Little Deuce Coupe

Little Deuce Coupe is the fourth album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released October 7, 1963 on Capitol Records. It reached number 4 in the US during a chart stay of 46 weeks, and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. It is considered to be one of the earliest examples of a rock concept album.[7]

For the title track, see Little Deuce Coupe (song).

Little Deuce Coupe
Studio album by
the Beach Boys
ReleasedOctober 7, 1963[1]
Recorded
  • April 19, 1962 ("409")
  • January 5 – September 2, 1963
StudioWestern, Hollywood
GenreHot rod rock[2]
Length25:25
LabelCapitol
ProducerBrian Wilson
The Beach Boys chronology
Surfer Girl
(1963)		 Little Deuce Coupe
(1963)		 Shut Down Volume 2
(1964)
The Beach Boys UK chronology
Surfin' U.S.A.
(1965)		 Little Deuce Coupe
(1965)		 Beach Boys' Party!
(1966)
Contemporary professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Record Mirror[3]
Retrospective professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blender[4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

The album was released three weeks after Surfer Girl. Four of the tracks from Little Deuce Coupe ("409", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", and "Our Car Club") had already appeared on previous albums, and discounting an alternate recording of "Be True to Your School", no tracks from the album were issued as an A-sided single.

Production

As with the preceding Surfer Girl album, the date assigned for recording all eight of the new tracks (September 2, 1963) is highly doubtful. However, as no AFM contracts from these sessions are known to exist, the actual dates are currently unknown.[8]

Although Nick Venet was listed as producer for "Shut Down" and Murry Wilson for "409", the official producer's credit for the entire Little Deuce Coupe album cites only Brian Wilson. Despite the rushed nature of the album's sessions, Wilson's song arrangements were notably becoming more complex, specifically songs like "No-Go Showboat" and "Custom Machine". This was the last Beach Boys album to officially include rhythm guitarist David Marks until 2012's That's Why God Made the Radio.[9]

After the album's recording, Wilson re-recorded "Be True to Your School" for single release on October 28, resulting in another top 10 hit. An original Christmas-themed composition, "Little Saint Nick" was also recorded that month and issued as a Christmas single.[10]

Title and cover art
The titular "little deuce coupe" that appeared on the cover, pictured in 2006

A Deuce Coupe is a 1932 Ford Coupe (deuce being for the year). This was considered by many to be the definitive "hot rod". The Model B had four cylinders and the Model 18 featured the Ford flathead V8 engine when the car was introduced. A pink slip (mentioned in the lyrics) was the title to the car, named for the color of the paper then used in California.

The picture featured on the front cover of the album was supplied by Hot Rod magazine, and features the body (with his head cropped in the photo) of hot-rod owner Clarence 'Chili' Catallo and his own customized three-window 1932 Ford Coupe – known to hot rod enthusiasts as "the lil' deuce coupe".[11][12]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocal(s)Length
1."Little Deuce Coupe"
Mike Love1:38
2."Ballad of Ole' Betsy"
  • Wilson
  • Christian
Brian Wilson2:15
3."Be True to Your School"
  • Wilson
  • Love
Love2:06
4."Car Crazy Cutie"
  • Wilson
  • Christian
B. Wilson2:47
5."Cherry, Cherry Coupe"
  • Wilson
  • Christian
Love1:47
6."409"
Love1:58
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocal(s)Length
1."Shut Down"
  • Wilson
  • Christian
Love1:48
2."Spirit of America"
  • Wilson
  • Christian
B. Wilson2:23
3."Our Car Club"
  • Wilson
  • Love
  • Love
  • B. Wilson
2:21
4."No-Go Showboat"
  • Wilson
  • Christian
  • Wilson
  • Love
1:54
5."A Young Man Is Gone"Bobby TroupThe Beach Boys2:15
6."Custom Machine"
  • Wilson
  • Love
Love1:38
Total length:25:25
1990/2001 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocal(s)Length
13."Be True to Your School" (single version)
  • Wilson
  • Love
Love2:10
14."All Dressed Up for School"B. WilsonCarl Wilson2:24
15."Little Honda" (alternate take)
  • Wilson
  • Love
Love2:13
16."Don't Back Down" (alternate take)
  • Wilson
  • Love
Love1:39
Total length:33:51

Notes

  • Some reissues of the album omit "Car Crazy Cutie" and "Custom Machine".[13]
  • Because "409" was only available in mono, a Duophonic (fake stereo) mix was used on the otherwise true stereo version of the album. Both stereo and mono mixes are available on the 2012 CD.
  • Mike Love was not originally credited for "Be True to Your School", "409", "Don't Back Down", and "Custom Machine". His credits were awarded after a 1994 court case.[13]

References
  1. Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. p. 42
  2. Allmusic review
  3. Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (November 13, 1965). "The Beach Boys: Little Deuce Coupe" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 244. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  4. Wolk, Douglas (October 2004). "The Beach Boys Little Deuce Coupe/All Summer Long". Blender. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  5. Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 479. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
  6. Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 46. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. Springer, Matt (October 7, 2015). "52 Years Ago: The Beach Boys Release a Concept Album About Cars, 'Little Deuce Coupe'". Ultimate Guitar.
  8. Murphy, James B. (2015). Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961–1963. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7365-6.
  9. "'It kinda feels like getting fired' – Brian Wilson to Mike Love". Los Angeles Times. October 9, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  10. Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-87930-818-6.
  11. Roy, Rex (August 27, 2009). "Surfers Met Rodders, and a Genre Was Born". The New York Times.
  12. Wallace, Dave (October 19, 2012). "Little Deuce Coupe". Hot Rod.
  13. Doe, Andrew G. "Album Archive". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly.
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