#6 Surfer Girl

By September 1963, things are moving quickly for The Beach Boys. Surfin’ U.S.A. has taken them to number two, Al Jardine is back in the fold (briefly giving us a six-man Beach Boys), and Brian Wilson finally has his name on the producer credit.

This week we get into Surfer Girl, the album where the group really starts to sound like a confident recording unit. We trace the strange history of the title track, Brian’s first song and its connection to When You Wish Upon a Star, before working our way through Catch a Wave, another visit from the Jan & Dean pirates, the tangled story of The Surfer Moon and Bob Norberg, Little Deuce Coupe, and one of Brian’s earliest masterpieces, In My Room. There’s also a bizarre German-language detour, the first documented appearance of Hal Blaine on a Beach Boys session, a possible early diss track aimed at The Four Seasons, car clubs, richer chords, and yet another completely unnecessary instrumental to finish the album.

Made In California: A Beach Boys Podcast

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