The Surfsiders "Sing The Beach Boys Songbook" (Design/ Pickwick, DLP-208, 1965)
Easily one of the most noteworthy attempts at ripping-kids-off-by-replicating-a-popular-group’s-songs, the Surfsiders 1965 LP seems to have finally gained a kind of celebrity status over the last decade. Essentially a collection of hit Beach Boys singles as performed by atonal studio hacks with maybe a day to crank this damn record out, this baby manages to turn the (you know; heartbreaking, gorgeously sculpted and layered, etc etc — you’ve heard it all before) original B. Wilson arrangements into simplified off-key bar band bleats loaded with dimestore barbershop quartet harmonies, all lovingly topped off by some frighteningly enthusiastic playing. Probably besting even the lamest Beatles ripoff records for both style and substance, this gem can go toe to toe with “Pet Sounds” any day of the week for me. The more you love (or hate) the originals the better this ought to get, and this rip is from the cleanest copy of the LP (of the, *koff koff*, four) that I’ve owned over the years. Fun, fun, fun!
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Wow! This exceeded my expectations for both listenability AND unlistenability. Great stuff!
wow, indeed.
“Warmth of the sun” really feels like the
Kennedy assassination in this version!
Do you have the Mike Curb Waterfall’s “Doors Songbook”? MUCH better than the ‘originals’!
Hah! I really wish I’d thought of that line.
Never heard the ersatz Doors record, adding it to my bottomless “mental checklist” now though.
When I was seven or eight I found this in my parents record collection, I thought t was great…. Now, I think its crap. Was my taste worse then, or my hearing knackered now ?
I grew up with this album,and was shocked as a kid when I finally heard the original beach boys versions. I was only 10 and thought the Beach Boys were playing all the chords wrong. I’m 46 now and listening to the Surfsiders as I write this. So terrible it’s fantastic!
Found this album in a Dutch record store some years ago and immidiately loved it! It’s awful, maniacal, depressing and beautiful at the same time. Every Beach Boys fan should check this album out!
Frank
Doors Songbook a few tracks at Youtube.com/noveltysongs