Album Reviews

Jan & Dean's music is stuck in a time and place more than any other artists in Rock history. It is maybe because of this that they do not have the critical acclaim that they really deserve. From the doo-wop sounds of thier first album "The Dore Album", to Dean's amazing over-dub laiden, multi-harmony driven master-piece "Save For A Rainy Day" you will find albums filled with some ground-breaking singles, some novel and experimental album tracks and most of all production techniques that were more advanced at the time of recording than any other artists, including The Beach Boys and The Beatles.

While Jan & Dean's music is too often mistaken for The Beach Boys by the casual fan, the difference's to the trained ear are vast. While The Beach Boys genious producer/writer Brian Wilson would make pure-pop clean records with multi-harmonies using the bands five vocals plus over-dubs and utilizing the cream-of-the-crop session musicians of the day, Jan Berry, who in his own right was Jan & Dean's writer and producer would take the whole process a step further.

Jan's ability to innovate was beyond belief. He would multi-layer vocals and instruments to such a degree, that sadly the technology was not always there to capture the full effect. Songs such as "Deadman's Curve" had 14 layers of vocals on them, which on the equipment of the day sounded amazing, yet using todays standards they would have been the best in the World! All this over-dubbing and creative power that Jan had led to some of Jan & Dean's records sounding alot rougher round the edges than The Beach Boys clean-cut masterpieces, yet technically they were much more advanced.

Discover these albums, and singles in this section. One listen to the music of Jan & Dean will change your life forever.