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Surfer Girl is the third studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released September 16, 1963 on Capitol Records. It is largely a collection of surf music songs. The LP reached number 7 in the U.S. and number 13 in the UK. Lead single "Surfer Girl", backed with "Little Deuce Coupe", was also a top 10 hit. It is also the band’s first release with founding member Al Jardine since their debut single, "Surfin'".
This was the first album that officially credited Brian Wilson with production. It was also the first in which he used a string section (on "The Surfer Moon") and employed Wrecking Crew (on "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club"). Original member Al Jardine, who had been replaced by David Marks in February 1962, rejoined the band during the recording of this album and contributed to recording some of its songs. The band featured a six-man lineup from this point until Marks departed in October 1963.
Surfer Girl was certified gold by the RIAA in November 1965, indicating over 1,000,000 copies sold. In 2017, it was ranked the 193rd greatest album of the 1960s by Pitchfork.
In addition to his work with the Honeys, Wilson was focused on writing or production work with Jan and Dean and Bob Norberg. With Wilson still resistant to touring, he had ex-member Al Jardine rejoin the group as his replacement at the band's concerts from April ongoing. Jan and Dean released Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfing in the meantime, which featured the Wilson brothers and David Marks as guests on the tracks "Surfin'" and "Surfin' Safari".
"The Surfer Moon" was the first Beach Boys recording with a string section. Having recruited members of the Wrecking Crew to help realize his productions with the Honeys, this album also marked the first occasion that those musicians were enlisted for certain Beach Boys tracks – specifically, on two songs, "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club". Mike Love's sister Maureen played harp on "Hawaii" and "Catch a Wave". Wilson considered “Catch a Wave” to feature his "first big Beach Boy vocal arrangement".
Other songs recorded in the middle of these sessions included the originals "Back Home", which was later remade for their 1976 album 15 Big Ones, and "Black Wednesday", which was later reworked as "Run-Around Lover" and recorded by the singer Sharon Marie. These were Wilson's first recordings at Gold Star Studios.
Wilson is credited with writing the remaining nine songs on Surfer Girl. He wrote "Surfer Girl" and "The Surfer Moon" by himself, as well as four in conjunction with Mike Love ("Catch a Wave", "Hawaii", "Surfers Rule", and "Our Car Club"). He co-authored three songs individually with collaborators Gary Usher ("In My Room"), Roger Christian ("Little Deuce Coupe"), and Bob Norberg ("Your Summer Dream").
"Your Summer Dream" and "In My Room" are the only songs that do not relate to themes of cars or surfing. Wilson planned to be omit the two car songs, "Our Car Club" and "Little Deuce Coupe", but this never happened due to Murry Wilson’s wanting more hits on the album. His sway ensured the tracks would appear on both Surfer Girl and their next album, Little Deuce Coupe.
The lyrics to "Surfers Rule" feature a dig at the group's then-biggest rivals the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons would respond with the song "No Surfing Today" on their album Born To Wander in early 1964.
Surfer Girl was certified gold by the RIAA in November 1965. In the UK, the album was released by EMI Records in April 1967 and reached number 13. It had been held back from release due to the group's lesser popularity in Europe, and was then issued to satisfy increased demand for new Beach Boys product.
In 1990, Capitol reissued the album on CD as a single-disc pairing with Shut Down Volume 2 (1964).
In Richie Unterberger’s review of the album in AllMusic, he highlights "In My Room" as the most significant track. He praises "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Catch a Wave", which he asserts "could have been a substantial hit single on its own merits", and the title track. The remainder of the album he disregards as "surprisingly mediocre filler". Unterberger called "Your Summer Dream" "the most interesting of the obscure tracks" due to its "unusual harmonies".
Music historian Scott Schinder identified Surfer Girl as an advancement in "Brian's continuing growth as a composer and producer." He cited "Catch a Wave" as Wilson's "most ambitious surf number to date" and "In My Room" as "a startling demonstration of Brian's willingness to confront his fears in song."
| 1963 | US Billboard 200 | 7 |
| 1967 | UK Record Retailer | 13 |
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