what Frank is listening to #69 – JAN & DEAN – Folk 'n Roll – (Liberty) – 1965
Well, everyone knows Jan and Dean, though there is a tendency to write them off as just another surf rock act. Sure their hits were all surf or beach songs but there was more to them than that … and they were in the right place for music. California, especially L.A, must have been an amazing place in the early to mid 1960s.
Jan Berry and Dean Torrence were more than a surf band and though they never strayed far from pop rock the productions are always top notch and the harmonies and songs are catchy. Like The Beach Boys they were trying to create mini teen operas full of emotion and drama and I'm certain The Beach Boys were listening to Jan and Dean (and vice versa). Though they never reached any of the artistic peaks that were set by The Beach Boys they held their own, and Jan was arranging and producing all their material by 1960 (and co writing a lot of it) . Again, like The Beach Boys in their early period, they are best when describing California in the early 60s. Listening to any number of Jan & Dean songs reminds me of that (imagined) California … sun, surf and innocence with innuendo.
And this paid off … wikipedia: Jan and Dean reached their commercial peak in 1963 and 1964. The duo scored an impressive sixteen Top 40 hits on the Billboard and Cash Box magazine charts, with a total of twenty-six chart hits over an eight-year period (1958-1966). Jan and Brian Wilson collaborated on roughly a dozen hits and album cuts for Jan and Dean, including the number one national hit "Surf City" in 1963.
This album is fairly late in their career – critics are generally harsh to it saying that it is a attempt to jump on the folk rock bandwagon without any sincerity.
A negative review: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fvfexqy5ld6e
Half the album is covers of folk songs whilst the other half is the more familiar surf rock and pop … hence the album title "Folk n Roll" … get it ? Certainly there are nods to folk music (with the choice of covers) but the songs aren't particular folky … they still sound like surf music in a different tempo. The critics have also questioned their sincerity … for example: the anti-war "The Universal Soldier" has been reworded to the opposite view for "The Universal Coward" … That may be dodgy but a couple of surfer types from California singing "Universal Soldier" would have been equally disingenuous. The song was co-written by Jan but apparently Dean objected and did not participate in the recording. Similarly, the back cover has photos with captions that take pot shots at "the protest train" (join the Jan & Dean protest train – sit on railroad track, and send $6000 for a protest "kit"), and Berkeley students ("Burkley students"), and "sit ins" (Jan & Dean are having a "cook in"). They are easy shots … their audience was never going to be and never was folkies, civil rights marchers or Berkeley students … though who knows how much of this was attributable to the band as opposed to the record label.
Interestingly, according to rock critic Dave Marsh, the attitude and public persona of punk rock can be traced to Jan and Dean. Moreover, both Jan Berry and Dean Torrence's anti-establishment attitude toward the music industry is well documented.Their music has been covered by numerous Punk and alternative bands since the 1970s.
The album is patchy at best … what saves it is the harmonies and production … produced by Jan.
Best Tracks:
- I Found a Girl – a nice slice of pop about teen love co-written by PF Sloan (he is another genius of mid-60s California).
- I Cant Wait to Love you – a Beach Boys type number.
- Eve of Destruction- a so-so version of a great song. The hit version of "Eve" by Barry McGuire is still the best by miles.
- A Beginning from an End – a throw back to the teen death songs of the early 60s.
- Yesterday – a delicate performance of McCartney's delicate song.
- It Ain't Me Babe – Dylan songs always lend themselves to harmonies … despite his voice his songs are always very musical and lyrical. Here, Jan and Dean are covering the Turtles version of Dylan's song.
- Folk City – is an updating of "Surf City" and is slightly cynical.
- Turn Turn Turn – a credible cover of The Byrds.
The album reached #145 in the US. The single "I Found a Girl" went to #30 in the US.
I'll keep it cause I like them but this is patchy.
Sounds:
Yesterday
attached
and
4 songs here:
Bio:
Website:
(originally posted: 01/08/2009)
