This is one of many low-budget albums made up of material recorded at
the Beach Boys' first, pre-
Capitol Records recording sessions with
Hite and
Dorinda Morgan in October 1961 and February and March 1962. While the material has historical interest, it is rudimentary compared to what the group achieved at
Capitol only a short while later. This album contains eight tracks, seven of them the seven vocal tracks cut at the sessions -- "Surfer Girl," "Barbie" (here called "Barbee"), "Luau," "Surfin"' (the same as the
Capitol version), "What Is a Young Girl Made Of?," "Surfin' Safari," and "Judy." There is also an instrumental version of "Little Deuce Coupe" recorded by someone other than
the Beach Boys. Since the record sleeve doesn't alert buyers that these are, for the most part, not the familiar versions of these familiar songs, indeed, that one of them isn't even by the credited group, this album earns a "Poor" rating and should be avoided. ~ William Ruhlmann
