More of The Beach Boys
- Superb sound throughout this vintage copy, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them, and vinyl that plays about as quietly as any we can ever hope to find
- The Beach Boys revolutionized the popular music of their day with their genius for harmony, and this copy succeeds where others may fail – it gets their voices right (particularly on side one)
- Includes classics “Long Promised Road,” “Till I Die,” and of course the title smash hit, “Surf’s Up”
- 4 stars: “A masterpiece [which] defined the Beach Boys’ tumultuous career better than any other album … The album closer, ‘Surf’s Up,’ is a masterpiece of baroque psychedelia, probably the most compelling track from the Smile period.”
When it works, boy can this album sound amazing. Full of Tubey Magic, not to mention analog warmth and sweetness, this is clearly one of the band’s best albums of the 70s.
What’s magical about The Beach Boys? Their voices of course, what else could it be? It’s not a trick question. Any good pressing must sound correct on their voices or it has no practical value whatsoever. A Beach Boys record with bad sound in the midrange — like most of them — is to us a worthless record.