Album Review:

Released two years after their debut LP, Ronny and the Daytonas’ Sandy shows the group in a completely new light. Gone are any hints of country rock....or even rock, for that matter. While their first album was filled to the brim with fast, up-tempo, hot rod-themed tracks, their follow-up is quite the opposite. It seems that after a couple of failed singles, the group completely reinvented themselves with the release of Sandy ... for better or for worse.

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While the title track could very well be a late example of the dying genre of surf rock, somewhat reminiscent in style to the Beach Boys’ ‘Surfer Girl,’ the rest of the album is much less so. Tracks like ‘Baby Say No’ and ‘So In Love’ are acoustically driven, accompanied by large orchestras with lush strings and legato horn lines, a far cry from anything remotely surf rock. Probably the best tracks on the album are the most commercial ones;  ‘Be Good to Your Baby,’ and ‘Then the Rains Came,’ which both have a pretty steady rock beat and more pop-styled strings. Other tracks like ‘I’ll Think of Summer’ could be a welcome addition to any surf music collection, though not exactly necessary (but then, how much on this site is...). The remaining songs, ‘Nanci,’ ‘Somebody to Love,’ ‘Come Into My Heart,’ ‘When Stars Shine Bright,’ and ‘If I Had My Way’ come across as too sappy and MOR as Ronny basks in the gloom of unrequited love.

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While Sandy may be a nice interlude following the rambunctious G.T.O. album, too many of its tracks sound alike with little to distinguish between them, further evidence that by 1965, the surf rock genre had indeed run its course.