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The Beach Boys – Surf’s Up｜Vinyl Monday

Abigail Devoe | September 12, 2025



The music, all is lost for now.

Welcome (or welcome back) to Vinyl Monday! This is my series where I give the who/what/when/where/why and how I feel about classic albums in my collection. My thoughts on the Beach Boys’ second comeback, Surf’s Up (released 1971.) Subscribe for more Vinyl Monday!

Keep in touch:
Instagram: @abigaildevoe https://www.instagram.com/abigaildevoe/
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Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@abigaildevoe
SpunIt (it’s Letterboxd for vinyl geeks): spunit://spunit.io/friendProfile?profile=sZN9N7hTusP0ifQ20TdlzbBvtHd2
I cohost the Dolls Podcast!: https://open.spotify.com/show/4JsH0rsXUNjgvFLIbwYgnK?si=798d0d6d67864c4e
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unveiling-the-legends-dolls-of-the-60s-70s/id1749327932
I voice the bumpers on this radio show!: www.mixcloud.com/jkhoman
Follow the Vinyl Monday playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27N3dOWRJU7ydqY4f54nJB?si=bf7980c428c04340

Timestamps:

intro – 0:00
art/packaging/personnel – 00:40
why SMiLE failed – 3:55
Surf’s Up – 8:03
track listing/release – 15:08
my thoughts – 18:27
brian – 36:18
outtro/thanks for watching! – 40:36

Music:
Intro Music: Yeah Yeah Yeah (Long) by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Artist: http://audionautix.com/
Outtro Music: Ticket To Nowhere Man by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Artist: http://audionautix.com/
Vinyl Monday logo by Callum: https://www.youtube.com/@clynaack

#vinyl #vinylcommunity #beachboys

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Written by Abigail Devoe

Comments

This post currently has 50 comments.

  2. @sugadelicsavagesoul8623

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    I know I'm a little late to the party, but if you don't own Van Dyke Park's psychedelic underground masterpiece, "Song Cycle", I highly highly recommend you get it. It's simply otherworldly amazing. (I have it on CD, currently looking for a vinyl copy) But if at all possible, I would die to see an episode of that album. It's one of my holy grails!
    And as a Gen Xer, I love Rooney—although my jam is (the Pink Floydish psych pop of) "BLUE SIDE". 💙

  3. @Jaydl714

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Recently listened to this album and I really liked it! Had some serious gems in Disney Girls, A Day in the Life of a Tree, and of course Surf’s Up. Even though I look to The Beach Boys for harmonies and that wasn’t as much of a focus on this album but they made it work well

  4. @Lambert1386

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    I love the Surf's Up album. I first heard it back in the 1970s, sitting in a house in Eau Claire, Wisconsin while my roommate rolled a joint right in front of his mother. My East Texas mind was blown. I really love A Day In The Life Of A Tree.

  8. @manly_toilet

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    A Day In the Life of A Tree overrated, Take A Load Off Your Feet underrated :))) it makes me so incredibly happy to hear it

    I think Til I Die uses a drum machine, not sure. Mama Says is an excerpt from Vegetables, and if you listen you can kinda hear the Child Is Father of the Man melody in Little Bird. Wild Honey is severely underrated. Holland is great (not a huge fan of the fairytale but the album rules).

  17. @EdKazO-Vision

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    I’m a first generation BB fan and I found your commentary incredibly insightful. My thoughts are bein’ provoked ovah heah! You may not be schooled in music theory, but your feel for it is impeccable. I’m happy you’re around. Keep it up Abigail!

  18. @EdKazO-Vision

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Abigail, I love Smiley Smile. More than Smile. It has a very lo-fi DIY stoner vibe to it. Good Vibrations (the BB’s epic) sounds out of place on it. LOVE LOVE LOVE that album!

  19. @rsully

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Love your videos – great commentary . . . Whish we could dump, Tree, SDT, and Feet for some DW tracks . . . but when my friends who are not BB fanatics, hear SDT, they love it!!

  20. @baldpeak1

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Thanks, Abbie, for a wonderfully insightful and passionate take on this album. I bought this album at my local record store (based on trust) because…it was a BEACH BOYS album. It was love at first listening despite its unevenness and imperfections. I gotta tell you, this record moves me in a way that Pet Sounds, with all its slickness and perfection, never has. It's relatable. It's my favorite Beach Boys album (and I love Holland, too!). I've been following you for a long time (I remember your excitement at reaching 10K subscribers) and I really appreciate what you do. Keep on truckin'.

  21. @westongarr8884

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Hey Abby @abigaildevoe this is kinda random but I feel like you would be into Weyes Blood just based of your vibe and taste in music. Thanks for all the album break downs have a nice day 🙂

  24. @ms8596

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Yes, the Beach Boys did use a Maestro Rhythm King drum machine on the song "Long Promised Road". This occurred because Dennis Wilson was unavailable for the initial recording session due to filming commitments for Two Lane Blacktop (with James Taylor and Laurie Bird). The drum machine was used on the basic track of the song.

    The Beach Boys (especially Brian Wilson) were often in the forefront of embracing new technology. As a matter of fact, Robert Moog spent a significant amount of time with them developing the Melsinar, a sine wave generator with a ribbon controller and a printed keyboard to accurately mark the notes that were needed. The Beach Boys used this in live performances of “Good Vibrations,” “Heroes and Villains” and other songs requiring a theremin-like sound.

  26. @susanaltman5134

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Sunflower and Wild Honey are my favorite albums post-Pet Sounds albums. But there are so many fine songs on the albums thru and including Holland. Disliked 15 Big Ones, was heartened by Beach Boys Love You. Gave up after the following album, MIU?

  30. @TreppyGecky

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Surfs Up as a song is hard to understand because the point of it is that Brian and VDP are writing about hearing a piece of music that's so inspirational, emotional that it transcends description. That's such an abstract concept that it makes it basically impossible to analyze the chosen lyrics.
    If you do choose to deep dive into Brian as a composer I'll be honest that the western classical canon of music theory and understanding how it worked pre WWII won't help that much. I'd look more into inspirations Brian has explicitly stated in interviews such as Gershwin, then look into who inspired Gershwin; etc. Modern music for many centuries has reinvented and gone beyond the concepts of "classical music structure." This was only something I noticed after getting my Bachelors in Music.

  31. @visionman61

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Surfs Up Album is excellent has an environmental political message however overall the songs are all brilliant even SD with its fast beat energises the Album..Best 2 tracks till I die & surfs up

  36. @Adam-qi7no

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    According to A History of Rock in 500 Songs podcast, the 1957 in Disney Girls is also likely a reference to the fact that Bruce witnessed a murder in 1958, and so his nostalgia naturally harkens back to the time before then. I think that gives the song an extra and rather devastating poignancy.

  38. @ronfowlermusic

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Sunflower, Surf's Up and Holland are three of my favorite Beach Boys albums. Carl and the Passions – So Tough has some good songs, but it pales compared to the other three.

  39. @MrCimryadeal

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Please please please don't use dubbing. Waste of money, waste of time. I'm French and I understand what you say without the need for dubbing!
    And my favourite post Pet Sounds BB song must be Til I Die.

  40. @davidlee6720

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    i am sure that cover was originally from Don Quixote- our irrepressible hero battered but unbowed- might be wrong- hard to pick a favourite from the beach Boys collective- I was actually a surfer myself down Newquay when some of this stuff actually came out — how's that for being in the right place at the right time! But showing my age now! I love all of Brian's stuff but also have a soft spot for Bruce's Disney Girls – especially the whistling at the end!

  41. @zacharyspencer8321

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Barbershop. I've been screamin' this for years. They mixed barbershop, doo-wop, and the Four Freshmen into Surf Music, and even when they progressed beyond that, everything they did still echoed the essence of that.

    By the way, excellent assessment, including your inclusion of the context of the album going back to 1967.

    You know, the Beach Boys rotted from within. Between Brian's mental illness, and the greed of Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Capitol Records, AND the very questionable management from Daddy Willson, they should have simply called it a day (like the Beatles did in 1970), and gone their separate ways. Dennis had a potentially wonderful solo career, Brian could have followed his muse without the pressure of needing to come up with hit singles, and Mike and Al could have done the nostalgia thing to their heart's content.

    Instead, they propped up the Beach Boys brand like a half-burnt scarecrow, eventually selling out as a Beach Boys Tribute Band.

  42. @peterjetnikoff

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    Kudos at getting into a doc on the Zombies. Was already looking forward to that one but getting included is a coup. Must have been a blast to see yourself with the likes of. 🙂

  45. @AlexDeLarge1

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    I got this album at a record store in Eureka, California something like 15 years ago. It's one of the best condition original press albums I have. One of my favorites.
    Also, I like Student Demonstration Time and the feet song. I think they're just good songs. I love the instrumental and the harmonies on Take a Load Off Your Feet, the minimalist synth is cool and the "if you wanna do the right thing for 'em" bridge part is pretty. And Student Demonstration Time is just a pretty fun song. I don't really pay much attention to lyrics in Mike's songs, but the music itself, the singing and the instrumental, are good.

  46. @danielshahan8802

    September 12, 2025 at 3:26 pm

    I am a huge beach boy fan, but i don't really like Holland. I don't like anything by the beach boys without brian. Brian is the beach boys. His leadership, writing, production and most of all his voice. I pretty much hate the sound of the beach boys without him.

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