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Underrated masterpieces
Beach Boys “Surfs Up” I think is one of the biggest underrated masterpieces that never got the attention it deserved. Perhaps too ahead of it’s time. It was meant to be a part of Brian Wilson’s unfinished much anticipated Smile album which was his response to the Beatles Sargent Peppers, but never happened due to Brian’s struggle with drugs. In 1971 the band released the song on a followup album Surfs Up named after the song, but the album effectively went unnoticed.
“After Smile was scrapped, Wilson neglected to include the song on the replacement album Smiley Smile (1967). He said that his decision to keep “Surf’s Up” unreleased was one that “nearly broke up” the band. In a review of Smiley Smile for Cheetah, a critic bemoaned the album’s absence of “Surf’s Up”, writing that the song is “better than anything that is on the album and would have provided the same emotional catharsis as that ‘A Day in the Life’ provides for Sgt. Pepper.”
Do you have any underrated favourite songs by your favourite bands that you feel did not get the attention it deserved?
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20 Replies
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I love Surf’s Up, Jung. Truly majestic! It’s one of the few “lost” Beach Boys songs that I managed to hear back when I was first discovering all their hits.
Just about the only group other than the Beatles for which I’ve explored pretty much their entire output is the Monkees. Micky Dolenz wrote and recorded this song that reminds me a bit of Surf’s Up, and which he says was inspired by A Day in the Life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1KE2gEEYdI
It was just an album track that came out as the group was plummeting out of the charts after their TV show ended. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a masterpiece, but it’s certainly a trip. I think that if it had been recorded by a respected “serious” group it might have gotten some attention.
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David, that’s a nice one, the Monkees never cease to amaze me. There is a lot of great artistic songs they did, like this one. Love that piano part in the middle, similar to Surfs Up. I think inspiration from Surfs Up found it’s way into Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody too. Some of the vocal parts Brian has in Surfs Up have a operatic feel and when I hear it, it reminds me of Bohemian Rhapsody too.
BTW, love “Shorty Blackwell”, my very first beloved pet I grew up with when I was 10 was a black cat just like Mickey Dolenz’s cat there. His name was Spooky, and got him from my sister because Spooky broke my brother in-laws thumb while playing with him, and he was still a kitten at about 8 or 9 months. He use to fight and chase away the racoons! But was so gentle with me.
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Jung, my first pet was also a black cat! We got her from my grandparents’ next-door neighbors, who interbred tailless Manx cats with other breeds. Her tail was just an inch-long nub. She was pretty chill: the only bones she ever broke were those of the mice that she was eating.
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David, Manx cats are known for their hunting skills. They must have some relation to Bob Cats. Your cat sounded like she must have been quite the hunter and tough. While my first cat wasn’t much of a hunter but rather brave and tough chasing other animals off the property, my latest orange tabby (living with my sister now) is super clever with his front paws, can open doors. But not as impressive as this one here.
Who’s home: https://www.instagram.com/reel/COQ8c-Jjuq0/?igshid=byanf8fuk0qc
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You may be right, Jung. My dad originally got her to deal with some mice that were living rent-free in our basement, and she proved to be quite a ruthless enforcer of the terms of the lease. But she was a sweetheart otherwise.
I don’t have an Instagram account, so unfortunately I can’t see what you posted on the link.
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Here is the Grateful Dead’s orchestral piece. 16 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S4Vd-h-uQA&t=0s
Many of us feel certain that Jerry is up there jamming with Jimi and Duane Allman,
just waiting on the rest of the band.I am imagining Lennon has moved over to bass guitar.
Brian Wilson and George Martin are working their magic in the studio. -
What a great epic song Thomas. Awesome guitar work in there, I can imagine all the legends like John Lennon, Brian Wilson, George Martin doing their magic on this worthy work. It reminds me of the many other great works from that time from Pink Floyd, Supetramp, Kansas etc.
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Here is another Supertramp classic that I don’t think get the attention it deserves.
I remember in the late 70s listening to my brothers Pink Floyd and Supertramp albums for the first time and feeling my mind blown by orchestral rock music like this. These songs had their roots going back to the studio music of the 60s, from pioneers like the Beatles with songs like “A Day In The Life”.
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Ah, I forgot about the Seekers. I’ve explored them pretty thoroughly too, and they had this really catchy happy song which was released as a single but somehow didn’t reach the top 50 in any country:
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For David: Did you know Dusty Springfield ‘s brother Tom ( real name Dionys O’Brien) actually wrote a few of the Seekers songs, ie: I’ll Never Find Another You… !? Also Dusty wasn’t her real name either…
There’s probably quite a few underrated songs by Mamas and Papas, Dusty, Glass Tiger that I could choose but I’ll post another day…
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Yes, Jacki, I’ve read about the Springfield / Seekers connection (although I didn’t know the thing about the names). It began when the Seekers, newly arrived in London and not yet well known, auditioned to fill in for Dusty’s opening act for one evening.
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For me it would have to be Neil Young’s “Thrasher” – his breakup song about leaving CSNY. Gorgeous 12 string work from Neil and the lyrics out Dylan Dylan. The whole “Rust Never Sleeps” never really gets the credit it deserves, but unless you’re a Neil Young aficionado, “Thrasher” is a lost classic.
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Very nice call Jim,
Rust Never Sleeps and Comes a Time always have been my NY favorites.Not his best known works.
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Carl Wilson said they were influenced by The Ventures “Walk Don’t Run”
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Thanks for posting this one, Diana. I watched it at double speed so I could find out what would happen if they ran.
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Good one David!!!
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Maybe I should have posted this one as a new thread, but I just discovered this recent set of computer-generated fake Beach Boys songs, and most of them are much more impressive than I expected. (Of course, in a few years we’ll be laughing at how primitive they sound.)
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Thanks everyone, enjoyed all your input. Some great music that don’t get the mention they deserve.
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This one is one of my all time favourite Simon and Garfunkle songs right up there for me with Bridge Over Troubled Waters and Sounds of Silence, but when this was released (a remake of a 1913 Andean folk song) by Simon And Garfunkle in 1970, it only barely cracked into the top 20 in the charts and is considered only a minor hit for them. I think it’s one of the best songs from that decade.
I can just imagine the magic Mona and Lisa could do to this one.
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