Drag City

Drag City is the fourth studio album by Jan and Dean. It was released by Liberty Records on November 27, 1963.

Recording and production

On September 13, 1963, the tracks "I Gotta Drive" and "Sting Ray" were tracked at Western Recorders. Covers of the Beach Boys' "Shut Down" and "Little Deuce Coupe" were also tracked at Western on September 17, although Jan and Dean's version of the former song was left unreleased. On October 23, "horn and string overdubs" were added to "I Gotta Drive" at United Recording. On November 14, "Dead Man's Curve", "Hot Stocker", "Surf Route 101", and "Drag Strip Girl" were tracked at United Recording.

The recording of "I Gotta Drive", on which Jan Berry sang lead, was also released by the Matadors as a single on Colpix Records in December. Berry's girlfriend Jill Gibson performed the spoken intro on the Matadors' version. The Matadors also contributed backing vocals to the Drag City album. "Drag Strip Girl" was a reworking of "That's All I Want From You". In his 2016 autobiography Surf City: The Jan & Dean Story, Dean Torrence stated that the original title of "Schlock Rod" was "Bean Wagon", and that he and Berry "improvised most of the song".

The mono version of the album was mastered on November 22, 1963. Engineer Lanky Linstrot recalled he and Berry discovering that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated during the session.

Release

Liberty released Drag City on November 27, 1963 in mono and stereo. The title track, backed with "Schlock Rod (Part One)", was released as a single on November 8, where it peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. After the album was released, Berry continued further work on "Dead Man's Curve". The second version of the song was released as a single in early 1964, and peaked at number eight. "Popsicle Truck" was retitled "Popsicle" when it was released as a single on May 3, 1966. It was Jan and Dean's last major hit, charting at number 21.

On March 19, 1996, One Way Records released Drag City on CD as a two-fer with the Bel-Aire Pop Orchestra's album Jan & Dean's Pop Symphony No. 1.

Critical reception

Cash Box gave the album a positive review, stating "The boys have been consistent chart-riders and this session should go the same success route. The hot rod sound is catching on just as surfin' did and their handling of these tunes is first rate." In a retrospective review, Bruce Eder of AllMusic described the album as a "made-to-order effort", but praised the work of the ssession musicians involved.

Dean Torrence referred to Drag City as "one of my favorite albums".