Narfer Gnarl

Overall Album Score: 7.8 out of 10

The title song is great. The first great Beach Boys ballad, it seems. It has a great melody and features those layered harmonies that the Boys are famous for. They follow that up with the utterly solid rocker "Catch a Wave" that, whoah, features a harp! ... That's small potatoes when you compare it to what Brian Wilson would achieve with Pet Sounds, but this was a vital first step.

"In My Room" is a less-famous but still golden ballad. It probably features the album's greatest uses of harmonies ... absolutely spellbinding. They follow that up with another great (but not too famous) light rocker "Hawaii," which features some truly excellent vocal interchanges.

What's the matter with this album is the rest of the material. A lot of it is a painful reminder that 1963 is nearly the '50s, and many of these accused songs are bland anyway! Too much of this material is forgettable ... but much of it is at-the-moment enjoyable, so it's difficult to actually hate them. Fortunately, the four unforgettable songs are so great that it overshadows the forgettable ones.

The real stinkers are the two instrumentals. "The Rocking Surfer" and "Boogie Woogie" (the closing number, I might add) threaten to ruin the whole experience. But they don't. Nothing can ruin "Surfer Girl" short of Madonna covering it.

Overall Album Score: 7.8 out of 10 (There's a handful of great songs on here. This album isn't really worth owning, though.)

Average Song Score: 8.0 (Again, not the best collection of Beach Boys songs ever released. The good ones greatly outweigh the bad ones, though.)

Album Tilt: 8.0 (It's uneven, but the classics leave a golden impression. There are still plenty of songs that should never have been recorded.)

Artist Rating: 7.5 (They're getting better, but there's still too much tasteless material for me to want to raise this rating.)

Track Reviews

Surfer Girl 10/10

Now who in their right minds can say anything bad about this ballad? This band is probably best known for their harmonically devastating ballads, and this is the first great one of their discography. It's interesting that they would actually begin thieir album with a ballad. Usually, it seems, those are reserved for the third track after two fast-paced songs. They made an excellent decision with it nonetheless!

Catch a Wave 9.5/10

A harp? Brian Wilson's definitely trying a few things in the studio, and it does nothing but improve the song. This song, at its base, is just another surfing song, and there's nothing particularly original about it. But they took the time to polish the song! The melody is great and the beat is toe-tapping. It's a classic surf song!

Surfer Moon 8/10

This is another Beach Boys ballad, but it's not too enthralling for me this time. It's too '50s! The pizzacatto strings at the beginning was polished and well done, but it's not characteristic of The Beach Boys enough. ... Well, it's only their third album and they haven't quite found their groove I guess. The melody is splendid though ... just the whole experience bores me a bit.

South Bay Surfer 6.5/10

I first listened to this album months ago and I looked up what melody this song came from. It's an old Dixieland song. Anyway, it's just fller ... if Brian Wilson didn't write it, it's filler. (OK that's an unfair statement, but I'm not going to erase it.)

The Rocking Surfer 6/10

An instrumental. Basically useless. It's not that fun. I'm tired of these. I want more classics!!!

Little Deuce Coupe 8/10

OK this is a classic. It's not a *great* classic as far as Beach Boys songs go. It's a straight ahead song with a simple though catchy melody and great singing. This is too simple for a Beach Boys song. They should never have sung about cars. ... Or surfing. (Yes, I'm crusing for a bruising with irate Baby Boomers. I can take all of you.)

In My Room 10/10

HERE WE GO!!!! This ballad is beauty in ways only the Beach Boys knew how to do properly! The chord progressions are absolutely golden. Brian Wilson has such an ear for harmonies, it's amazing. That's why this group is famous, after all! The melody really didn't matter ... it's the freaking harmonies!!

Hawaii 9/10

Very excellent vocals here with a call and response style interchanges. Not to mention the melody that's utterly catchy and original. It's a light, white-bread rocker, but it's very good and VERY Beach Boys. It doesn't do anything new after the first 30 seconds, but it doesn't overextend its welcome.

Surfers Rule 8/10

It's kind of like the last song, except it doesn't sound as fresh. The melody and harmonies aren't so excellent. Well ... it's still good.

Our Car Club 7.5/10

It's very dated again and un-Beach Boys. There's some good drum bits in here, but they've been doing that in the '50s. It's derivitive. It's about cars. ... But it's enjoyable, at least.

Your Summer Dream 7/10

It's a ballad though uninspired. The melody doesn't seem to do much. The instrumentation consists basically of a boringly strummed acoustic guitar and a doofy drumline. Meh.

Boogie Woogie 6/10

They end it on a weak note, but that's OK. These guys are going to turn into a GREAT band. I swear! I skipped ahead! This is a rock-jam-thing instrumental that nobody cares about. Nobody remembers the Beach Boys for doing this type of song, and there's good reason. It's boring. This group just wasn't a jam band.

Let's go e-mailing now... here.