Search - Jan & Dean :: Surf City: Best of Jan & Dean

Nice Anthology Of All Of Jan And Dean's Hits!

Barron Laycock | Temple, New Hampshire United States | 07/17/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Life and fame were very good to Jan and Dean, at least for a while, when they started out as a Garage Duo making the tours of local recording studios. They quickly took advantage of the happenstance of the rise of southern California surfer music to catch a wave to the top with an early hit, "Linda". Later came "Surf City", and a raft of together, such as "Honolulu Lulu", "The New Girl In School', and "Sidewalk Surfing" (which robbed the melody and chord progressions from Beach Boy pal Brian Wilson's "Catch A Wave). Later came such popular numbers as "Ride The Wild Surf", "You really Know How to Hurt A Guy", and of course, "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena". In what is one of the most ironic twists involving their career, one of their biggest hits was with a song called "Dead Man's Curve", which chronicled a fateful race between a Jaguar XKE and a Corvette Sting Ray, which ends with the protagonist badly mangled in the crash. Just a year later Jan was himself badly injured in such a crash in his own Corvette, and suffered a number of permanent disabilities from it. Still, Jan and Dean performed for years later with rock and roll revival tours, and Jan still records, although in a very limited sense. This was wonderful music, and it still plays well. I listen to them often, and I'm sure you will too once you listen to this album of their collected hits. Enjoy"