Album Review:

Jan and Dean had already been around for a few years when the surf music craze began; however, it was the advent of this new genre that truly cemented the duo as pop stars. With a few minor hits under their belt (‘Jenny Lee’ - without Dean, ‘Baby Talk,’ ‘Heart and Soul’), it had been a few years since they had released anything substantial. And yet, truthfully, their first venture into surf music leaves much to be desired. Inspired by a joint performance with the Beach Boys in 1963, Jan and Dean Take Linda Surfin’ is a diverse collection of covers and a few singles which had previously been left off albums.

The record opens up with the updated 1940’s number, ‘Linda’ which is immediately followed by Dean channeling his inner Frankie Valli through a thin falsetto on the Four Season’s ‘Walk Like A Man.’  Other covers included are ‘Rhythm of the Rain,’ ‘Walk Right In,’ ‘The Gypsy Cried,’ and  ‘Let’s Do the Turkey Trot.’ While these versions aren’t necessarily bad, they do seem to act as fillers between the real Jan and Dean numbers. Despite the surfy cover, of the twelve songs on the album, only two actually have anything to do with surfing, and interestingly, both of these were played in the studio by the Beach Boys themselves while Jan Berry and Dean Torrance overdubbed their vocals overtop of the instruments.

While it may not be the most even Jan and Dean album, Take Linda Surfin' was a foretaste of some excellent follow-up. It also has a great album cover!