#1 for weeks of July 20 and 27th, 1963.
FINALLY! Some classic surf pop music tops the charts, although sadly this would be the only time that would happen. If there was someone who has never heard of Jan And Dean before, they might assume this was a Beach Boys song. Well, they'd be partially correct in that assumption as "Surf City" was co-written, produced, and musically arranged by Brian Wilson.
Before going into a big of history about the main attraction, it is worth mentioning that this Brian Wilson co-composition managed to reach #1 before his own band's had. While this didn't bother The Beach Boys, who were good friends of Jan & Dean, it infuriated Capitol Records and the Wilson brothers' father Murray Wilson. Any future collaborations with Jan & Dean and the eldest Wilson brother would remain clandestine.
Jan Berry And Dean Torrence started out their music career several years earlier than the Beach Boys, around 1958. Their very early material was more Doo-Wop influenced although a couple of their songs such as 1958's "Gas Money" have a proto-surf rock feel to them.
Some years later in 1963, the duo were working on an album called "Linda" when they decided to cover "Surfin' Safari". The Beach Boys not only agreed to let the duo cover their song, they even played and sang with them on it. As a result of the duo jumping on the surf music wave, which by 1963 was practically tsunami sized, they re-titled their album "Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfing" and shortly afterwards, Brian got together with Jan to lyrically complete an unfinished/unrecorded Beach Boys song. That song turned into "Surf City".
Musically, the song is very Beach Boys-esque. Jan's part could easily have been sung by Mike Love as both of their voices have a similar timbre although Jan's is far less nasally sounding. Brian Wilson himself sings co-lead with Jan in the verses and sings backing vocals throughout the entire song. Finally, Brian employed The Wrecking Crew - LA's finest session musicians to add a bigger depth of sound to the music.
Obviously the lyrics are very dated and not full of substance at all. However, there were few surf pop songs that were even remotely lyrically resonant. Of course, if you were on the beach on a sunny summer's day listening to this song on a radio, I'm sure you might feel differently. It's all about the music and the harmonies.
Aside from a few other significant hits such as "Dead Man's Curve" (Co-written but not produced by Brian Wilson), and the fantastic "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena", Jan & Dean never really managed to break on through or evolve in the post-Beatles pop scene. The duo often incorporated humor into their work with an example being their unreleased album "Filet Of Soul". Unfortunately, a near-fatal car crash in April 1966 put Jan Berry out of commission for about a year due to brain injury, and it would be years before he would recover enough to perform or sing again.
This would have ended most people's music careers but not Jan's. He spent over a year from 1967 to 1968 recording an album called "Carnival Of Sound", which contains some nice psychedelic pop-ish songs, but remained unreleased for over 40 years. I for one greatly admire Jan Berry's determination to keep working on music despite being on the mend and unable to sing.
The duo would have a reemergence in the 1970's and continue performing all the way through Jan Berry's early death in 2004. It is their 1963-1964 period though which people most fondly remember. "Surf City" is a fine example of surf pop done in such a well-crafted way, that it's still an enjoyable tune to this very day.
Final Verdict - A great song that, despite having slight lyrics, has a superb vocal and musical arrangement full of hooks. I'd certainly rank this as one of the finer records of '63 and would say it deserves a spot in your record collection.
Coming Up Next - "So Much In Love" by The Tymes.
Until Next Time - Hang ten, ride the surf, tune in to Dr. Rock -
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