Beach Boys, The

Surfin' USA 200g Vinyl, Stereo Edition

A musical legacy that began in Hawthorne, California and went on to conquer the world. Analogue Productions presents the ultimate pressings of 14 essential Beach Boys albums! Mastered by Kevin Gray, most from the original master tapes, and plated and pressed by Quality Record Pressings, the finest LP pressing facility in the world, these are awesome recordings to experience. And the look of each album befits its sonic superiority! Presented in 'old school' Stoughton tip-on jackets, these time honored favorites shine brighter than the originals!
"Surfin' USA" was the Beach Boys' real breakthough album, showing Brian Wilson asserting himself in the studio as both a premier songwriter and arranger on a set of material that was stronger than their "Surfin' Safari" debut.
Apart from "Surfin' Safari", which was mono only, the Beach Boys did turn in stereo masters on all of their early albums up until 1965. The "Beach Boys Today!" was the first LP for which they only delivered a mono master.
The stereo editions of "Surfin' USA", "Surfer Girl", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Shut Down Vol. 2", "All Summer Long", "Beach Boys Christmas Album" and "Beach Boys Concert" were all mixed in stereo by their own preferred engineer, Chuck Britz, ostensibly under the group's supervision.
»Brian may or may not have been present for those mixing sessions — evidence suggests that he trusted Chuck's skills enough to let him prepare those mixes on his own — but the group held onto their multitrack tapes and delivered stereo masters to Capitol, rather than allowing Capitol to prepare their own stereo versions. Later, when Brian was only delivering mono masters, Capitol would prepare the Duophonic pseudo stereo editions for the stereo market,« says Alan Boyd, producer and Beach Boys' archivist.
The Beach Boys' practice of double-tracking their vocals really lends itself to stereo mixes. Split left and right, as they are on a lot of those early stereo versions, those doubled vocal parts can really envelop the listener, surrounding them with Wilsons, Loves and Jardines!
All of the newer stereo mixes on these remastered albums ("The Beach Boys Today!", "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)", "The Beach Boys' Party", "Pet Sounds" and "Smiley Smile") were all done by Mark Linett on behalf of the Beach Boys.
Besides the hit title track on "Surfin' USA" and its popular drag-racing flip side ("Shut Down"), AllMusic.com notes that "Surfin' USA" has a lovely, heartbreaking ballad ("Lonely Sea") and a couple of strong Brian Wilson originals ("The Noble Surfer" and "Farmer's Daughter").