with a little light previous use, clean VG++ and looks very decent as a collectible with no more than just slight shelf wear ... no split seams, no bends and no writing.

The Vinyl: all glossy with minor superficial hairlines VG+ not affecting play grade with is mostly excellent with no more than a bit (very small) light surface under a little of the music, not a problem, plays enjoyable from start to end... 

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record