Ride the Wild Surf is a studio album by Jan and Dean. It was released by Liberty Records in August 1964. Although it was released as a tie-in album to the film Ride the Wild Surf and included the duo's title track, it is not a soundtrack album to the film.
Songs
Jan and Dean's version of "Tell 'Em I'm Surfin'" reused the backing track and harmony vocals from the Fantastic Baggys' version of the song. Dean Torrence said, "We were going to school full time, so if somebody came in with a song that was 70% done ... and we liked it ... and it fit thematically ... what the hell, why not?"
"She's My Summer Girl" was originally released as the B-side of the "Surf City" single in May 1963.
"The Restless Surfer" was a reworking of Gary Zekley's 1963 single "Other Towns, Other Girls", which Torrence co-produced. "The Restless Surfer" reused the song's original backing track with modified lyrics.
"Skateboarding – Part 1" adapted a motif from the song "Frère Jacques". Berry had released the track as a single in June 1964, titled "Skateboarding" and credited to the Sidewalk Surfers, without authorization from Screen Gems.
An alternate version of "Walk on the Wet Side" was released as the B-side of the Sidewalk Surfers' "Skateboarding" as "Shoot the Curb".
Release On August 15, 1964, Liberty Records released the Ride the Wild Surf album in mono and stereo. The album reached number 66 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.
In 1996, One Way Records reissued the album on CD as a two-fer with Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfin.
Singles On August 26, 1964, "Ride the Wild Surf" was released as a single. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 9, "Sidewalk Surfin'" was released as a single, peaking at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.
On July 29, 1966, "A Surfer's Dream" was released as the B-side of the non-album single "Fiddle Around".
Critical reception Cash Box wrote that the duo "seem sure to score heavily in the coin dept." with the album. Bruce Eder of AllMusic described the album as "fairly uneven", but called it "a fun, if not a very substantial way to spend 20-some minutes".
Track listing
Personnel
Per Mark A. Moore.
The Fantastic Baggys (Phil Sloan, Steve Barri) – additional vocalistsTechnical' Jan Berry – arranger, producer Bones Howe – engineer Lanky Linstrot – engineer Chuck Britz – engineer Hal Blaine – conductor Studio Five – cover design and photography Shelley Fabares – liner notes
Charts +Chart performance for Ride the Wild Surf Chart (1964) Peakposition US Billboard Top LPs 66 US Cash Box Top 100 Albums 26
References
Sources