Album Reviews |

The Beach Boys

Apart from Dennis who originally had the idea of writing a song about the sport of surfing, none of the beach boys were actually surfers. Brian was almost afraid of surfing, it was no good to him as a way of meeting girls. He preferred to get on more on a conversation level. Mike Love didn't surf much either although he did however develop into a dynamic front man at the national and local concerts the boys would perform. 'Surfin Safari' was their first long playing album and nearly all of the songs were written or co-composed by Brian Wilson, Mike Love contributed the majority of the lyrics.

'Surfin Safari' opens the record and is pretty well developed for a song that was only their second single and recorded in 1962. The music is simplistic of course, but the harmonies are present and correct. A great little surf guitar instrumental break, too! 'Country Fair' is a little corny and I don't much care for Mike's lead vocal either. 'Ten Little Indians' was a poor choice for a single - Brian's choice had been 'Chug A Lug' - the record company picked this instead but it charted no higher than #49 on Billboard. It's very childlike, charming in a way but not as developed a sound as they would display on future productions. 'Chug A Lug' has lyrics introducing elements of the characters of each member of the group. Actually, I'm not sure this would have made a great single either, come to think of it. Mike's mention of 'Root Beer' in a deep voice during the chorus is just plain ridiculous. A little carnival keyboard solo, surf guitar, repeat to fade. It does make me smile though, which obviously is a good thing.

Dennis gets a lead on 'Little Miss America', a quaint doo-wop styled cover and does a fine job with the vocals. You can just imagine the girls swooning over this. Dennis was the heart-throb of the group and earned a fair amount of adulation from their female fans. '409' is the first in a long line of car songs the group performed. Again, the lead vocals could be better, but then again, the group were still almost all in their teens. Carl and Dennis were still in high school! 'Surfin' is a re-recording of their very first single which originally came out on 'Candix' records. This version benefits production wise but loses much of its early charm - the vocal sound very raw here. The record is filled out with the lyrically simplistic 'Heads You Win, Tails I Lose', the faintly ludicrous 'Cuckoo Clock' and a couple of covers. They'd yet to fully assert themselves in the studio, this was a quickly recorded album as was the norm of the times. It's a short record, easy to listen to, but certainly no masterpiece.

Whilst the first album had served a purpose and little more, it sold well enough to convince Capitol Records there was money and sense in recording a follow up set. Whilst the label credits for this record read 'Produced by Nik Venet' it was actually produced by Brian, engineer Chuck Britz, with the Wilson's father Murry, also in the control room. The Beach Boys won the right to control their own recorded output prior to the recording of this set, and moved operation to 'Western Studios'. Up until this act of rebellion, all groups signed to the label had recorded in Capitols own studio's with musicians and songs chosen by an appointed record company representative. Thanks to the success of the title song here, nobody at Capitol complained too much.

Ah, take a Chuck Berry melody. Add Brian's unique Piano style. Add surfing lyrics and vocal harmonies over the top.... hey presto, a hit single! This song more than any other put the group on the commercial map. Charting at number 3 on the Billboard singles charts, it also put surf music on the map. This album is the most fully rounded surf album they ever made, actually. After which, they'd perform songs about surfing, but not actual surf music songs. Around half of this record is true surf music - i.e. guitar led instrumentals with 'Farmers Daughter' being one of the few vocal cuts that truly rewards repeated listening. A simple chugging rhythm, but wonderful falsetto vocals from Brian. The other vocal cuts include the title song, the car song 'Shut Down' and the beautifully sophisticated 'Lonely Sea'. 'Lonely Sea' is one of the first Beach Boys songs to really give out emotion to the listener. A heartbreaking vocal and feel, a wonderful song. 'Finders Keepers', 'Noble Surfer' and 'Lana' were the other vocal cuts. None of these are essential, but do add variety to the record.

The surf tunes? 'Miserlou' was a surprisingly effective version of the Dick Dale classic. 'Stoked' was an original surf composition by the group. 'Honky Tonk' is a little clumsily performed, taken too slowly for my liking. 'Surf Jam' was a Carl Wilson original! A generic surf instrumental perhaps, but the guitar breaks are actually pretty damn good. One aspect missing from The Beach Boys surf tunes was Saxophone, by the way. Mike Love had tried to master Saxophone, but failed to do so to a high enough standard. This track cries out for Saxophone, dammit! Anyways, 'Let's Go Trippin' is another well performed Dick Dale tune. The vocal tune 'Finders Keepers' ends the album opening with good rock n roll piano, good 'Four Seasons' styled vocals on this one, too. They'd already grown a lot as performers in just the short time between this and the previous album. A good album then?. Yeah, it's a bit of a period piece now, but it's always charming and always an entertaining listen.

The first album to bear the credit 'Produced By Brian Wilson'. Sonically, it's certainly an improvement over either of the first two albums. This was their second album of 1963 and showed the group progressing at an extremely fast rate. The title song was inspired by Jiminy Cricket's 'When You Wish Upon A Star' from the Disney film and comes across as a hymn with everything that came after for The Beach Boys being heard or felt in this simple ballad. Wonderful vocals, one of the finest leads Brian ever did, a classic song. Yeah, it's a song about a 'surfer girl', but the sheer emotion in the vocal performance transcends any lyrical shortcomings - that's if there are any. 'Catch A Wave' is a fantastic song and production and a Beach Boys song you believe must have been a single, but in fact this never was. It's a short song like many of the songs here, but just so much fun. Fun! That's what we want from music! 'Catch A Wave' following on from the emotion filled 'Surfer Girl' gets the record off to a fine start.

'The Surfer Moon' features Brian's first use of strings, yes, a full three years before 'Pet Sounds'. Obviously, it's like nothing from 'Pet Sounds', but it is another high quality ballad performance. 'South Bay Surfer' and 'The Rockin Surfer' display none of the quality of the first three songs here though. 'South Bay Surfer' features extremely clumsy drums that come in twice as loud as everything else and 'The Rockin Surfer' is a surf instrumental, but the guitar has been mixed very quietly. Organ led, and rather a strange this 'Rockin Surfer' piece. Still, 'Little Deuce Coupe' is better.  Due to the nature of the American singles charts this song reached number 15 even though it was a b-side. A perennial group favourite, it's corny but very happy, and the melody damn catchy. The little harmony parts, the lyrics. An ode to a deuce coupe, a must have car of the age! 'In My Room' is pretty much the most fully developed song here. Pure and simple, a timeless wonder. The lyrics suddenly improve a whole great deal once Brian is directing them. He co-wrote the with pal Gary Usher and sets down a heartbreaking melody and vocal line with  a personal, touching lyric. There's great attention to detail in the production of the backing track, and Brian always did give greater effort to those songs that he felt something about personally. This is certainly one of those times, a stunning vocal harmony performance and perfectly appropriate and haunting melodies. The little falsetto part at the very end breaks my heart every time. 'Your Summer Dream' shares a tenderness with 'In My Room',  a soft lead from Brian. Musically this displays a little Jazzy feel and is unlike anything else here. It's affecting, and another highlight of the record.

As far as the remainder of the album is concerned, apart from the wonderfully happy 'Hawaii', it rather tails off. 'Surfers Rule' is overdoing the 'Surfer' part just a little and hardly a career highlight in any case. 'Our Car Club' has nice little vocal parts, but lacks either the melody or charm of a 'Little Deuce Coupe'. 'Boogie Woodie' is a rock n roll piano instrumental. Obvious filler, but it does display Brian's love of that particular type of music well. An impressive album, if you can get over the fact that five of the twelve songs mention the word 'Surfer' or 'Surf' in their title! This isn't surf music, on the whole, however. The lyrics were about the Surfing lifestyle but the music is starting to move off in it's own direction. The first album that really sounds like a Beach Boys album, and a good album it is too. There are moments of filler, yes. But there's also songs as utterly beautiful as 'In My Room' and 'Surfer Girl'. There's 'Catch A Wave', and much else besides.

The groups third studio album of 1963 and released a mere 30 days after 'Surfer Girl', so several of the songs have already been heard on previous albums or singles. 'Little Deuce Coupe' does add in some healthy new material though, and ties it all together into a concept album  celebrating the motor car. A concept album? In 1963? Yeah, that's right! It's a fine listen too, and one of The Beach Boys more consistent LP efforts. After the title song has opened the album, we have the romantic sounding 'Ballad Of Ole Betsy'. Romantic sounding, but at the end of the day it's an ode to an ageing motor. How they manage to make it sound like someone's heart falling apart is some kind of testament to their vocal talents. 'Be True To Your School' was a concert favourite, but it's not one of mine. It's a good tune but these lyrics....maybe I just didn't like school too much! It doesn't fit the concept of the album that well, either - it's not a car song, for a start. 'Car Crazy Cutie' opens with a thrilling arrangement of vocals although the music is pretty much a re-tread of 'Little Deuce Coupe'. The vocal arrangement makes it sound like a whole new song altogether, genuinely so, and that's a special thing to be able to do. 'Cherry Cherry Coupe' is an uplifting melodic moment, not quite as good as 'Car Crazy Cutie' but it helps fill the albums concept. '409' and 'Shut Down' were heard before on the first two albums and fit the concept. Both are short songs, and besides, The Beach Boys can hardly be criticized for giving fans short shrift. This was their third studio album of 1963, after all.

Rounding off the record we have 'Spirit Of America', another well performed ballad and 'Our Car Club' is repeated from 'Surfer Girl'. 'No Go Showboat' is a slightly Beach Boys by numbers although 'Custom Machine' is certainly inspired. Around 90 seconds long and displaying more musical sophistication in these 90 seconds than many like to give these early Beach Boys credit for. The chords and changes are not typical changes, and more complex than they actually sound. They sound great by the way, but you should know that already. And if not, why not? Go out and get yourself some early Beach Boys! And this 'Little Deuce Coupe' set is as good a place to start as any. Due to certain repetition of previously released songs and some other Beach Boys by numbers type songs, the album isn't quite so inspired as it's immediate predecessor - but it is good listening. 

Shut Down Vol Two? Yes, well.... You see, Capitol records released a various artists album called 'Shut Down' which featured only two Beach Boys songs, both of them previously released, by the way. So, here is Vol 2, only this time it's personal! Okay, so it's not personal, just a fully fledged Beach Boys album release. The trouble is, the frantic pace these records were recorded and released - this was their fifth album in around two years - results in 'Shut Down Vol 2'  suffering slightly. 'Little Deuce Coupe' overcame this problem of finding a ton of material at short notice by including previously released songs. Here we have a number of covers, some good, some bad and some downright ugly. More of that later, the album opens with a song everybody knows, 'Fun Fun Fun'. It grates on me a little bit more than some of their other hits. There is little to surprise you in either the melody or the vocal arrangement, although Brian does his customary best with the falsetto part. Really, it's just a good time pop song, and that's all. 'Don't Worry Baby' follows and like their earlier 'In My Room' is a real timeless wonder of a ballad. This is where Brian's heart lay, not 'Fun Fun Fun'. Mike's heart lay with material like 'Fun Fun Fun' because that material was commercial. Brian saw himself against songwriters such as the Brill building guys, pop music as an artform. There is little art in material such as 'Fun Fun Fun', however entertaining it may still be. Anyway, back to 'Don't Worry Baby'. It was written as a follow-up to the classic Phil Spector song 'Be My Baby'. Production wise, Brian replaces the 'wall of sound' with a softer, romantic feel. The drum introduction and rhythm nod in a Phil Spector direction, the lyrics are obscure car lyrics actually - but with enough room given the vocal performance to imagine all sorts of other things - a truly brilliant song. Phil Spector rejected it, by the way. Silly fellow!

The center of the album includes much filler amongst one or two shining moments in particular. 'In The Parkin Lot' opens and closes with one of the best harmony arrangements they ever did. Sadly, the bulk of the tune is just repeating the type of song they'd done before only with less inspiration all around. 'Cassius Love Vs Sonny Wilson' was designed to give you an indication of what went on 'behind the scenes' during a Beach Boys recording date. Placed slap bang in the center of the record all it does it make you want to skip to the next song. The next song just happens to be 'The Warmth Of The Sun', though. One of the best early ballads they did - a song written in the wake of the John F Kennedy assassination. It's full of feeling and a wonderful piece with beautiful heartfelt vocals. 'This Car Of Mine' features a Dennis vocal full of character, as usual for him, but it's a lack-lustre composition. 'Why Do Fools Fall In Love' is a cover of the Frankie Lymon song given the full Brian being Spector production treatment. This is a stupendous production that manages to better the original in almost every department. The album tails off badly towards the end - 'Pom Pom Play Girl', 'Keep An Eye On Summer', 'Shut Down Part II' and the bizarre cover of 'Louie Louie' hardly help this to be a cohesive listening experience. The pointless instrumental 'Denny's Drums' gave Dennis the spotlight once again, but it was a strange way to close an album.

The fabulous Beach Boys! In Concert!! What everybody wanted to know was could they re-produce the sound of those wonderful harmonies live in person? As the first song 'Fun Fun Fun' kicks in and sounds not just as good as the recorded version but actually a whole lot more rockin' the question is answered. The crowd screams heard on this album were in response to The Beatles invasion of the US. Suddenly crowds at rock concerts were almost expected to scream. When Dennis sings 'The Wanderer' they scream even louder! A lot of covers here, though. They make them all sound like Beach Boys songs in the event, especially 'Little Old Lady From Padadena'. I don't know the origins of the song, but there is great harmony work on display. 'Little Deuce Coupe' features an extended Mike Love introduction and allows each member to showcase themselves with a short solo spot. Instrument is added to instrument playing the opening riff and section of 'Little Deuce Coupe'. Mike gets a lot of flak, but this works. 'Long Tall Texan' doesn't quite suit them at all, but even this gets Beach Boys harmonies to back it up. When the opening notes of 'In My Room' kick in you are reminded of just how good that song really is. Again, a note-perfect live performance.

Two many covers for my liking on the second side of this in particular. 'I Get Around' and surprisingly 'Hawaii' do get played however. Unfortunately, the cover of 'Monster Mash' let's the side down especially. As does the tired sounding, far too obvious selection of 'Johnny B Goode'. I imagine this was a typical Beach Boys live set of the day, it's worth a listen for fans. Especially to hear Brian performing live. Guess who sings 'Monster Mash' by the way? Mike Love of course! That man really was unafraid. He sings it in a stupid dumb voice and you've got to give him credit for the way he holds the crowd together in-between songs. Any live album recorded in the early sixties in unlikely to be essential listening though in the twenty first century. We've got to accept that. The sound quality is pretty good on the re-issued version I have, however. And, it's a whole load of fun. It may open a few eyes too. These guys really were good live performers.

It's been fourteen years since I last bought a new Beach Boys album. Why? Well, quite simple, I bought them all in 1993. Bought them all apart from 'Beach Boys Christmas Album', which ridiculously for my favourite group, i'd always resisted. I'd always been intrigued by it and listening to Brian Wilsons Christmas album last year was the final straw. I had to have this Beach Boys Christmas album that's so well regarded. You know, Brian was going head to head with Phil Spector's classic Christmas album. Phil's album was noisy and angry, Brian's is loving and happy. Simple as that, really. Reaching a peak of number 6 on Billboard in the festive season of 1964, the album went gold, selling well every year. Five originals join seven traditional tunes. Brian sings lead on four tunes, Brian and Mike share lead on other songs and Al Jardine gets his first ever Beach Boys lead vocal on 'Christmas Day'. An acapelle 'Auld Lang Syne', complete with spoken Christmas message from Dennis in the middle utterly breaks my heart, stupendously beautiful singing from the guys. Two hits open the LP, the by now Christmas standard 'Little Saint Nick', which really is 'Little Deuce Coupe' with sleighbells and the best original song here, 'The Man With All The Toys'. 'Santa's Beard' is a hilarious tale of a six year old boy discovering that the local Santa was wearing a false beard and isn't really Santa at all. 'Merry Christmas Baby' is a fun little tune with handclaps and 'Christmas Day' proves that Al could do a great Brian impersonation even as early as 1964.

As far as the traditional material is concerned, we've got a slightly old fashioned approach from the guys. Swing jazz strings, jazzy bass lines and those Beach Boys vocals. It's a delight because they didn't really do stuff like this on their regular albums. Stunning vocals are a feature of 'We Three Kings Of Orient Are' which they really transform into something soulful and serious before it goes off with this glorious and magical string section. We remember 'Blue Christmas' primarily from the Elvis version, don't we? Well, The Beach Boys turn it into a proper Disney-esque festive ballad with a very clear and lovely Brian lead vocal. 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' is good, apart from Mike's lead vocal section sounding to my ears to be terribly out of tune. Brian singing 'White Christmas'? Beautiful, of course. 'I'll Be Home For Christmas' is another Christmas by the fire heart-warmer, just leaving the glorious burst of harmony vocals that is their short version of 'Auld Lang Syne'. Look, you can get this album for about £6, so there's no excuse. Every home needs a christmas album and this has to be better than the latest 'Now That's What I Call Christmas' groaning under the weight of Slade and Wizzard.

'I Get Around' was a one number single, a massive hit and one of their all time most perfect songs. The musical backing rolls along but what really makes it is the attention to percussive detail and especially the singing and vocal arrangements. The vocals make this song what it is! Nobody else could touch singing and harmony arrangements of this complexity other than The Beach Boys. Nobody. Brian's falsetto part in the chorus, too! 'All Summer Long' the title song follows with wonderfully evocative lyrics. These lyrics really put images in your mind. The sound of summer! In many ways this is the quintessential early Beach Boys album, and the good songs just flow and flow. 'Hushabye' benefits from the peerless harmony vocals. 'We'll Run Away' is another soft romantic song that really reaches out to you. It's not a great song as such in terms of writing, but the performance is so convincing and otherworldly that it really doesn't seem to matter at all. 'Carls Big Chance' is a surf instrumental, the last one they'd ever do. 'Wendy' has a strange rhythm to it and is hard to pin down exactly, if still being extremely enjoyable. 'Little Honda' is a great underrated Beach Boys song - turn it up loud! Wonderful guitar, a short song perfectly structured and designed and structured to make you smile. I love the little 'honda honda faster faster' vocal parts, too.

This being an early Beach Boys record, not all the songs are of such high standards, of course. 'Drive In' and 'Our Favourite Recording Sessions' are obvious pieces of filler, although really only the latter of those two is forgettable. 'Do You Remember' could be seen as filler but it's so well played and performed, you really don't mind too much if the composition is relatively straightforward. The song still raises a smile and keeps you entertained. In addition to all of this, in addition to 'I Get Around', 'Little Honda' and the rest, we have the closing 'Don' Back Down'. Like 'Little Honda' this is one of those Beach Boys songs sometimes overlooked - it was never a single and rarely played on the radio. But, it's 90 seconds of perfection for me. It's so hard to explain, the track builds up in on itself, the singing is as wonderful as usual. It's just so happy and guaranteed to cure anybodies depression. A good end to a fantastic album that should be in everybody’s collection, Beach Boys fan or not.

With Brian now full time in the studio having quit touring due to a nervous breakdown, he went to work on some of the best produced backing tracks The Beach Boys ever had the pleasure to sing over in their lives. 'Do You Wanna Dance' and 'Dance Dance Dance' for example, are not great songs. But they are SO WELL produced that they sound like great songs anyway! 'Good To My Baby' and 'Don't Hurt My Little Sister' are hugely underrated up-tempo Beach Boys songs and very very catchy. Although this album has secured it's real reputation due to the ballads on the second side, the first half contains some of the best Beach Boys recordings they ever did. 'When I Grow Up' was a two minute perfect pop masterpiece, the vocals improved even beyond the great singing displayed on previous Beach Boys albums. These improved vocals are especially noticeable on the second side of the album, by the way.  Kicking off with 'Please Let Me Wonder' - the bass playing echoes the sound of hearts beating. Supremely melodic, rising and rising before falling, only to rise again. The lead vocals are tender and sweet. 'I'm So Young' is a doo-wop influenced number, the echo on the instruments and the bass in particular make this more than it might have been otherwise. It really does sound otherworldly, helped of course by yet more great singing. 'Kiss Me Baby' is quite simply one of the most romantic sounding songs ever written by anyone. The vocals are again heartbreaking and the backing harmonies extremely sophisticated. It really does reward repeated listening too, in order to pick out all the beautiful musical parts underneath a supreme vocal display.

'She Knows Me Too Well' and the Dennis sung 'In The Back Of My Mind' end the record and these songs are not so far behind the much more appreciated 'Pet Sounds' as legend would have us believe. This album pointed the way towards 'Pet Sounds' and showed The Beach Boys musical progression continuing apace. A wonderful listen all round, and recommended to those who know 'Pet Sounds' or maybe just the hits, and don't know where else to turn. Turn here. Any fears the rest of the group had that Brian's decision to quit touring would interrupt their momentum were quelled by the sheer quality of these recordings.

Here we have a rather mixed album containing moments that are a throwback in terms of subject matter to The Beach Boys earlier material and a few other numbers that continue to point the way towards 'Pet Sounds' and 'Good Vibrations'. Opening the set is  'Amusement Parks U.S.A.' which production detail aside, echoes 'Country Fair' from way back when in terms of concept, if not melodically. 'The Girl From New York City' sounds great, but it's very short and doesn't amount to a whole great deal. 'Then I Kissed Her' performed by Al is a Phil Spector cover - great little percussive effects sprinkled over this but it's not an all time Beach Boys moment. At this point you are wondering if you should bother at all listening to the rest of the album. Thankfully, it gets better. 'Salt Lake City' is dubious lyrically but musically is simply a brilliant Rock n Roll song. The production is out of this world, a huge wall of noise in the middle section managing to outshine a Spector. 'Girl Don't Tell Me', Carl's first ever vocal on a Beach Boys record unbelievably,  is structured in a similar way to The Beatles 'Ticket To Ride'. It may not be original, but it's a very good song still and Carl certainly doesn't let himself down with his first ever lead.  Another British sounding song is 'You're So Good To Me', a straight 4-4 beat which was unusual for a Beach Boys record of the time. What makes it for me is the 'la la la' vocal parts, so uplifting and happy sounding! 'California Girls' may annoy some people for it's lyrical content but musically it's simply stupendous, pure gold. The orchestral introduction really is beautiful. 'Help Me Rhonda' is immeasurably improved over it's 'Today' version, this is the performance that went to number one - shorter, louder, catchier, and harder hitting.  Great 'bow bow bow' vocals! As a song, it goes round and round, that's all it does. The production and vocals make it what it is, unbelievable production and vocals. Brian was growing and growing in the studio. 'Let Him Run Wild' is further evidence of this growth. It sounds very 'Pet Sounds' to me which is a good thing, obviously! Brian's falsetto part is unbelievably high.

The record closes in disappointing fashion unfortunately preventing this collection from reaching the heights of the 'Today' album. 'Summer Means New Love' is a semi-interesting instrumental, little more. It does show signs of Brian's continuing studio experimentation, but ultimately isn't substantial enough.  'And Your Dreams Come True' is a vocal workout, with 'I'm Bugged At My Ol Man' being embarrassing listening with lyrics far too close to Brian's home life. Brian's relationship with his father Murry is 'explained' by the lyrics but i'm not sure we should really be hearing this. Can't even begin to imagine what Murry thought of it all! Still, 'Summer Days And Summer Nights' despite its unfortunate title, is certainly a good album overall. The middle section of the record is simply so very good, it drags the rest up a notch or two. Another quality Beach Boys album and another hit record!

The record company as usual, wanted a new Beach Boys album. Brian was unwilling to produce another album, all his attentions were turned towards the writing process of the 'Pet Sounds' album. A solution was to fake a real Beach Boys 'party' and record the results. The music is semi-acoustic in nature and unlike anything else they ever did. That doesn't mean it's always good, byt you know.... The songs are all covers apart from their own 'I Get Around' and 'Little Deuce Coupe', both recorded in very throwaway fashion, basically torn apart amid laughter and bad playing. It certainly shows they didn't hold their own material as sacred, I suppose. After the energetic 'Hully Gully' has opened proceedings we have a couple of Beatles songs. 'I Should Have Known Better' is always a good song and the bongos are especially charming on this version of it. Pretty straight versions actually, and strangely effective. Of course, it's all acoustic guitars and strummed bass and yet more bongos! 'Tell Me Why' replicates The Beatles harmonies rather than insert Beach Boys styles over the top, 'Pap-Oom-Mow-Mow' allows for some ridiculous vocals and Beach Boys 'di di dit' parts. 'Mountain Of Love' sports effective harmonica and there is good harmonies and singing all over 'Devoted To You' and the Phil Spector song 'There's No Other...'

'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away', another Beatles song is a highlight here with a tender and effective Dennis lead vocal. Shouted out 'Hey' parts, which bring a smile to my face. I wonder what The Beatles made of it all? The album continues much in the same acoustic guitar / bass / bongo fashion throughout. The sound of laughter etc in the background is less intrusive that you might think, although this record is obviously no work of high pop-art. Funnily enough, it is a good listen all the same. It has it's own peculiar character and charm. American audiences especially loved this album, it coincided with the wide-spread arrival of home-taping and sounded very real and lacking in pretence. It was very easy to imagine it really was recorded at Mike Love's house and a real Beach Boys party! The illusion was perfect. The version of Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are A Changin' performed by Folk fan Al Jardine shows just how unafraid they were of tackling any kind of song. 

( 1966, UK pos 2 )
Wouldn't It Be Nice / You Still Believe In Me / That's Not Me / Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) / I'm Waiting For The Day / Let's Go Away For Awhile / Sloop John B / God Only Knows / I Know There's An Answer / Here Today / I Just Wasn't Made For These Times / Pet Sounds / Caroline No

This is a record that embraces adult themes of love and spirit. It embraces you the listener – inviting you into its world of love, beating hearts, lost relationships and resting a head upon the shoulder of a loved one. Its an album with impeccable state of the art production. Well, by twenty first century standards the production is no longer state of the art, but given the studios in which Brian, Mike, Al, Carl, Bruce and Dennis worked with – this is the state of the art, unsurpassed even today. Brian didn’t use studio trickery in so much as he simply knew how to use the studio. He knew where to place a microphone and which microphone to use. Well, all good record engineers do know these things of course. Brian wasn’t unusual in that respect. What was unusual is how all of his choices were just ‘right’. And, bear in mind, Brian wasn’t really a producer or an engineer. He’d not taken any college courses in sound re-production or record production. Everything was learnt cutting those simple early Beach Boys records, watching trusted lieutenant Chuck Britz in the control room and beating off the overbearing advances and attempted domineering of his father.

I should talk about the actual record.... I’ll get round to it in a second. The impact of ‘Pet Sounds’ deserves some discussion first. Upon release, people within the music industry – the actual musicians, producers etc recognized Brian had put his heart and soul into ‘Pet Sounds’ and that it was indeed something special. They fell in love with the record and people such as Glen Campbell, producer Terry Melcher even John Cale of The Velvet Underground are responsible partly for ‘Pet Sounds’ never being forgotten. The fans of ‘Pet Sounds’ spread the word, spread the message. Capitol Records famously were lukewarm about the whole thing and quickly released the first of many greatest hits packages and generally treated ‘Pet Sounds’ without any respect whatsoever. Hence it ‘only’ charted top ten in the US, ‘only’ spawned two top ten singles – although it was a huge hit in England where Brian and The Beach Boys still have a very loyal and loving fan-base right through to today.

Personally, I’ve had troubled relationships ( haven’t we all? ), I’ve had doubts about religion and also periods of discovery concerning spirit and religion. This isn’t a religious record as such but Brian and Carl reputedly held prayer sessions concerning the success of the album and one song, 'God Only Knows' in particular. Before all of that however we have 'Wouldn’t It Be Nice'. Two and a half minutes in length, the lyrics written by advertising man Tony Asher and directed by Brian are a step away from previous Beach Boys material. Basically ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ if we were older, if we were in love, if we were married. It’s a fantasy and the fantasy is supported by those wonderful Beach Boys harmonies of course. Musically the most notable aspect of the song is the section where it slows down, the track is stripped back and the singing just soars upwards to the heavens. After that, the song pretty much just ends. It hardly matters as you are still awestruck by what’s just happened. Everything in the right place – an up-tempo, impossibly sophisticated pop song. The next three songs are something of a sandwich. We have 'That’s Not Me' a simple song on the face of it that is transformed purely by the playing and production, the sound of the bass guitar like a heart beat. Together with the drums it’s a sound used especially well on 'Don’t Talk…' Its actually used to follow a particular lyric and reinforces the idea of ‘Pet Sounds’ as a loving emotional album able to present the emotion of love out to the listener, rather than just stories and songs about love. 'You Still Believe In Me' was reworked from an earlier song called 'In My Childhood'. Its all double lead vocals from Brian ( on the mono version of the album at least ) and he showcases his heartbreaking falsetto very well.

You may be thinking at this point, ‘this Pet Sounds’ doesn’t sound very, um, Rock n Roll!’. You’d be right. This is hardly Rock and Roll, this isn’t early Beach Boys influence Chuck Berry. Brian’s Idol Phil Spector, now, you can hear his influence. The same musicians that Phil recorded with were used during the ‘Pet Sounds’ sessions after all. The nearest we do get to rock music as such is 'I’m Waiting For The Day' and 'Sloop John B'. Sloop features exciting piano, rock rhythms and impossibly simple sounding yet complicated melodies that send me giddy. 'I’m Waiting For The Day' again is a fairly simply song, but simple isn’t bad. Its only actually simple in sound. The melody and chord changes, the production and mixing are far from simple. Every effort was made to get the right sounds, Brian’s ‘Pet Sounds’ – hence the albums title.

'God Only Knows' is of course one of the most beautiful records ever made. Oh, but of course! Well, I say that myself and I believe that myself. Many other people believe it to be true and Brian has been playing the entire ‘Pet Sounds’ album during recent solo concerts. 'God Only Knows' was sung by Carl, chosen by Brian after he rejected himself for the lead and deciding something wasn’t quite perfect. Remarkably, it was only brother Carls second ever lead on a Beach Boys record. He’d provide many important and great lead vocals the years after 1966, but never really would match that first ( well, second ) love of his 'God Only Knows' vocal work. 'I Know There’s An Answer' has lyrics that were re-written by Mike after he expressed doubts concerning Brian’s original ‘Ego’ lyrics. The importance of the musical tracks on ‘Pet Sounds’ – the fact that they turn a great record into a masterpiece genius record is emphasised by 'I Know There’s An Answer'. The new lyrics are slightly clumsy, slightly corny. Fortunately the musical backing is one of the most exotic on the entire record, full of strange noises and held together by wonderfully melodic bass-playing.

I’m going to finish this review now. I haven’t even mentioned 'I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times', the two instrumentals and the beautiful solo Brian 'Caroline No'. The instrumentals provide variety. The title track is ridiculously joyously silly and really should raise a smile – 'Let’s Go Away For Awhile' matches its title in its musical description of places to achieve a state of joy and relaxation. 'Caroline No' fades out with the sounds of a train going past behind dogs barking. Pet Sounds, indeed. We are all fortunate Brian shared these sounds with us all. One of the greatest albums ever made, as simple as that. No, it’s not rock and roll….not really. It renders categorization difficult, actually. Just forget everything I’ve said. As the song goes, ‘listen, listen, listen….’

The album that replaced 'Smile'. 'Smile' was to have been an impossibly brilliant triumph, the album that would have been the perfect pop/rock album and also the record that would have ended the career of the likes of The Beatles. Of course, it was never completed or released. The reasons are numerous and too complex to go into in the space of this review. Much of it was probably hype but now we'll never know in any case. 'Heroes And Villains' opens things, and even in this imperfect form is still very very special. The lyrics are fast paced, beautiful and meaningless fun. 'Vegetables' is a little silly thing but does contain wonderful vocal parts. 'She's Goin Bald' is just downright stupid. At this point you are probably wondering what the hell is going on. Perseverance reaps it's own rewards. 'Little Pad' features possibly the most beautiful harmonic humming you are ever likely to hear. 'Good Vibrations' is, well, it's 'Good Vibrations'! Little needs to be said about this particular perfect masterpiece that hasn't already been said. 'With Me Tonight' is the best of the songs not originally scheduled to appear on 'Smile'. It sounds like it was recorded in a church and Carl sings so well it will make you shiver and cry. That's a promise, by the way. 'Wind Chimes' is a spooky different version of a 'Smile' song, 'Gettin' Hungry' a bit too simplistic -  very raw production wise. In fact, it's a bit out of place here altogether. 'Wonderful' is a superb heartbreaking ballad and 'Whistle In' a short little coda to what's gone before.

'Smiley Smile' is in-fact a highly regarded and influential album in it's own right. Some of the vocal parts sound truly otherworldly and are unlikely to ever be surpassed. This otherworldliness may in part be due to all the strange things the guys were smoking at the time, but still! No, this isn't 'Smile', but we should be thankful the group continued and gave us music as good as this to remember them by.

And, so begins the second great era of Beach Boys music. This is unlike any album they've recorded before or since. It's a special album in it's own right, however. The production of 'Pet Sounds' and 'Smile' has gone completely, these are mostly live performances, rhythm and blues songs and going back to the roots of what excited Brian Wilson about music in the first place. He plays wonderful boogie piano all over this record -. the piano and the melodies in general are so inventive and strong, they go way beyond what is normally required for a rock album. No less an authority than Jim Morrison of The Doors expressed a love of this 'Wild Honey' album, a strange thing given their previous un-hip striped shirt image. These guys were hip! Okay?! Anyway, 'Wild Honey' with it's creaking Theremin sound opens the album and it's surely no 'Good Vibrations'. Very raw musically, and long term Beach Boys fans must have been scratching their heads over the song. 'Aren't You Glad' is simply wonderful though. Brian leads from the back with the piano melodies. The vocals are both soft, expressive, raw and brilliant, all at the same time. Carl's vocals on the record as a whole are a thing to behold, he sounds like he's enjoying himself. They all do actually. 'I Was Made To Love Her' is a Stevie Wonder song, doesn't sound like one here, though. Again, the piano holds it together. Bass, little shuffling percussion.... great vocals! All this, and 'Country Air' too. Now this really is special. The singing just soars through the air the listener is inhabiting. Little whistle parts that make you smile, Brian's melodies again. None of these songs are 'productions', none are ambitious works of art. All are simple, enjoyable and really just rather wonderful. None more so than 'Country Air', actually. 'A Thing Or Two' is a less enjoyable, a faster number, it loses it's beauty as it goes along.

The second half of the album opens with 'Darlin' - a top twenty hit when they'd all but stopped having hits. A Carl vocal tour de force, the best group vocals of the entire record and a very good song too. 'I'd Love Just Once To See You' doesn't work and seems a left over from the 'Smiley Smile' sessions. Done in 'Wild Honey' style it really sounds, well, odd. 'Here Comes The Night' is funky! It would later be re-done as an attempted disco classic, this is the original recording and it's rather fine. 'Let The Wind Blow' contains one of the finest melodies Brian ever wrote, again his Piano is everywhere. It's hard to credit that this one song contains more melody in fact than some entire groups albums do. No, really, it does! Very subtle and soft sounding melodies with great echoed vocal effects. 'How She Boogalooed It' was a group composition minus Brian, the first like that they ever did and 'Mama Says' closes the album displaying good group harmony parts. It's a very short vocal work-out, nothing more. It works well as album closer, though. If none of the songs here are all time Beach Boys classics, the album as a whole is much more than the sum of its parts. Always rewarding, always entertaining.

The opener 'Meant For You' is thirty seconds long, it's 'Friends' all over, an album less than thirty minutes long. Released in 1968 it was certainly out of time, out of step with then current musical fashions. It was the groups worst selling album, almost ever I believe and also Brian Wilson’s favourite Beach Boys album. It hit's the spot, every single time, whatever and every mood you may be experiencing. This album works, it's so easy to listen to, so relaxing but also with a whole ton of melody and great vocal parts. The title track sees the group back weaving their harmonic magic after 'Wild Honey' had featured mostly solo vocals. 'Wake The World' I can listen to ten times in a row and still it remains fun and interesting every time. 91 Seconds long, it's actually addictive and doesn't even need to be a second longer in any case. We've got great little brass parts, wonderful vocals. It's perfect in every respect, why repeat it? Why stretch things out? The length suits this, and the album as a whole, actually. 'Be Here In The Morning' continues a high quality and in fact, every song here serves a purpose and has something to recommend about it - often several things. Short songs maybe. Simple tracks maybe... but there is such feeling here!

Many of the songs on 'Friends' were written by the group in collaboration with Brian, both music and lyrics. 'Friends' saw the start of Brian withdrawing from the front-line, so to speak. His major solo contribution in terms of writing is the instrumental 'Passing By'. Luckily it's so good, English group the High Llamas have taken the sound and structure of this, and based entire albums around it! Another important development in Beach Boys world was the emergence of Dennis as a talented writer. Two of his songs feature, 'Be Still' being a lovely quiet meditation with 'Little Bird' sounding like Brian had a hand in it. It's Dennis Wilson that wrote and sang this however, and it works as a definite highlight - so good, it could sit on any Beach Boys record and not seem out of place. The two semi-instrumentals that close the album, like 'Passing By', are just so damn atmospheric, melody filled and enjoyable! 'Diamond Head' is a fantastic production too, certainly the most ambitious moment here. 'Transcendental Meditation' is musically a thing of wonder and this 'Friends' album a thing of splendour. For a very humble release, this really does have a certain magic surrounding it.

Now here's a curious thing, possibly the worlds first ever karaoke disc! Whilst it no doubt went down well in Japan or somewhere, it was seen really as more Capitol records milking of The Beach Boys catalogue and rather ignored. It happens to be a personal favourite of Brian Wilson, although not really a personal favourite of mine. The song selection is slightly curious for a start. 'Darlin' to open? 'Darlin' without Carl Wilsons wonderful vocal performance? 'Darlin' minus vocals is just that, minus, lacking! Second track 'Salt Lake City' is pretty interesting though, revealed to be a strong instrumental track with plenty of horns and the sound of the 'California Girls' organ prominent. 'Sloop John B' being a 'Pet Sounds' era track, of course - sounds wonderful. As we are missing the vocals, some of the instrumental parts actually sound much clearer, certain parts that it's possible to miss or overlook when listening to the complete song with vocals. The bass line is especially noticeable here. Well, it was on the original too, I guess. The percussion is worth mentioning as well - all twinkling and sounding so lovely! 'In My Room' without the vocals, without those soul searching lyrics - sounds surprisingly good, better than you'd expect. Well, following 'Sloop' we're going back a few years to a time when Beach Boys backing tracks were much simpler, and that's the case with the track to 'In My Room' as well. Having said that, you do begin to marvel at Brian's production techniques. Again, the percussive parts and bass lines are especially noticeable in this 'new' version.

The seemingly random song order starts to get a little irritating as the album progesses. 'Catch A Wave' is a very simple sounding backing track and badly misses the vocals, which were full of extra meaning and melody in themselves. It's still very well executed and produced of course, but you simply find yourself filling in the missing parts. 'Wild Honey', 'Little Saint Nick', 'You're So Good To Me' and 'Surfer Girl' are slightly questionable inclusions on a vocal free Beach Boys album. 'Little Honda' is very welcome though, a much underrated song in the first place! And, the backing track is of course given extra resonance and attention in the listeners mind - you have to focus on it, given the fact all the vocals have been removed. All of the 'Pet Sounds' material sounds wonderful here, of course - but 'Pet Sounds Sessions' does that job far better and more comprehensively. One minor gem remains right at the end, and may be part of the reason Brian digs this strange little Beach Boys album. Brian has always been unhappy with his own vocal performance on the regular 'Let Him Run Wild' much to the bafflement of Beach Boys fans. Here, we get the instrumental minus those very high falsetto vocals, and it's a truly glorious sounding instrumental track. They say this points the way towards 'Pet Sounds'? Well, listening to it minus vocals - that's even more plain to see. In fact, the backing here is pretty much 'Pet Sounds' quality. Now, there's a thing! Of course, this 'Stack-O-Tracks' album is unlikely to be at the top of even the most ardent Beach Boys fans shopping list. But, once you've got the rest, get this! It does reveal a few things along the way. You may not listen to this regularly, but when you do - you may well just marvel at the skill of Brian in the studio.

The Beach Boys 'live with beautiful sounds' in London, 1969. A fantastic selection of material,  anyone who has seen The Beach Boys play live in recent years will be amazed at this tracklisting! We open with 'Darlin' which is always a fun, rockin tune. Always. The versions of 'Pet Sounds' songs are rather rushed through with, but perfectly fine. We have a live 'California Girl' which certainly isn't an unusual occurrence. They perform it well, but by necessity, it lacks the sparkle of the original studio version. 'Do It Again' is suitably sing-along and party in atmosphere. It was a big hit at the time and generates a few cheers and handclaps from the crowd.

Of course, there is a reason to buy this. There is one reason above all other reasons and that reason is 'Wake The World'! The introduction proves Mike is a great band-leader. The song itself is as beautiful as ever and perfect in rendition. 'Friends' is a big favourite album of mine in any case and it doesn't get any better than 'Wake The World'. It really doesn't! And?! Then?! 'We're gonna do a song that comes off our 'Wild Honey album'. One person cheers. That's a great album though! Mike tells a joke in the introduction and gets a huge round of applause. Mike has generally been underrated through the years for what he does exactly bring to The Beach Boys. 'Aren't You Glad' follows and everybody has fun. Its a stupendous song! The 'i got a love that just can't stop beating for you' line is supported by suitable Hal Blaine-esque drum section that echo the studio version well. We have a live version of 'Good Vibrations'! The weather is great and everything is fine. A fine live album! One of the best! Well, possibly not, but its hugely enjoyable and the song selection intelligent and fine, showcasing a mixture of hits and less well known song to great effect.

What have we here? Well, an album pieced together from 'Smile' out-takes, concert favourites. Featuring almost no new Brian Wilson compositions but a couple of older one's. Singles put together with previously unreleased tracks and a couple of Dennis Wilson songs. Given that mixed pedigree, you might not expect this to amount to very much.... 'Do It Again' is an old style Beach Boys single designed to top the charts. It didn't quite manage that but it does an interesting thing mixing in a heavier rockier sound with the Beach Boys of old. 'I Can Hear Music' was the first ever Beach Boys recording on which Brian neither wrote, sang, played or produced. Carl put this cover of the Phil Spector song together and it sounds almost like a classic to me, a fabulous vocal arrangement. 'The Nearest Faraway Place' even sees Bruce Johnston getting in on the act with an effective 'Pet Sounds' style instrumental, very beautiful actually. 'Bluebirds Over The Mountain' and the cover of 'Cotton Fields' certainly aren't classic moments. Neither are exactly bad but the sound of session men can be heard, Brian can't and they lack imagination.

Dennis Wilson’s songs here aren't the best he ever did but show his continuing development as a creative force within the group. 'Be With Me' is his finest moment here, a dense wall of sound epic ballad production. Phew! 'I Went To Sleep' I love because it sounds like a 'Friends' out-take, obviously a good thing! We end with a couple of 'Smile' out-takes. 'Our Prayer' is a one minute long spiritual vocal work out. Whatever Brian had done production wise, it works. The sound of the voices is just heaven itself. 'Cabinessence' was a highlight of the 'Smile' sessions and one of the most finished sounding songs. The lyrics are weird Van Dyke Parks ( his Smile Collaborator ) poetry, the music is hard to explain but the sound of 'Smile' all over. A brilliant artistic song. A work of art. As a whole, 20/20 isn't any work of art. It's let down by a number of lesser moments but retains more than enough quality overall to remain a hugely enjoyable listen.

( 1970, UK pos 29 )
Slip on Through / This Whole World / Add Some Music to Your Day / Got to Know the Woman / Deirdre / It's About Time / Tears in the Morning / All I Wanna Do / Forever / Our Sweet Love / At My Window / Cool Cool Water

We open with the Dennis Wilson song 'Slip On Through'. You notice straight away the rich production and backing track. A convincing rocker, it leads into the Brian Wilson song 'This Whole World'. If the whole concept of the singles charts hadn't been undergoing a process of change at this point in time it would have made a great Beach Boys single. Wonderful group harmonies, twinkling bell effects, good lead vocals. Brilliant melodies. 'Add Some Music' was the lead single, failed to chart, although the vocals are again wonderful. 'Got To Know The Woman' is Dennis's attempt at producing a funky sexy rock n roll number and he does pretty well all told! Bruce's pretty ballad 'Deirdre' together with the furious Dennis Wilson song 'Its About Time' wraps up the first side of the record - and it's a pretty strong first side too. The second side is even better, and where the real genius of 'Sunflower' resides. Bruce kicks things off with one of his finest ever contributions to a Beach Boys album. 'Tears In The Morning' has good lyrics, swooning vocals and is really rather fine. 'All I Wanna Do' is Mike Love on absolute top vocal form. Such a warm, tender vocal - one of his best ever leads. A ghostly atmosphere runs through a song that really is a underrated masterpiece and unjustly neglected. The lyric here is about Mike's meditation techniques, but doesn't really obviously display that. Unless someone told you, or you knew about Mike's preoccupation with Transcendental Meditation, you wouldn't guess it's about that at all. Whatever, it's a stunning wonderful song. Such good vocals towards the end it really is life-affirming.

Dennis Wilson's best ever song is right here on 'Sunflower', and it's also one of The Beach Boys finest moments, too. It's so good it really does rival anything Brian has ever written. 'Forever' is a stunningly beautiful ballad with intense vocals in the middle section and I simply adore the 'na na na' vocal parts that end the song. The next couple of songs are sweet, 'At My Window' by Al is just damn strange, a slight song although with totally beautiful harmonic parts, it must be said. All three songs are very enjoyable, work in the context of the record, and prepare you for 'Cool Cool Water'. When trying to explain to people there is more to The Beach Boys than 'Surfin USA' I always point to songs like 'Cool Cool Water'. Why? The vocals. These are heavenly and truly unsurpassed vocals. Carl's vocal parts are most noticeable, Mike does comes in with a slightly corny bit near the end, but in context it works. The music is full of relaxing rhythms and intriguing patterns. 'Cool Cool Water' was based on a fragment of a Brian Wilson 'Smile' melody. The little keyboard parts in 'Cool Cool Water' were unique, and way ahead of their time. I don't even know what I can say. I'm always rendered speechless by this one song. It's just so very beautiful, it brings up the standard of an already wonderful album to that of an absolute masterpiece.

The first surprise is that Dennis has no songs here at all. Brian is absent from proceedings too, though a few of his songs do feature. The first song for example was co-written by Mike Love and Al Jardine. An unlikely song writing duo but when faced with listening to 'Don't Go Near The Water' with it's ecological lyrics and good group harmonies you really don't care who wrote it. Al wrote in a very Brian Wilson fashion. He always tried to imitate Brian. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Here, it certainly works. An extended vocal harmony to close the song. And, to lead into Carl Wilson's 'Long Promised Road'. A rockier song that builds up in tempo and intensity as it goes along. A fabulous song! Each and every member of The Beach Boys were writing great songs in the early seventies. Nobody much noticed at the time, although this and 'Sunflower' have both grown in stature over the years to be recognized as the great albums they are.

Al comes up with 'Take A Load Off Your Feet'. Brian had a co-writing credit on this one, though I’m not sure what contribution he actually did make to it. It's very quirky. Funny for a few listens though hardly a group career highlight. Bruce Johnston especially enjoyed the more democratic nature of The Beach Boys at this stage in their career. 'Disney Girls' is his masterpiece. Evocative lyrics, a good vocal. A great big ending section with stunning group vocals. A fine, fine moment. 'Student Demonstration Time' is not too nice being an old rock 'n' roll song re-worked by Mike with new lyrics. It does add variety though and helps the flow of the record overall. Carl's keyboard led 'Feel Flows' is another moment of sheer beauty. The lyrics are mystical sounding and actually work well. Carl's songs on this album helped overcome the lack of input from Dennis certainly. Al's folky 'Looking At Tomorrow' follows and then we have Brian Wilson's songs.

'A Day In The Life Of A Tree' shouldn't be good on paper. The subject matter of the song is a little too much amateur poetry. It was sung by the bands then manager Jack Reiley. Brian choose him to sing it apparently because he thought his voice sounded like a tree! Thing is, it's doomy organ led backing behind a voice of suffering really does something here. 'Til I Die' features autobiographical lyrics from Brian himself and a hypnotic evolving keyboard pattern. Beautifully sung by Carl, it's a fine moment and one of Brian's best seventies compositions. 'Surfs Up' is just a thing of splendour. Rescued from the aborted 'Smile' album. A new vocal in the first section from Carl over the original 1967 backing track. It moves on to Brian’s original vocal backed by him at the piano. And the finale? A truly stunning mesh of harmony vocals and singing. A brilliant moment and had it been released in 1967 possibly an all time Beach Boys acclaimed masterpiece. It is acclaimed by those who know of it. 'Surfs Up' the album sold better than 'Sunflower'. They were starting to establish themselves as an albums band. Songs such as 'Surfs Up' whatever their origins were impossible triumphs against the odds. Another brilliant album as well, their future looked bright! 

The record company held this album in such low esteem they issued it with 'Pet Sounds'as a bonus disc. It had originally been mooted that the legendary 'Smile' would be issued at around this time. Carl had apparently been working with the pile of tapes that made up the aborted 'Smile' sessions. Nothing did appear of course, just a strange coupling of 'Pet Sounds' married to this new studio set. It sold poorly and people naturally made comparisons between 'Carl And The Passions' and 'Pet Sounds'. Only eight songs, three of them sound like Beach Boys songs.... Two members of South African group 'Flame' were integrated into The Beach Boys line up around this time, effectively replacements for the departed Bruce Johnston and the mostly inactive Brian. 'You Need A Mess Of Help' kicks things off and becomes Brian's only real contribution to the record. An up-tempo rocker, it's a little rough around the edges but still Brian's trademark melodic flourishes shine through. This is followed by two gospel influenced numbers, they sound nothing like The Beach Boys although are perfectly professional in their execution, especially the rollicking enjoyable 'He Come Down'. 'Marcella' is the most 'Beach Boys' sounding song here. It's a re-make ( with new lyrics ) of a 1964 out-take 'All Dressed Up For School' and works as simple good fun if hardly being a Beach Boys classic. 'Hold On Dear Brother' is better, a slow mournful...wonder. Certainly a highlight, nothing to indicate it's actually even by The Beach Boys but it does feature damn good vocals.

The final two songs follow a somewhat overblown Dennis Wilson ballad. 'Cuddle Up' is also a somewhat overblown Dennis ballad, but this time it's a much better song. Heartbreakingly dramatic and a true classic for my money - overblown or not, this is truly wonderful. 'All This Is That' has the best lead vocals of the album with Carl giving a superlative lead performance. One of his best vocals ever, actually. It's not quite enough to push this album totally through however. 'All This Is That' and 'Cuddle Up' apart - this record doesn't sound as special overall as previous albums. What is here is fairly solid, to be fair, even the more generic sounding songs. Everything is performed well and this wasn't quite the end of The Beach Boys. Certainly not, more was still to come!

Now this is a good album! A last gasp of creativity from the group. I say group. After this the band would splinter more and more into different factions. The album is so named because the entire Beach Boys operation was shipped over to Holland to record the album. Why this was done has never adequately been explained. I think they were trying to stimulate Brian a little. Brian contributes only two new songs here. He had his troubles, which are well documented. 'Sail On Sailor' kicks things off in fine style. It's actually funky, something you wouldn't really associate readily with The Beach Boys, but still! Dennis contributes 'Steamboat' a real chugging wispy smoky evocative song. I love nearly all of his songs, a much underrated talent. We then move on to 'California Saga' and this is the centrepiece of the album. And it may well put you off.... It's a bit, well, odd. But, it's actually pretty good if you ignore the completely daft lyrics. Indeed, Mike Loves song 'Big Sur' is fantastic, really. I mean, it sounds like a Neil Young song off 'Harvest' or something, with added magical Beach Boys harmonies for good measure! 'The Beaks Of Eagles' written by Al is completely ludicrous and pretentious. Some nice music though as Al reads out poetry over the top. The good bit about 'The Beaks Of Eagles' is the way it links into the third part of 'California Saga'. 'California' is bouncy, bubbly, and a 'California Girls' re-write. What really makes it for me is Brian’s on the synthesizers. Pure Brian Wilson genius as Al struggles slightly with the vocals. But then we have the backing harmonies! Also a high point. Here we get Brian back on Falsetto where he belongs, with a gloriously rough and affecting part. Makes me cry. And the whole damn song is so cheerful! Be snobbish if you want, but really, this is great stuff.

The second half of 'Holland' kicks off with Carl Wilson's 'Trader'. His finest moment musically, and great singing, too. Weird lyrics from Jack Riley, but we can't have everything! 'Leaving This Town' and 'Only With You' are both mid tempo ballads, a little bland perhaps, but both very well performed. 'Funky Pretty' ends things off with Brian playing almost everything on it, including drums. It's a grower of a song rather than an instant standout, a bit like the album as a whole, actually. But give it time, and you'll be more than glad that you did give it time. More than glad, as 'Holland' is a fine thing, a fine musical album I can whole-heartedly recommend.

The Beach Boys were actually highly thought of as live performers during the early seventies, even if their albums didn't always sell very well. There's a little story I heard of Bob Dylan being backstage amongst the press guys during this era at a particularly notable Beach Boys live performance and saying, very loudly so everyone could hear, 'you know, these guys aren't half bad'. The Beach Boys had ceased to be seen as 'cool' by the population at large, hence the dramatic fall in record sales since their Sixties commercial peak. This particular live set did 'go gold' however, and became their best selling album for a while at the time. The song selection mixes in then contemporary material with classics from the past. Following the groups commercial best selling 'Endless Summer' early summer hits 'best of' which followed a year later, they'd focus more and more on the classic Sixties material when performing live. This set captures The Beach Boys still giving a damn about producing good new material, and caring about performing that material live for their fans. Brian didn't participate of course - he'd long since given up performing live with the group, but AL Jardine in particular ably deputises for him, providing a whole load of great vocal performances. The opening 'Sail On Sailor' was the commercial highlight of the bands 'Holland' set and is performed well enough here. 'Sloop John B' has some great vocal work from all involved - 'The Trader' as on record, as here - a Carl Wilson vocal tour-de-force.

'You Still Believe In Me' sounds strange initially - a very weird electronic keyboard playing the string section. Al does the Brian Wilson vocals, and does extremely well indeed, a wonderful vocal full of the right amount of yearning. The harmonies come in, and it's just, ahh.... so lovely! 'California Girls' of course gets a big cheer, although isn't so well re-produced here, just a party sing-a-long. It fitted in the set, of course. Carl steps up to the mic for 'Darlin' and turns in yet another stunning vocal performance. Carl always enjoyed singing 'Darlin' in live Beach Boys sets, and it survived in their regular set-list well into the Eighties. 'Marcella' sounds a lot better than its studio counterpart, 'Caroline No' slightly worse. 'Leaving This Town' which was a good enough song on 'Holland' although not really a highlight as such, sounds really fine indeed as performed here. Blondie Chapman turns in a performance with real soul, and it's a shame he left the group, really. 'Heroes And Villains' has a little Seventies 'cheese' as performed here and lacks the psychedelic tones of the studio original. 'Funky Pretty' suits Blondie and Ricky down to the ground, and suddenly, The Beach Boys do indeed 'go funk' and with some aplomb as well. And! They even keep the weird Brian Wilson keyboard parts! Kudos!! 'Let The Wind Blow' is slower than it's original, but just as lovely in the end. Carl does very well vocally. 'Help Me Rhonda', like 'California Girls' is just a treat for the fans crying out for a hit, and something for Mike Love to play upto. 'Surfer Girl' is a delightful surprise, a real dip back into their past. Weird hearing it not sung by Brian - instead, the whole group sing although Al deserves special praise for his contributions.

The album closes with a few party sing the hits, type numbers. 'Good Vibrations' sounds nothing like as special as the studio version, but that really won't come as any surprise to anyone. Just not 'do-able' live I suppose. 'We Got Love' is an unremarkable 'Holland' out-take and 'Don't Worry Baby' another showcase for Al Jardine. A fine live album, all in all. A fine document of the group at this stage in their career.

Opens with a strangely lumpen sounding 'Rock And Roll Music'. Any sense of production has gone out of the window. Brian was, as the hype and advertising all proclaimed, 'back'. Except, that he wasn't. Not really. He was forced and coerced into producing this album. The idea was originally to record an album of covers as a warm up to get Brian back into the swing of things. Half way through he gave up, basically. Never one to miss an opportunity, Mike Love helped the record company put the thing out anyway. Very few originals here as a result. There are a few. 'It's Ok' is a perfectly respectable exercise in nostalgia. It sounds like The Beach Boys of old. You know, of 1964 or something. It even charted in modest fashion. 'Had To Phone Ya' is a short, quirky Brian Wilson original. It's not at all bad and shows what the following years 'Love You' would have up it's sleeve. 'Chapel Of Love' is notable because Brian sings and sounds full of beans. It's a horrible song from a musical point of view however and very corny. Mike contributes a pretty ballad before we reach the whole albums absolute nadir, 'Talk To Me'. Easily one of the worst things The Beach Boys ever did. Really. It sounds 1950's, dated and the production is terrible. 'That Same Song' is half a song but entertaining for Brian’s contribution vocally. 'TM Song' is very strange and ends the first half of the record.

The second half opens with two strong songs. 'Palisades Park' has some of the strongest production of the whole record. Al Jardine's song 'Susie Cincinnati' was actually a re-recorded 'Sunflower' out-take. 'A Casual Look' and 'Blueberry Hill' are yet more cover versions performed in a fifties style. This is hardly the stuff of legend. No 'Good Vibrations' here! 'Back Home' was an old Brian Wilson composition but it's first recorded appearance. It's the best song here. Brian's voice has lost a little of it's purity. The production is still very basic. It really is catchy though and has an undeniable charm all of it's own. 'In The Still Of The Night' features some great vocals courtesy of Dennis. It suits him down to the ground. 'Just Once In My Life' is another Phil Spector cover. Fabulous production here. Brian had obviously made some effort over this. It's haunting, good singing. A fine moment and a good way to close. Overall though, this is hardly essential stuff. For fans only. It's good to hear Brian singing again though and the groups next project would be all the more interesting for his return as an active group member.

An album almost solely written and performed by Brian Wilson. Group members make contributions vocally. The musical backing is made up of very primitive sounding synthesizers. Groundbreaking stuff though. Brian just used whatever instrumentation was to hand, actually. 'Let Us Go On This Way' is immediately more engaging than much of '15 Big One's'. Al Jardine contributes vocally to the verses with Brian on the chorus parts. 'Roller Skating Child' is so simple sounding. This is no 'Good Vibrations' or 'God Only Knows', production wise. It sounds child-like. The lyrics certainly are. It's pure Brian Wilson though. So full of melody! And! It leads into 'Mona'. One of the happiest, most wonderful songs they ever did. Charming lyrics! Fantastic song all round. 'Johnny Carson' is a quirky bizarre tribute to the TV host. Mike contributes to this one. 'Good Time' is another 'Sunflower' out-take and sounds misplaced sonically. It's another wonderfully simple song packed full of melody. You know, none of this record is serious stuff. It's just great, grin inducing fun. It's so melodic, so Brian Wilson. Almost a Brian Wilson solo record in actual fact. The group was falling apart at this time and pretty much left him to it.

We continue. 'Honking Down The Highway' musically has Brian playing everything including drums. He adds the 'honk honk' backing vocals. The melody goes round and round. The lyrics again are charming and I believe it's Al again on vocals. A great song guaranteed to make you smile. Music should :) 'Ding Dang' was written with Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. It's fifty eight seconds long. It's extremely peculiar. 'The Night Was So Young' for me is right up there. One of the best songs Brian Wilson has EVER written. Plain and simple. It's well performed, sounds good and it's heartbreakingly beautiful. 'I Wanna Pick You Up' is actually about Brian's home life and his then two young daughters. As sung by Dennis is sounds positively peculiar and rather worrying! It's hugely entertaining, although it's childlike lyrics will annoy some. Lyrically this is a very simple record. The music, although with weird synthesizer backing, is always great fun. If you can get over the sound of this record it's certainly a winner. If not, you are missing out on some of the best melodies Brian has ever written.

Very much an Al Jardine project this, in the face of tensions within The Beach Boys camp that resulted in everyone leaving at some stage. Carl contributes very little to this album, singing lead on only one track and adding nothing at all in the way of guitar or keyboards. Dennis was also largely absent, lost in his own little world and separated somewhat from the group. Mike is still here, singing lead or co-lead on a few songs. Al is everywhere, and Brian even pops up in places and was credited as 'executive producer' whatever that means! Given all this turmoil, the record is surprisingly listenable, although not exactly original. 'She's Got Rhythm' features Brian and Al on vocals, Brian does well enough with his parts - not exactly accomplished but displaying plenty of verve and enthusiasm. 'Come Go With Me' is an old doo-wop song brought up to The Beach Boys formula by Al and a deserved hit single. 'Hey Little Tomboy' is a Brian song with very 'Brian' lyrics, hardly a poetic work of art, but very melodic and very Brian, although the actual production is perhaps a little bland. 'Kona Coast' would be a fine effort but for it not ripping off their own earlier 'Hawaii' to form a large part of the song!

Al's version of 'Peggy Sue' encapsulates the problem this album faced within the commercial market-place, The Beach Boys just weren't seen as relevant anymore. It's a good enough version, just pretty much pointless. 'Wontcha Come Out Tonight' has some fine vocals, from Brian in particular, pleasingly. It's a simple, unambitious song, but rather charming all the same. Carl sings 'Sweet Sunday' and sings well, but the song is nothing much to write home about. 'Belles Of Paris' again features Brian in the vocal mix, Mike sings lead. 'Pitter Patter' is actually pretty good, with a little stomping rhythm and fine Al Jardine lead vocals, although the lyrics are fairly standard stuff. The closing 'Matchpoint Of Our Love' and 'Winds Of Change' are the weakest things on the whole album, poor lyrics in the former, very bland performances in the latter, although if pressed you could say it was 'sweet'. There is one particular highlight remaining, Brians 'My Diane' which Dennis sings! Brian does a little 'Pet Sounds' thing with the music, and Dennis gives this lots of passion and soul. It's a wonderful song, and a fine way to improve an album!

Bruce Johnston returns to The Beach Boys in the wake of Brian disappearing again. Carl is much more involved this time around though, and Dennis even gifts the group a couple of songs. So? Well, this is a fine latter day Beach Boys album! Ok, so it includes a horribly out of place, if actually very 'professionally' done Disco re-make of one their own old songs placed slap bang in its center! But, apart from that..... We have 'Good Timin' for a start, a Brian Wilson song wonderfully performed by Carl, truly as good a ballad as Brian has ever written. Al comes up trumps with 'Lady Lynda' incorporating a little classical theme to form a distinctive introduction to the song. 'Lady Lynda' was ignored in the U.S. but became a huge hit in England and Europe. It's very contemporary for the time ( late seventies ) and smoothly commercial, and really - as good as anything anybody else at the time had to offer the pop charts. 'Full Sail' is hardly a great musical track, but Carl is awesome vocally, fully saving the song and bringing it up to something more. Similarly, Dennis rescues bland musical material with 'Angel Come Home' giving one of his finest vocal performances, well, ever! 'Love Surrounds Me' isn't so hot, even being a Dennis Wilson original, and the disco song 'Here Comes The Night' so ridiculously out of place here, in the end it just manages to be funny. Bruce wanted to create the perfect disco record, apparently.

'Sumahama' is a charming little overlooked Mike Love song, all about Japanese ladies, etc - something close to Mikes heart, by all accounts! But, seriously, it's a fine song that like 'Lady Lynda' was perfectly contemporary for the time. It's worth remembering, that with '15 Big Ones' and 'MIU', The Beach Boys had been seen more and more as an oldies act. What Bruce brought as producer of this set was to brings things a little more upto date for the group, and they do it well. Oh, and following on from the one certifiable classic on this set so far, 'Good Timin' Dennis turns in one of his orchestrated, heart yearning wonders with the truly amazing, tears in the eyes provoking ballad 'Baby Blue'! Sigh :) The harmonies through 'Baby Blue' are utterly gorgeous, by the way. To close we have a fine Carl vocal with 'Goin South' and a funny piece of Brian madness with 'Shortnin Bread'. Of course, this is no 'Pet Sounds'. This album, to be fair, is no 'Sunflower' either. But, even with it including the, um, interesting 'Here Comes The Night' remains a high quality album that's recommended to Beach Boys fans who tend to cease interest with the groups catalogue after 1971 or so.

With Brian retreating again and Dennis absent - not too much can be said to recommend this. The title song is funky and 'Living With A Heartache' has a little enjoyable country feel to it. But really, this album is unique among Beach Boys albums. It doesn't have a single song that can be said to have that undefinable magic. 'Endless Harmony' and 'Some Of Your Love' come closest. 'Endless Harmony' shows that even at this late stage, the group could weave some of the best harmony singing around. 'Some Of Your Love' is a good time, fun, Beach Boys nostalgia trip and would have made a far better single than the truly plodding and dreary  'Goin On'. 'When Girls Get Together' for some reason gives off the image of two young girls walking across an icy landscape. Interesting!

Shortly before and after this album, various members would record solo albums to differing degrees of success. At one point even Mike Love would leave the group, prompting Carl to re-enlist Brian to fulfil some concert dates. It seems nobody much cared about 'Keepin The Summer Alive', although Carl does do his best vocally to hold things together. He does just about hold things together, but the record company insisted upon Brian's involvement. This resulted in the clutch of new Wilson/Love compositions, but they hardly display the usual signs of Brian Wilson melodic invention. Brian wasn't in any real fit state, as far as the actual recording sessions were concerned he disappeared after just a couple of days work had been completed. 

How about we start off by crying? I was crying, and not entirely out of joy. This release is the last ever recorded performance of the original Beach Boys line-up. Yeah, even Brian was there. Even Dennis was there, but then, they had another drummer as well. As well as another bass player, another guitar player - all helping out the overall sound. That's a little nasty of me, after all, many of these songs had a dozen musicians around to perform them in the studio, so why not live as well? Makes sense? It does, actually, but the relegation of Dennis to 'second drummer' and 'occasional' Piano player, really saddens me. He'd be dead three years later, from a boating accident. There's a wonderful moment of beauty here, the introduction to 'School Days', a Chuck Berry song, is taken acapella. They sound beautiful, pure California Beach Boys harmony, as if they'd never aged since 1963, and yeah, that's a compliment. As well as being one of the few times the original Beach Boys line-up would all be together in the same place, this concert marks another 'last'. It was the last time The Beach Boys would integrate new material into their set-list. The new material this time out includes an absolutely storming version of the title track from the album they were promoting, 'Keepin The Summer Alive' that FAR eclipses the studio original. So much so, attenders to this performance must have been mighty dissapointed if they'd rushed out following this gig to buy said album. The Beach Boys did play a few new songs in 1985, to be fair, but those songs were dropped like stones very quickly. The Beach Boys through the Eighties would become a travelling nostalgia act, a pale shadow of their former selves. With Dennis gone, the soul of the group was gone. With Brian gone, the heart of the group was gone. Who'd have even imagined, in the twenty first century, they'd still be a Beach Boys without Carl? Without a single Wilson Brother? Makes me wanna cry.

'Sloop John B' opens with Brian taking the lead, and it's a delight. 'God Only Knows' is given the utmost respect, Carl sings it beautifully as ever - and it works as well as it ever did. 'Be True To Your School' i've always disliked, and then we enter party time! Except it sounds more like a funeral. A series of hits are played, including an inexplicable couple of Cottonfields married to a rushed through 'Heroes And Villains' given absolutely no respect. The entire crowd sing happy birthday to Brian, and then things pick up again. The Al Jardine showcase and hit single 'Lady Lynda' is nice and affecting, 'Surfer Girl' is always a delight to hear, but then we descend again. Cabaret, Beach Boys tribute band, Mike Love, Carl in the background. Dennis sings 'You Are So Beautiful' and I fall apart, heart broken. The encore of 'Good Vibrations', 'Barbara Ann' and 'Fun Fun Fun' is akin to The Beatles playing 'All You Need Is Love', 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and 'She Loves You' as an encore in 1980. Can't imagine it, can you? Carl sings well throughout the first half of this album, especially through 'God Only Knows' and 'Darlin'. Dennis and Brian are all but inaudible for the most part, but The Beach Boys just about hold themselves together. There are reminders of who they once were, enough to please a fan at the time, but who even were their fans at the time? With the CD re-issue of 'Pet Sounds', years later in 1990, The Beach Boys would win a whole new audience. An audience that weren't just at Knebworth in 1980 out to have a good time, but an audience that actually loved them, even though the group was dead and gone as an on-going concern.

An eighties album! With eighties drums! Dennis sadly had departed by this stage after drowning in a boating accident. His talent and character are missed here. A hot producer of the day Steve Levine who had also produced of all people 'Culture Club' was drafted in to shape the recording process. Brian was re-integrated into the group whether he liked it or not. Thankfully, although he didn't have a hand in the writing, the opening 'Getcha Back' is a wonderful slice of nostalgic pop. You can hear Brian in the harmonies - back on falsetto! He sings the closing section as well and drags the whole song up to a higher level. Many of the songs here sound like Carl Wilson solo projects. His vocals are amazing throughout and rescue rather substandard material. This is noticeable on the likes of second song 'It's Getting Late'. 'Where I Belong' is possibly the most affecting moment of the whole record and it's largely thanks to those heavenly Carl Wilson vocals. Brian's contributions to this record in terms of writing are very disappointing. He co-wrote 'California Calling' with Al and it sounds very dated. The production doesn't help but it's hardly a shining jewel in any case. 'It's Just A Matter Of Time' and 'I'm So Lonely' are affecting songs but they don't quite sound fully developed. The closing 'Male Ego' very dodgy lyrics apart, is hugely entertaining though - musically if not lyrically displaying Brian’s character. One of the few occasions his melodic touch shines through here.

Other songs include 'Passing Friend', which is basically a Culture Club song sung by Carl Wilson. The production team is the Culture Club production team and the song was written by Culture Club. The music sounds like Culture Club! Thank god Carl doesn't try to emulate Boy George, though. Be thankful for small mercies! 'I Do Love You' is a Stevie Wonder song sung by Carl with assistance from Al. Bruce contributes 'She Believes In Love Again' which does overcome somewhat glossy production to end up sounding just like a Bruce Johnston song. Yay! It's not one of his better efforts, but it is affecting enough. Overall? Well, it's disappointing the five years that had passed since their last studio effort were not put to writing a few more decent songs! 

The sound of The Beach Boys, even the sound they achieve here, had huge commercial potential circa the mid to late eighties. For evidence of this, just witness to return to selling records enjoyed by The Bee Gees. If only Mike Love had any semblance of sense whatsover and he really DID understand 'the business side' - The Beach Boys would have entered the nineties as a huge selling AOR act. Fair enough, that's not 'Pet Sounds', but the guys could still sing. Brian Wilson played no part in the putting together of this strange hodge-potch of an album, by the way. He'd officially left the group for good by this stage. That didn't stop them trying to place a bunch of one-off songs onto movie soundtracks, however. Which actually, is the basis of this album. One bone of contention however is the fact we only have seven new songs. They dug out their odious collaboration with the fat boys 'Wipe Out', but didn't see fit to include Brian penned 'Rock And Roll To The Rescue' or even their own occasionally charming in an AOR way cover of 'California Dreaming'. Another newish studio recording, 'Lady Liberty' was twice released as a b-side. So? Well, 'Still Cruisin' is rounded off with three of the groups big sixties hits, lending this whole enterprise a smell of Mike Love's particular brand of crass cashing-in commercialism. Just wait until you have an album of songs, yeah??

'Somewhere Near Japan' revisits Mike's preoccupation with Japanese rather than California girls, but when Carl starts singing harmony - the whole track is saved and rendered gorgeous, anyway. The hit 'Kokomo' was a one-off, but it needn't have been. I mean, it's not great. It's a nice pop song for adults - Carl sings very well. Why couldn't they manage to continue with stuff like this?? It would have been better than being all bitter and disappearing, then releasing, well, crap. Al Jardine's 'Island Girl' is worthy enough, 'In My Car' has a writing credit of 'Wilson/Landy/Morgan' so was obviously the product of Brian Wilson writing sessions, rather than Beach Boys writing sessions. Still, it's a stellar tune. No, really, it is. 'Wipe Out' is awful, absolutely terrible, and 'Make It Big' the worst of the original material collected here. After which, the remaining three hits from the sixties sound so terribly out of place and manage to ruin the moon created by the other seven songs. A possible 'decent' commercial Beach Boys record. It did sell in any event, but enjoyable as many songs here are, probably didn't leave a very good taste in the mouth.

Why the hell did Van Dyke Parks agree to work on this thing??? The fate of The Beach Boys, into the nineties and beyond, as anonymous puppets of Mike Love is sealed. Non Beach Boys that contributed but wind up seemingly permanent members of the band as Mike tours the guys around the US for all eternity include Adrian Baker, who in the early 80s actually briefly replaced Carl Wilson on tour. A guy called Craig Fall, who could be absolutely anybody you bumped into in the street earlier today, plays guitar, mandolin and electronics. The Beach Boys themselves seem to only sing, bar occasional keyboards from Bruce and occasional guitar from Carl. Actor John Stamos is roped in to be 'the new dennis wilson, he has that spirit' - and I forget who or where that quote comes from, but JESUS CHRIST!! You don't remake Dennis Wilson's finest moment with an actor who has no place being on a Beach Boys album. You really don't. The other big no-no here is the hip-hop remake of the groups earliest hit, 'Surfin'. Mike wanted the group to be 'hip', 'with the times', whatever. It's actually not so bad if you imagine it produced by a bunch of session guys, perhaps for a television advert. Mike was advertising both himself and the image of The Beach Boys as 'America's Band'. You ever watched the 'Endless Harmony' DVD? At one point, Mike says, pretending to be kind of cool about it, but not being able to hide either his pride or his ego "and we became 'america's band'", kind of shrugging, and you just think, JESUS! Give it a rest, Mike!

Anyway, this album actually isn't the complete disaster it's nearly always painted out to be. It's close, but 'Summer Of Love', crass lyrics included, at least has a decent hook and decent harmonies. The opening 'Hot Fun In The Summertime' isn't too bad, 'Island Fever' is very catchy and could have been another 'Kokomo' if the wind had been blowing in the right direction, you know? The album gets bogged down in mid-tempo anonymous AOR hell and even the vocals of Carl Wilson can't save the likes of 'Lahaina Aloha'. But, bad as this album truly is, i've heard worse. I've heard worse by bands who released albums in 1992/1993 that sold millions of copies. You can't blame Mike Love for everything, much as certain fans would like to. He tried, you know? Misguided, possibly - but he tried.

The music of The Beach Boys can be many things depending on who you happen to be, your cultural upbringing, the year you were born. The music of The Beach Boys can be some cornball song about Surfing and nothing else. It can be an image in your mind of a greying, balding Mike Love fronting a live group that pass as no more / no less than an ageing, if professional, covers act. The music of The Beach Boys can be something else, it can mean the entire world, be unmatchable, unsurpassed art of the highest order. It can be a group who recorded a few hit songs in The Sixties that you don't really like to think about, because, you know, it's old, it's irrelevant. This box-set was released to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their first top ten hit single, 'Surfin USA'. For those that view The Beach Boys as art, that view Brian Wilson as a genius and the groups vocal capabilities as unsurpassed examples of harmony and arrangements - there is much to enjoy here. Unreleased or difficult to find songs, an entire disc devoted to the era 1967 through to 1971, an era in which they made frequently beautiful, if often overlooked, music. There is more than that, here, however. The box-set as a whole could work as an introduction to the groups music for someone who'd never heard them before, if such a thing is imaginable. Everyone it seems, fan or novice, Brian Wilson fan or 'I Get Around' fan has some kind of opinion about The Beach Boys.

Capitol Records endless re-issue program concentrating almost exclusively on the 1962 to 1965 era and hits albums whilst the groups seventies output remained deleted for years and years has distorted the view of this group for some time. Even at the time the likes of 'Sunflower' and 'Surfs Up' were being issued, the group were in an uneasy position of selling a fraction of the records they did in the mid-Sixties, and therefore were seen as irrelevant at a time each and every single ex-beatle had chart topping solo records, for example. When 'Good Vibrations' topped the charts worldwide in 1966 following the highly acclaimed 'Pet Sounds' it seemed as if The Beach Boys were ready to topple anybody, Beatles included. All they needed to do was to make the greatest album anyone had ever heard, or would ever hear, an indisputable masterpiece that would be as acclaimed as 'Pet Sounds' but also sell millions and millions into the bargain. There was a lot of pre-hype about the album to be titled 'Smile', so when it never appeared, crisis loomed. Almost overnight The Beach Boys had become irrelevant, washed-up, sent back to California to lay bloated on the beaches and the surf from which they first crawled. Only, it didn't quite happen that way. Brian was suffering from taking LSD, from paranoia, from having worked non-stop for four, five, six years. He'd had a breakdown back in 1964, in 1967 he had another break-down, one from which it's generally perceived he has never really recovered from to be quite the same hard-working genius he was before. So, The Beach Boys build a home studio in Brian Wilsons house, encouraging him to participate whenever they could. Carl and Dennis Wilson, even Mike, Bruce and Al all stepped up to contribute song-writing, they coaxed Brian to write songs, sometimes recorded his songs without his permission or knowledge. They created some beautiful music from 1967 to 1971, different music to 'Surfin USA' or 'I Get Around' for sure, and for sure, there wasn't the same sense of The Beach Boys progressing and progressing to a certain pinnacle, but each album offered something new and mysterious, each album offered something different, it was a period of discovery and sheer love of making music that drove them on, even though it appeared nobody was listening. Disc Three on this box set encapsulates that era, and that's the finest disc of all five for this unrepentant and passionate Beach Boys lover.

A demo of 'Surfin USA' contains none of the Brian Wilson production, no harmonies and lo-fi recording quality. Brian sings the song that would really send them on their way, sings in a raw voice whilst bashing away at a Chuck Berry riff on the Piano. Even here there is a moment of wonderful, unexplainable transcendence that thrills me. When Brian sings "Everybodies gone Suuuurfinn....." it just gets to me. You can't explain the reason or thought behind this. It's a human voice, the sound of a man full of passion and joy, audible and infectious passion and joy. 'Little Surfer Girl' is no more than a mere fragment. We progress through a series of songs that show progress in writing and production. '409' was an early Car song, a switch from the girls, sun and surf material. The Beach Boys would create a concept album entirely focused around their love of the motor car, a love shared by their teenage audience at the time. 'Punchline' is a Surf instrumental perfectly well done, but hardly the stuff of legend. 'Surfin USA', the single version, still represents to most the sound of The Beach Boys, and anything else doesn't really even enter their hearts or imaginations, and for those people I feel so sad and sorrowful, that they'll never get to hear 'Surfs Up' or 'Mona', 'The Night Was So Young' or 'God Only Knows', never really get 'to hear' those songs, even if they happen across them, because they won't be listening and their hearts will be closed and their minds full of striped shirts and the desperately uncool imagery and fashion of early Beach Boys. Personally speaking, if I never heard 'Surfin USA' ever again, it would be no great loss to me. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the song, but it is so inferior to the songs that followed that it's position in Beach Boys history makes me uneasy. 'Shut Down' and 'Little Deuce Coupe' are Car songs, full of passion and good vocals, 'Surfer Girl' a heavenly hymn devoted unashamedly to an ideal of a California residing, Blonde haired and perfect angel of Brian's imagination. When Brian gets going with his "little one" falsetto, nothing else matters. There is a love and honesty coming through that just thrills me. 'In My Room' can be seen as comparable to The Beatles 'There's A Place'. Were they listening to each other as early as this? The difference is Johns place was his mind, Brians place was his heart - the singing and lyrics here perfectly evoking and representing the feeling of retreating to yourself and your own environment where you won't be afraid, where you'll be comforted and everything will be ok. 'Catch A Wave' is a perfect summer sensation, outtasight! A real early 'Wall Of Love' Brian Wilson song in response to Phil Spectors 'Wall Of Sound'. 'The Surfer Moon' is charming, if slightly cornball, 'Be True To Your School' is a Mike Love concept, and i've never enjoyed it's blatant commercialism.

Lesser known gems from The Beach Boys early era such as 'Spirit Of America' are gorgeous vocal exercises where Brian's falsetto shines through, they built a career around that falsetto. 'Don't Worry Baby' is an inspired response to Phil Spectors 'Be My Baby' which although is a classic in it's own right comes across more as a command, 'Be My Baby', where Brian is pleading, human and affecting, the love and emotion shining through in the falsetto and the beautiful vocal arrangement that just sounds so warm it could reduce your heating bills all through the winter.  'The Warmth Of The Sun' is beautiful, the 'Today' material beautiful and even more sophisticated production wise, Brian was growing and growing. One slight quibble, why isn't 'Kiss Me Baby' here? Generally speaking though, the song selection on this box includes everything important than any Beach Boys fan could ever hope for. There will always be certain omissions, but this Box does do a fantastic job of representing The Beach Boys entire career extremely well. Disc two is necessarily flawed, trying to excerpt 'Pet Sounds' selections away from their original context that just creates a longing within you to listen to all of 'Pet Sounds'. You find yourself missing the songs not here, the beautiful 'Don't Talk' being the most notable omission for me personally, although altogether eight of the thirteen 'Pet Sounds' songs ARE here. An out-take from 'Beach Boys Party' wouldn't be the place you'd possibly expect to find the first genuine thrilling and unmissable out-take on this box. But, there it is. 'Ruby Baby', sung by Brian with dumb/clever/thrilling harmonies, very homely complete with pig 'oinking' noises that still can't take away from the sheer thrill to be found in Brians vocal performance. Why wasn't this on 'Beach Boys Party' in the first place? Following 'Pet Sounds' we have 'Good Vibrations' with sunlight playing on hair, an expensive yet justified production, justified because it sold zillions of copies and broke new ground in production techniques. A multi-part song with sections seamlessly stitched together that were recorded not only at different times but in different studios. She goes with me to a blossom world. The extensive use of Theremin, a strange device that you not so much played as waved your hand in front of hoping for the best was inspired, but there is so much more here on display all through 'Good Vibrations' that it would take an essay in itself to go into them all. The switch into the long-lost 'Smile' material is striking to say the least. 'Our Prayer' is difficult for me to listen to without breaking into tears, just this one minute or so of truly heavenly sounding harmonies the like of which we probably will never see ever again for as long as music exists, and there is a world for it to exist in. The alternate version of 'Heroes And Villains' was recorded right in the throes of the creation of 'Smile' and thus is a far truer representation of what 'Smile' may have been over the 'Smiley Smile' hit 45 version.

The 'Smile' material occupies its own world, and once you've adjusted to this wildly different if unfinished and incomplete Beach Boys material offers many many rewards. It's truly a different place. 'Wonderful' as included here, the genuine 'Smile' version is just Brian and a harpsichord. How come it sounds so great? How come it pulls and tugs at my heart strings and how come it was released on 'Smiley Smile' in a different version that doesn't contain even a fraction of the beauty of this version? Questions that will probably never be answered. 'Wind Chimes' also differs hugely from it's 'Smiley Smile' version, this version is so much more powerful it's almost a completely different song altogether. This version has a friend in 'Cabinessence', although switches between heat-breaking quiet sections and noiser walls of production more effortlessly than the still fine  'Cabinessence'. 'I Love To Say DaDa' and 'Do You Like Worms' are fragments of repeating melodies and clearly nowhere near finished - they sound like they were hardly begun. The version of 'Surfs Up' contained here on Disc Two is a Brian Wilson solo version that almost matches the impossible glory and beauty of the completed and revived 1971 version. 'With Me Tonight' ends this disc, an absolute holy highlight from 'Smiley Smile' that shows Brian and the boys far from faded creatively. This is vocal heavy, light on music, but when you have four, five voices that sound this good in combination, music is hardly necessary. Moving onto disc three, which i've already stated is my favourite of this box, although doesn't overshadow anything else, contains the best out-takes. I'll concentrate on the out-takes, because I could talk all day about the brilliant 'Wake The World', the rocking 'Darlin', or the fabulous Dennis Wilson song 'Little Bird'. Buy the albums. Buy 'Wild Honey', buy 'Friends' - they are both worth hearing in their entirety, although the selections contained here are so very cleverly chosen and beautifully sequenced. Disc three can work as an album in its own right, as well as part of this box. It's truly a beautiful thing, and may shock and delightfully surprise those who aren't at all familiar with anything other than the early material. This is a different place. 'Breakaway' was the finest Beach Boys single to never have been a hit, Brian co-wrote it with his father Murry in a rare moment of reconciliation. 'San Miguel' is a hell of a great Dennis Wilson song with stupendous production and vocal sounds. A singer called Joe South had a single Brian dug, so he wrote a song about it, dashed it off, recorded it quickly and seemingly by himself, although the sound of The Beach Boys group is definitely heard in harmony. This dashed off quickly recorded and forgotten material is better than the material and melodies most groups at the time spent months and months producing. This one song has such great harmony singing, also a feature of the funny, grin inducing 'I Just Got My Pay', which sees the boys harmonizing like it was 1964 again, but married to much improved sound production. The 'Sunflower' material remains as great as it ever was, special mention for Dennis here. Somedays his 'Forever' is my favourite song of all time - one reason for this being the 'na na na' vocal harmonies to close, sung by Brian at a time he didn't sing all that often on Beach Boys records. Brian had great love and respect for his Brother Dennis and his artistic development. Dennis wrote or co-wrote nearly half of 'Sunflower' and it's clear it wouldn't have been the wonderful album it is without Dennis. Dennis contributed nothing at all to the follow-up to 'Sunflower' a victim of group politics, such politics that occasionally did get in the way of the best artistic decisions. Still, Carl stepped up to write his finest ever song, the sheer glory and adventure in vocal sound that is 'Long Promised Road'. Dennis isn't finished yet, though. An out-take of his '4th Of July' is truly lovely, heartbreaking beauty, and his voice wonderfully expressive. The 'finished' version of 'Surfs Up' is an incredible piece of writing, the finest writing that took place when 'Smile' was being planned. Carl was the driving force behind piecing together the fragments of 'Smile', and his time was more than worth it for giving us this. They had intended to put together and finish 'Smile' in this fashion, but it never happened, they needed Brian to conceptually piece it together and he simply wasn't interested in re-visiting the past, however artistically successful the results may have been.

Disc four is the wilderness years, even more so than disc three. The songs here are spread over a sixteen year time span in which Brian was ever less involved, although he did magnificently rally for one album in particular. Somebody bought me this box set for my birthday one year. I listened to 'Smile', then I found myself going through this fourth disc. I was instantly taken with the four songs from 'Love You'. There is nothing else like these songs, the production so strange, yet the songs so beautiful, especially 'The Night Was So Young' which should prove once and for all that Brian simply couldn't lose what he had in him, that fountain of creativity. You can't just 'lose' what you once had, sure it can be buried, but it never goes altogether, and here it is. The opening songs on this disc focus on 'Carl And The Passions' and 'Holland', the 'Holland' material bearing up particularly well within this context, Carl's 'Trader' and Al's 'California' being special notable moments of grin-inducing and affecting sound-bliss. 'Fairy Tale Music' is a strange thing, a little concept piece Brian produced on his own, with a little help from Carl, that originally was issued as a bonus on the 'Holland' album. Here, we lose the narration, and it's all the better for it. Brian couldn't concentrate too well, he had so many unfinished songs, and 'Fairy Tale Music' comes across and six or so songs all unfinished yet put together in the one suite. It's a beautiful, gorgeous thing. 'All This Is That' was a Carl vocal of glory from the 'Carl And The Passions' album, an album short on ideas but strong on performance. Mike comes in with a few vocal lines, and even Mike sounds warm and loving. The vocal arrangement here which Brian took no part in whatsoever, is evidence that The Beach Boys as an entity had a lot to offer at that time, Brian or no Brian. Four songs are featured from '15 Big Ones' a forced Brian production, and the worst four songs here. Compare them to 'It's Over Now' and 'Still I Dream Of It', two songs from a ballad and string Sinatra styled unreleased Brian Wilson solo album. But, what's this? His seventies nicotine fueled cracked voice is replaced by beautiful, deep voiced singing that breaks my heart. Brian reportedly wrote 'Still I Dream Of It' with the hope Frank Sinatra would cover the song. Then again, the lyrics kind of distance this from Frank Sinatra material, this one song will come to be seen as truly representative of Brian, his heart and soul, when he's no longer with us. Trust me on that, this is glorious, beautiful stuff, the lyrics are so full of pain, heartbreaking passion, regret yet infused with hope. I identify with this so hugely, and the lyrics are at once funny and romantic, lonely and lovely. Til then i'm just a dreamer, i'm convinced of it.

The later Beach Boys material includes brilliantly commercial moments in a good way from Al Jardine, a fun throwback in the out-take 'Our Team' which seemingly promises another 'Beach Boys Party' only in 1978. 'Baby Blue' is one of the most beautiful songs anyone has ever written, anywhere.  'Good Timin' has gorgeous vocal harmonies, a song co-written by Brian and Carl. The final three songs on disc four span a period of eight years, not the groups best era, but I dig 'Getcha Back' with Brian back on falsetto where he belongs. The fifth and final disc on this box is packaged like a bootleg and features a variety of session material, in the studio material, vocal or instrumental material and a mere smattering of live material. A disc for the already converted. The demo of 'In My Room' is lovely, the 'Good Vibrations' session material creates a longing for the promised 'Good Vibrations Sessions' album that has been rumoured. So very many ideas went into the final song, and these ideas which ended up being dismissed or lost are almost great 'songs' in themselves. One truly gorgeous moment, soft airy and holy vocal harmonies appear singing "hold me down, hold me down, woe uh!" - beautiful stuff. So, The Beach Boys? They make me laugh, smile and cry. Crying can be a good thing. Emotional stuff, difficult times when listening to 'Pet Sounds' or 'Love You' can seemingly rescue your life, take you away from the brink. There are other times of love and celebration, when 'All Summer Long' or 'Holland' is the perfect soundtrack. The sound of their vocals is unmistakable and truly not something I can even begin to explain. Just a little combination of four or five human voices, singing a sound, not even a word - can break my heart. I can't explain that.

'Soulful Old Man Sunshine'! And a NEW vocal from AL with 'Loop De Loop'. It's good, too. And a great unreleased couple of Dennis moments! Soulful Old Man Sunshine is stunning and it's hard to credit that it remained unreleased all this time. Worth buying for this one song alone. And some good live tracks here too, especially 'Darlin' on which Carl gives a superlative vocal performance. A demo of Heroes And Villains is dubious listening but interesting to hear for a section called 'Barnyard' another missing piece in the 'Smile' jigsaw. 'Kiss Me Baby' has been given a stereo remix that is so crystal clear in terms of sound quality it makes you wish all their sounds were given similar treatment. The groups highly regarded Seventies engineer Steve Desper was involved, and as far as I'm concerned, should be given the task of upgrading all of The Beach Boys catalogue, if he does such a fine job as this! Oh, and amongst the many highlights this fine compilation has to offer, 'Til I Die' is extended, the vocals dropped out or re-ordered and it's a truly wonderful thing.

Not an essential compilation, it must be said. A disappointment is the selection of tracks. Why a stereo remix of 'Heroes And Villains' when the unreleased two part 'Heroes And Villains' from Smile is still unavaliable? The radio spots in-between the songs are amusing to listen to once or twice but irritating after a while. The main reason to consider buying this is to get hold of previously unreleased songs. Songs, as opposed to performances or tracks. 'Lonely Days' is a 'Wild Honey fragment. Short but so full of melody! 'A Time To Live In Dreams' is a Dennis Wilson song. You should know if you've been reading my other reviews that I love Dennis. Almost as if to prove his talents were under-used great wondrous songs of his keep appearing from beyond the grave! What wouldn't Mike Love give for a new song this good to put on a new Beach Boys album? Another reason to buy this, for me, is with the acapella songs. Especially on the later material. An acapella 'Forever' absolutely kills me. So beautiful. And with a little surprise at the end! But, overall, this compilation is just an interesting curio for already dedicated fans. I can't see it appealing too much to the merely curious. For them, there are better hits compilations out there.

This is the first original beach boys album to feature Brian Wilson in twenty seven years and the first to be led by him creatively for thirty six years. Since 1988, Brian has released a number of solo albums to differing degrees of creative reception, some received great receptions. Yet, surely nobody expected this, a genuine beach boys reunion featuring all the remaining original members and backed by a selection of Brian's touring band. Jeff Foskett who had toured with the Beach Boys prior to lending his voice to Brian's solo albums steps in for some of the higher harmonies required to achieve a genuine Beach Boys vocal blend. Elsewhere Brian takes lead vocals, Al a few, Mike a couple and that's about it. Bruce and David Marks seem marginalised vocally, but at least you can hear Bruce filling out harmonically. I'm not sure David Marks sings at all although I could be wrong on that point. The songs have various origins, some seem to have been designed for Brian Wilson solo projects, others were almost certainly written especially for this project and one, Mike's 'Daybreak Over The Ocean' was written in the late seventies, and recorded by Mike as a solo artist in the early part of this century.

The vocal blend The Beach Boys acheive across this albums twelve tracks is arguably stronger than any album they've made since 1973, even if the songs themselves aren't always as strong as the performances. There's only really a couple of songs that make me frown a little, the undeniably catchy 'Spring Vacation' sports lyrics written by Mike Love in five minutes flat. 'Beaches In Mind' is slightly clunky and Mike's 'Daybreak Over The Ocean' given its origins seems ever so slightly divorced from the rest of the record. It's a fairly pretty song, a decent enough effort from Mike but not among the album highlights. The uptempo songs on the album, or mid-tempo if we're being more accurate are the ones that could be potential singles. 'The Private Life Of Bill And Sue' is a superior 'Kokomo' whilst lead single 'That's Why God Made The Radio' is typically late Beach Boys in the way the lyrics cheese their way across your eardrums. The vocal blend is both familiar and at once not so, as you miss Carl as the other voices surround you, yet Brian and Al apart, you're not really sure which Beach Boy is singing which part.

The first classic of this set arrives with 'It's About Time', a song that seems to be a cross between 'Friends' and 'Sunflower', it's a typically quirky and genuine Brian Wilson composition - Al, Mike and Brian take turns in the lead vocal stakes and this sub four minute slice of wonderfulness could really only ever have come from The Beach Boys. Shelter' and 'Strange World' lead me to believe they could well have been intended for Brian Wilson solo projects, but both are good songs all the same. The real meat of 'That's Why God Made The Radio', the real spirituality and the real genuine Brian Wilson renaissance arrives with the final three tracks, takens from what some have led me to believe are a full album length suite. These three tracks which run to around ten minutes in total are so good at least one of the tracks could replace something like 'That's Not Me' from 'Pet Sounds' and you wouldn't mind in the least. The lyrics of 'Summer's Gone' are something of a 'down' way to end the album, yet the music is truly beautiful. 'Pacific Coast Highway' lasts under two minutes, add another couple and you'd probably have the greatest song Brian has written since 1966. As it is, this suite is a sequence of ever so spine chillingly brilliant moments strung together rather than being tunes in their own rights. What better way than this three song suite to end The Beach Boys career though? At least, assuming that's what this album has been designed to do. It was meant to be an end then Brian changed his mind. He wants more Beach Boys music, some rock n roll. Whether that ever comes to pass is another matter.