As far as great, underrated albums go, few top the Beach Boys' SURFS UP. It's the forgotten masterpiece of the Beach Boys' discography, a flawless, fascinating, and potent document of the times that features songs that should be classics but aren't. It is at once nostalgic (Disney Girls 1957), political (Student Demonstration Time), a lyrically inventive (Feel Flows), and utterly evocative in its sublime depiction of nature (a trademark of early 70s Beach Boys; see the equally underrated HOLLAND). It may be album that SMILE never was, and yet it always sits in the shadow of what SMILE could have been. The operatic final track SURFS UP, written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, is one of their best songs, and was originally set to be included on SMILE. An overload on the senses, puzzlingly metaphorical beyond comprehension, and at times unbearably sad ("The music all is lost for now"), it seems to be Wilson's attempt to reconcile his bubble-gum career with his high art ambitions. He sings, "I heard the word / Wonderful Thing / A children's song."

The Beach Boys/Beatles argument continues to rage, even though the Beatles seem to be dominating on all counts. The Beatles did RUBBER SOUL, which inspired PET SOUNDS, which in turn inspired SGT. PEPPERS. But then the Fab 4 came back with MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR, the White album, ABBEY ROAD, and LET IT BE. The Beach Boys, due to the fight over SMILE, came out with the sadly mediocre, compromised SMILEY SMILE. Next was the excellent WILD HONEY, and then three forgettable albums before SURFS UP. Also, in the next year, their attempt to reinvent themselves as "Carl and the Passions" was oddly interesting at best and ultimate proved a critical and commercial failure. *

Which is why I consider SURFS UP a comeback album, a return to graces by the greats. A powerhouse. Unfortunately, other than HOLLAND, the album marked the beginning of the end (although, technically, I guess the SMILE sessions were the beginning a very slow, drawn-out end, but whatever). Unless you're considering Kokomo the equivalent of the Elvis Comeback Special, in which case I'll ask you how many times you've seen the movie COCKTAIL.

Also, it is quite possibly my favorite album cover ever - check out the irony: the Boys give it a title straight from their surfcorvettesafarisuntanlotion days and give us for imagery this baroque, bleak deathly image.

This usually gets grouped into albums that either Dennis or Carl exerted too much influence over, but Brian still sings most of the songs. And as much as Mike Love seems to be reviled for his lack of ambition and love of convention, the album owes much to his bewilderingly calm humming of the opening track, "Don't Go Near The Water" - his pretty melody hides a scary economic message that's eventually whitewashed for a feel-good message. But it works. Maybe Love wasn't even in on the joke (apparently, he loathed the Van Dyke Parks influence). I don't know.

Here's two Beach Boys-related thought I've had:

1. What if SURF'S UP had been the follow up album to PET SOUNDS? Would the Beach Boys have had that post-1966 Beatles success? As of now, I think not. This is a much more soulful, less ambitious album. The world was waiting for Good Vibrations and SMILE.

2. If SMILE, as Brian Wilson released it in '04, hit in 1967, would there have been a general letdown? Maybe. But that's a wild jump of logic, as it assumes that what he finally put together 30 some odd years later was exactly what he wanted to make at the height of his creative success.

I've been listening to this album about three times a week for the last six months. It's moving up the list. If your sole experience with the Beach Boys is their early doo-wop (which I still argue is the best of its kind), or PET SOUNDS, or Wilson's final attempt at SMILE from two years back, then check out SURFS UP. It's my recommendation of the week.*

By the way, I love this unapologetic HARD DAYS NIGHT knockoff video. It shows the Boys at their happiest, goofiest, most carefree, after releasing their breakthrough album. Even though it's just hopping on the craze wave of wacky music videos (see Hermans Hermits, Dave Clark Five, The Monkees), it still shows why they were so infectiously likeable.

* - If you ever get a chance, check out Dennis' solo effort: PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE
** - Unfortunately, the only apparent way to buy SURFS UP today is to buy a double CD with SUNFLOWER. This is too bad, as the album art they've chosen to use is the composite photo from the SUNFLOWER album. I don't know if they ever even released SURFS UP on CD.