Jan & Dean - The Jan & Dean Story (1979) - Lp

Jan and Dean were an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940).
In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles popularized by the Beach Boys.

Jan and Dean reached their commercial peak in 1963 and 1964, after they met Brian Wilson. 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", written by Brian Wilson, in 1963. Subsequent top 10 hits included "Drag City" (1964), the eerily portentous "Dead Man's Curve" (1964), and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" (1964).

In the early sixties, innumerable recording artists helped spread the “surf sound”: however only two groups from this genre have stood the musical test of time – The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean. Throughout the sixties, Jan & Dean were always close second to The Beach Boysin popularity, yet there was no rivalry between these two bands as they often sang on each other´s records and even swapped tunes.Jan Berry and Dean Torrence met at Emmerson Jr. High School in West Lost Angeles.

They became close friends in their senior year at University High where they both made the varsity football team and happened to get team lockers next to each other. In the shower room, with its natural echo chamber, Jan, Dean and a few other friends began working out vocal harmonies to the hits of the day. After football season ended, the boys decided to form a group together called The Barons. They got their first break singing at their schoolk assembly, the group soon broke up due to other interests, leaving only Jan & Dean.

After teaming up with Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, Jan & Dean hit with “Baby Talk”, “There´s A Girl”, “Clementine”, “We Got Together” and “Gee” for Dore Records and “Hearts  and Soul” for Challenge Records.

As they weren´t given a very large recording budget to work with, they had to do all the background singing themselves with Dean singing the lead in a high falsetto. Since Jan & Dean were doing a lot of hops with The Beach Boys into helping them out in the studio by cutting the instrumental tracks for their records and adding some vocal parts. In fact, it was in the studio where Brian Wilson gave the duo the composition “Surf City”, which became Jan & Dean´s only number one record. After “Surf City” they hit again with “Drag City” “Littgle Deuce Coupe” and “Dead Man´s Curce”. “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” was their next top-tenner and was written about a real little old lady who was doing local Dodge TV commercials. Their next single was “Ride The Wild Surf”, the title tune of the movie of the same name that were supposed to star in along with Fabian.Undauted, Jan & Dean made a lot of appearances on TV, including the Ed Sullivan Show and Dick Clark´s American Bandstand.

In April 1966, Jan totalled his corvette on Whittier Blvd, and was so damaged physically and mentally that he almost died, in fact, he was totally paralysed for over a year. Dean tried to continue on his own, but soon gave it up for a new vacation – designing album covers for his own company, Kittyhawk Grapics. After Jan recovered most of his coordination, he recorded a few singles with his first producer Lou Adler which went nowhere. The duo attempted one comeback at a Surfer´s Stomp Reunion in 1973, but the result was disappointing.

In 1977 Dean decided to once again return xto the recording studio. Slight nostalgia crept in here when Dean,coupled with some of his close friends from the past (utilizing today´s sophisticated recording equipment) decided to recut 10 of the most memorable songs Jan and he sung together in the early 60´s. We´re pleased that these 10 songs from Side A of his album.

Perhaps the reason that Jan & Dean´s music is still enjoyable to listen to is that, in addition to their vocal prowess, they always added a sense of humor to their topical tunes. The liner notes on their “Command Performances” album called them “The Laurel and Hardy of the Surf Crowd”, and it is their satirical sense as well as their musicianship that makes their tunes transcend the times.

Side A

A1. Surf City  
A2. Dead Man’s Curve  
A3. Ride The Wild Surf  
A4. Help Me, Rhonda  
A5. Little Deuce Coupe  
A6. Fun, Fun, Fun  
A7. I Get Around  
A8. Sidewalk Surfin’  
A9. Drag City  
A10. The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena)

Side B
B1. Baby Talk  
B2. Gee  
B3. We Go Together  
B4. There’s A Girl  
B5. Cindy  
B6. My Heart Sings  
B7. Judy  
B8. You’re On My Mind  
B9. Clementine  
B10. Heart And Soul

Credits

• Performer – Dean Torrence, Jan Berry
• Written-By – Wilson (tracks: A1 to A9), Berry (tracks: A1 to A3, A9, B2, B5, B7 to B9), Christian* (tracks: A2, A3, A5, A8, A9) 

Notes
Release: 1979
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Surf, Rock & Roll
Label: K-Tel Records
Catalog# NC 502
€ 5,00

Album: Gebruikerssporen
Cover:  Gebruikerssporen

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