Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys (1960-1965) – 8 Fan Albums & Alternate History

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

The Beach Boys in 1961

This project has been a long time coming. For years I’ve wanted to do a comprehensive Beach Boys fan album series, but was just so overwhelmed by the history. I’ve done a lot of research, but even then feel like I’m missing something. Originally I wanted to include every song ever, but that sacrifices listenability due to what’s simply not good or in really poor quality. I also don’t want to be working on this forever. I’m not a big fan of Mike or Al, so it’s difficult to really care much about them, especially because Mike has a huge and convoluted solo career.

The main goal is to better represent the works of the three Wilson brothers. I find their material consistently interesting and worth listening to in an easier way, instead of being spread across multiple artist names and levels of obscurity. In terms of the other members, I’m not sure what to do, but I have ideas. For the long term members of Mike, Al, and Bruce, anything I like will be a Beach Boys release. The stuff I don’t might be relegated to something else? Maybe in this universe, things like Mike’s re-recordings of Beach Boys songs are considered so bad they can’t be released under the official name? The exception is pre-Beach Boys Bruce, which I like, but find too out of step with the early Beach Boys. For David, Ricky, and Blondie, their outputs were at most minimal and not very much like the Beach Boys. Thus, they will be treated as just helpers who were always more prioritized with other projects, not unlike the various session or touring members.

While I have a way of not finishing things, at least not in a timely manner, this project is dauntingly intended to go up to the current day Beach Boys recordings. I’m really looking forward to it, as I think these album sequences are better than the official ones, feeling a lot more cohesive. The albums here I particularly like are The Beginning of the End, The Survivors, Shut Down Volume 2, and especially All Summer Long. If these sequences were officially released, I think All Summer Long would be considered the group’s first masterpiece. The other four are fine, but have a bit too much filler. The material on Brian’s Bag has been some of my least favorite of this era, but it works better as is here than interspersed with excellent cuts that deserve to thrive as much as possible. It’s also easier to appreciate those lesser tracks this way as they feel at home. As an example, I love surf rock that only cares about being danceable, and the Beach Boys have many successes in that field, but that doesn’t fit with the lush and warm ballads about aspects of life. And now, without further ado…

“Do You Love Me, Do You Surfer Girl?”

In 1961, California teenager Brian Wilson began to learn and sing songs with his family and friends. Clearly a standout among his brothers or most kids his age, his father Murry sought to obtain him a record contract. Eventually, it was arranged for him to perform live. However, at the show, he had such stage fright that he decided to merely be part of a backing group. At his mother’s insistence, his cousin Mike Love and brothers Carl and Dennis were added to his band idea. They were rounded out by friend Al Jardine. Brian wanted girlfriend Judy Bowles to participate, mainly as an excuse for her to take Mike’s place, but she wasn’t interested. As retribution, Brian’s mother said Mike got to sing the first song they recorded and pick the subject. Mike was going to suggest a song based on his job, sheet metal working, but when Dennis added in surfing, Mike went with that, but still took the credit. Mike would go on to claim he was an avid surfer to friends, even doctoring images of Dennis surfing with his own face.

This song ended up being “Surfin’”. The lineup was set to be Mike on vocals and sax, Carl on lead guitar, Dennis drums, Al rhythm guitar, and Brian bass and keyboard. After months of agonizing rehearsing, with Brian taking the proceedings very seriously, they arranged to have a recording session with producers Hite and Dorinda Morgan. Some of the material consisted of ballads and others more rocking tracks reminiscent of what other teen groups were doing. Despite ostensibly being led by the Morgans, Brian more and more exerted control over the project. Even on what was to be their first single, Brian was unsatisfied with Mike and Dennis’ playing, so he played drums himself and excised saxophone entirely.

“I sometimes wish I could play without these guys.” He said.

With prompting from his family, Al left the band. Friend David Marks replaced him, though Al still helped out. David seemed less comfortable with singing. Brian often experimented with including or excluding certain people to get a particular sound. Even Al Jardine was recruited briefly. It was decided that tracks “Surfin’” and “Luau” would be the a and b-side to their first record respectively. Despite going by the name “The Pendletones”, when the single was finally released, it was credited to “The Beach Boys” and was a reasonable hit. This was considered either a decision of a nameless record executive or someone poorly spelling “Brian’s Band”. If it’s the latter, it couldn’t have been a higher up due to their proclivity to eating apples. Ultimately, Murry arranged for Brian to be given a recording contract for an LP. When his aversion to singing on tour became apparent, it was decided Mike would be the lead singer due to singing on the record, while Brian was still the leader. Only the Wilsons and Mike Love were signed to Capitol as official members. This created animosity between them and Al and David, especially as Capitol refused to pay six members, resulting in Al leaving again, declaring he’d never return.

As the group recorded their first album, Brian became more comfortable singing, though he was more interested in the romantic ballad tracks. Capitol, wanting a pure teen rock album, didn’t want these cuts included. Regardless, the group still recorded several. When all was said and done, Capitol created a tracklist which only included the “fun” songs. Surf Songs For Beach Lovers was released in summer 1962 to mixed reviews and little fanfare. Troubles increased when Al sued to be credited as an official member. This was granted to keep the peace. Despite this, he did not rejoin the group. The record credited David Marks as “Al”, due to not having the ability or desire to take photographs with Jardine. Despite their initial hit, the album was considered too underwhelming to keep the band on. The Beach Boys broke up.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Surf Songs For Beach Lovers (1962) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Surfin’ Safari”
2. “County Fair”
3. “Chug-A-Lug”
4. “Summertime Blues”
5. “Land Ahoy”
6. “Luau”
7. “Beach Boy Stomp (Aka Karate)”

SIDE B

1. “Surfin’”
2. “Shut Down”
3. “Judy”
4. “Ten Little Indians”
5. “409”
6. “Moon Dawg”
7. “The Shift”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – bass guitar, lead vocals, co-producer, keyboard, drums
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals, saxophone
• Al Jardine – guitar, bass (occasional)

Friends

• Nick Venet – co-producer, carnival barker
• Hite Morgan – co-producer
• Dorinda Morgan – co-producer
• Murry Wilson – manager, producer (latter uncredited)
• David Marks – guitar
• Andrea Carlo – voice of girlfriend
• Gary Usher – car sound effects

Brian had started making efforts to assist other artists in recording. Carl and Dennis in turn played on a few records for other people while David typically stayed home rehearsing more and more complex pieces. Mike counted his pennies, hoping to put off returning to his job.

In need of more product for the fall season, Capitol compiled the other more serious songs for a throwaway release. The result, The Beginning of the End, was highly successful among fans of more soulful teen music. This resulted in the track from the first album, “Shut Down”, being released as a single and becoming a huge hit. Thus, the first LP was rereleased to be named after that single. Due to the recent progress, the Wilsons, Love, and Marks reformed. At a celebration party, Brian proposed to his girlfriend. Despite this, he was taken aback by a girl he was interested in producing, Marilyn Rovell.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – The Beginning of the End (1962) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “The Beginning Of The End”
2. “Heads You Win, Tails I Lose”
3. “Barbie”
4. “What Is A Young Girl Made Of”
5. “Lonely Sea”
6. “Lana”

SIDE B

1. “Lavender”
2. “Cindy, Oh Cindy”
3. “Stoked”
4. “Little Girl (You’re My Miss America)”
5. “Cuckoo Clock”
6. “Visions”
7. “Happy Birthday Four Freshmen”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – bass guitar, lead vocals, co-producer
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals
• Al Jardine – guitar (occasional)

Friends

• Nick Venet – co-producer
• Hite Morgan – co-producer
• Dorinda Morgan – co-producer
• Murry Wilson – manager, producer (latter uncredited)
• David Marks – guitar

To follow up on “Shut Down”, Brian reluctantly penned another song that he said “lacked substance”. “Surfin’ USA” was an even bigger success than Shut Down, which resulted in Capitol seizing work on Brian’s ballads. Not willing to give them up, Brian agreed to do one album of fun songs, then after another of serious songs. Capitol agreed. Following trends, and at the insistence of the group’s jam rock fans of David, Carl, and Dennis, the next record featured many surf instrumentals. Mike Love was annoyed at his lack of presence, but no one cared. His arguing got him a vocal cameo on “Stoked”, which ultimately ended up being an outtake. Jardine was almost completely absent from the group’s first three LPs. For the first two, he’s only represented by the short time he was in the group before leaving. For the third record, he was brought in to appear on the inconsequential “Boogie Woodie”, as he needed to be present in order to keep being credited. Surfin’ USA was released in May 1963 to reasonably positive reviews.

Judy considered the song “Marie” a declaration of Brian’s feelings towards Marilyn and “Mother May I” about the former’s mother. Judy then broke up with Brian in a semi-public place. Passerby purported hearing Brian cry and breakdown, insisting he couldn’t live without her. Despite this, later that day he announced to his friends and family he was in a relationship with Marilyn. Brian would never mention Judy again.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Surfin’ USA (1963) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Surfin’ USA”
2. “Let’s Go Trippin’”
3. “Noble Surfer”
4. “Honky Tonk”
5. “Side Two”
6. “Marie”
7. “Misirlou”

SIDE B

1. “Farmer’s Daughter”
2. “Surf Jam”
3. “Punchline”
4. “Mother May I”
5. “Finders Keepers”
6. “Boogie Woodie”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, co-producer
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals
• Al Jardine – bass guitar (occasional)

Friends

• Nick Venet – co-producer
• Murry Wilson – manager
• David Marks – rhythm guitar
• Frank DeVito – drums

The band were disappointed with the album’s cover being similar to the others. As such, Brian sought to take control over that and make them more artistic. He didn’t get full control, so things would generally be a back and forth process. He also saw the group’s real strength as vocalists, finding the many instrumentals boring. He thus decided to tour less and spend the time making more and more complex works. He was quoted as saying, “Our records are our legacy. That’s what history will remember us by.” The other band members found this pretentious, especially those that loved instrumental rock. Mike supported Brian, though it’s suspected only because he wrote much of the band’s lyrics and didn’t partake in the instrumentals. He also supposedly said the Beach Boys weren’t really the Beach Boys without him. “We should be called Mike Love & The Beach Boys”.

For the fourth record, Brian was always working in the studio. This included occasionally replacing members with session players. Jardine was brought in to help, enthused by his friends’ success. It was suspected that the reason he finally became a prominent member was because Brian wanted to move away from the more surfing style, which never strongly spoke to Jardine. Still, this upset the other members that didn’t want to be used less, especially now that they’re sharing the spotlight with Jardine. Dennis was the most positive about the change, wanting to support whatever will make the best art.

Carl and David both began working on material for the band, which the label rejected due to not having the commercial viability of Brian’s. Brian, not wanting to start conflict with anyone, didn’t challenge Capitol. He did want to push the boundaries of pop music and if he was going to he would need to play ball as often as he could afford. The Survivors was released in December to lesser commercial success, but increased critical acclaim. It followed with the single “Pamela Jean”/“Hawaii”. The former only featured one Beach Boy, Brian.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – The Survivors (1963) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Pamela Jean”
2. “Surfer Girl”
3. “In My Room”
4. “Ballad Of Ole’ Betsy”
5. “Spirit Of America”
6. “First Rock And Roll Dance”
7. “Little Surfer Girl”

SIDE B

1. “Back Home”
2. “A Young Man Is Gone”
3. “Hawaii”
4. “The Surfer Moon”
5. “Thank Him”
6. “Your Summer Dream”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, producer, guitar
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals
• Al Jardine – bass guitar, vocals

Friends

• Murry Wilson – manager
• David Marks – rhythm guitar
• Hal Blaine – timbales
• Bob Norberg – guitar
• Dave Nolan – possible guitar
• Rich Peterson – possible percussion

During the then unnamed fifth album sessions, Marks began to feel more and more left out, not being an official member and being disliked by Murry. He especially hated having his guitar parts recorded by Carl or session men. Marks’ parents advocated for him and even wanted more involvement in managing the group, which Murry was unwilling to do. Pressures mounted with Capitol wanting the record done as fast as possible due to the recent comparative lack of success, with Brian fulfilling that by throwing out some filler. Still, he included more strong vocals and proficient playing, among other touches to give it the stamp his work was beginning to have. To his dismay, one instrumental track was renamed “Shut Down, Part II” and the album was promptly called “Shut Down Volume 2”, which was a title he hated. “At least people might know the record was junk. The best stuff was on the singles.” The album was another hit.

With Dennis penning new tunes, Carl felt them, Al, and David could start a new project focused more on rocking instrumentation. He was inspired by surf bands of the time. Due to the demands of constantly being on the road, this project did not take off. Carl in a 1991 interview expands on this:

“I of course love Brian, but I just needed to do something else, as well. Denny and I may not have been matching him, but we were doing numbers. It seemed all we ever got to do were a few little things like The Tri-Five and The Four Speeds. I was even tempted to quit the band, but I couldn’t do that to the family. Dad and Capitol wanted us to stick together as much as possible. We insisted on a vote between the band [on whether to form a spinoff group]. Dennis, David, and Brian were on my side, while Mike, Dad, and Al weren’t. I think Al was only against me because he would have been risking getting fired. Mike also probably did because he wouldn’t have been in our band and was mad. What a joke. That all also exacerbated tensions with David as his vote wasn’t counted and dad said he wins out in a tie. Thus, we mostly all stayed together, though you know what happened with Dave.”

Shut Down Volume 2’s cover was mostly the doing of the label, being in stark contrast with the more experimental previous cover. It was considered a necessity to never again blur the band’s face.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Fun, Fun, Fun”
2. “Little Deuce Coupe”
3. “Catch A Wave”
4. “South Bay Surfer”
5. “Rocking Surfer”
6. “The Baker Man”
7. “Gonna Hustle You”

SIDE B

1. “Cherry, Cherry Coupe”
2. “Surfers Rule”
3. “Our Car Club”
4. “No-Go Showboat”
5. “Shut Down, Part II”
6. “Custom Machine”
7. “Be True To Your School”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, producer
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals
• Al Jardine – bass guitar, vocals

Friends

• Murry Wilson – manager
• David Marks – rhythm guitar
• Hal Blaine – tambourine, drums
• Steve Douglas – tenor saxophones
• Jay Migliori – baritone saxophones
• Ray Pohlman – 6-string electric bass guitars
• Maureen Love – harp

“Well then, the next album will have loads of our faces! LOADS!”

While still to have many commercial flairs, Brian was determined to include more lavish production and introspective lyrics. Introspective lyrics meant one thing, less Mike. Mike was bitter about barely being used or credited for songwriting, but Brian threatening to kick him out the studio one day was considered a veiled threat to have him fired from the band. Mike would cool off, though still declared to others he was just as talented as Brian.

In a move often criticized as one of Murry’s lowest moments, he began doing whatever he could to make David feel demoralized. He reduced his pay, made him sleep separately from the others in hotels, and encouraged them to record without him. This caused Marks to quit early in these sessions. While he soon wanted back in, Murry forced him to stick to his word, acting like it would be too problematic to reinclude him. Brian later said, “I felt bad for him. I wanted to do something, but my dad was so threatening to me I felt I couldn’t do it. On top of that, I began using the guys less for the instrumentals and turning to session players. David was never that good of a singer, so he basically would’ve had nothing to do even if he had not quit.”

While Murry had intended to exert more control, now with one opponent gone, this actually backfired for him. Brian was taking more and more control from Murry for himself. Seeing as he was getting older, he felt he needed and wanted less input from his dad and others respected him more, no longer interested in supporting or listening to Murry. Brian eventually told Murry to wait outside for some sessions, to which he said no. It was suspected their confrontation could have become physical, but Brian simply walked out the room. Brian initially worked in secret from his father. Soon enough, he grew tired of this and fired him. He had Marilyn do the deed of telling the bad news.

All Summer Long was very successful, but not as much as some other records. Murry blamed the lesser benefits on his absence, though Brian noted the critics still loved it. The symbol of the sun would become an icon in the Beach Boys fandom, coined by Mike as the “Love symbol”. He would go on to say the supposed reference to his last name was coincidental and that he was just thinking about “Peace and Mother Earth”.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – All Summer Long (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Beryl Left Me” (Actually “Bobby Left Me”, title changed to be about a woman)
2. “I Do”
3. “The Warmth Of The Sun”
4. “Hushabye”
5. “Keep An Eye On Summer”
6. “We’ll Run Away”

SIDE B

1. “After The Game”
2. “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”
3. “Things We Did Last Summer”
4. “Girls On The Beach”
5. “Don’t Worry Baby”
6. “All Summer Long”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, producer, marimba
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals, drums (Calm down, it’s just one track.)
• Al Jardine – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals

Friends

• Murry Wilson – manager (uncredited)
• Hal Blaine – drums, percussion, bell-tree
• Glen Campbell – 6-string bass guitar
• Ray Pohlman – 4 & 6-string bass guitar
• David Marks – rhythm guitar
• Steve Douglas – tenor saxophones
• Jay Migliori – baritone saxophones, piccolo or fife
• Leon Russell – piano
• Bill Pitman – archtop acoustic guitar
• Tommy Tedesco – electric guitar
• Jimmy Bond – double bass
• Frank Capp – glockenspiel, temple blocks, castanets
• Al de Lory – piano
• Plas Johnson – tenor saxophone
• Bob Norberg – guitar
• Dave Nolan – possible guitar
• Rich Peterson – possible percussion

The due date for the next album was moved up, causing Brian to rush yet again. “Some visionary”, as quoted by a mysterious source. The result is considered one of the band’s weakest early albums. Among the most mixed reception are Carl and Dennis’ contributions. When asked why the resulting works were so middling, Carl said, “We were still holding out hope on our own project, so saved the best stuff for it.” This did them no favors, with the serious critics that had been consistently praising Brian feeling reinforced in saying he was the only talented member. Brian would refute this, though denied the idea of including more of his brothers’ material on the albums, saying The Beach Boys was simply “His thing”. This comment angered his bandmates, prompting Brian to spend less time around them. They also blamed him for the Brian-centered cover, arguing Brian could’ve stopped it if he cared.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Brian’s Bag (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Karen”
2. “Denny’s Drums”
3. “I Get Around”
4. “This Car Of Mine”
5. “In The Parkin’ Lot”
6. “Pom Pom Play Girl”
7. “Louie Louie”

SIDE B

1. “Little Honda”
2. “Carl’s Big Chance”
3. “Drive-In”
4. “Do You Remember”
5. “Don’t Back Down”
6. “Wendy”
7. “Denny’s Drums, Part II”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, producer
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals, saxophone
• Al Jardine – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals

Friends

• Hal Blaine – drums, timbales with brush, rim with thin stick
• Glen Campbell – 6-string electric bass guitar
• Steve Douglas – tenor saxophone
• Jay Migliori – baritone saxophone
• Ray Pohlman – 6-string electric bass guitar
• The Honeys (Marilyn Rovell, Diane Rovell, Ginger Blake) – backing vocals
• Murry Wilson – manager (uncredited)

In preparation for the season, Brian released a Christmas record. The reviews were generally positive and the commercial results especially strong. Brian was on top of the world. As a show of good grace for his band, Brian is notably not clearly visible on the cover, which he had to fight to get. This did little to change their view, as Brian was in response prominent on the back. Regardless, while Carl, Al, and Mike were still upset by that and feeling increasingly like Brian’s backing singers, they couldn’t deny the money or musical quality (Well, maybe Mike could). Despite the massive success, Brian was up another enemy after Dennis told him he desperately wanted to write a “real song” for an album and was told no. Brian’s reasoning was that he would drop the “silly” songs and make something truly daring and personal. He continued he would try again to get a deal going for him, Carl, and Al, though when nothing came of this he was considered to have not actually done anything.

Helped on by Cero

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – The Lord’s Prayer (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Auld Lang Syne”
2. “Christmas Eve”
3. “Little Saint Nick”
4. “The Man With All The Toys”
5. “Santa’s Beard”
6. “Jingle Bells”
7. “Christmas Day”
8. “Merry Christmas, Baby”

SIDE B

1. “Frosty The Snowman”
2. “We Three Kings Of Orient Are”
3. “Blue Christmas”
4. “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”
5. “White Christmas”
6. “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
7. “The Lord’s Prayer”
8. “Denny’s Message (Auld Lang Syne)”

PERSONNEL

• Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, producer
• Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
• Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
• Mike Love – lead vocals
• Al Jardine – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals

Friends

• Dick Reynolds – orchestra
• Al Viola – guitar
• Cliff Hils – double bass
• Jimmy Rowles – grand piano
• Jack Sperling – drums
• Eddie Rosa – flute and/or alto saxophone and/or tenor saxophone
• Chuck Gentry – soprano clarinet, alto clarinet, tenor clarinet, and/or bass clarinet and/or baritone saxophone
• William Hinshaw, Richard Perissi, Arthur Briegleb – French horns
• Henry Laubach, John Audino, Conrad Gozzo, Raymond Triscari – trumpets
• Harry Betts, Francis Howard, George Roberts – trombones
• George “Red” Callender – tuba
• Edgar Lustgarten, Jesse Ehrlich, Nathan Gershman, Alfred Wohl, Margaret Aue – violins, violas, cellos, and/or double basses
• Benjamin Barrett – orchestra master
• Dick Reynolds – orchestra conductor

Later that day, Brian came home from the studio and crashed on his couch, falling asleep. He awoke to Marilyn exasperated by a love song he heard he was making about her sister Diane. He insisted he wrote it as a favor to Carl, who wanted his girlfriend named in a song. This would not initially quell Marilyn, though eventually she apologized.

“I’ll change the name in the song, how about Rhonda?”

The Beach Boys in 1964

This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (2021) Documentary Review

Despite how many documentaries, biographies, and otherwise depictions of the story of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys there are, they generally falter on capturing the fact that we’re talking about real human beings and not mythical figures. The reasons for this problem are ripe for discussion, but one I will note is that there’s often very little time. The biopic The Beach Boys: An American Family is three hours long and only covers around 1961-1974, but still suffers from not showing enough from even that time frame. Imagine if it bothered going further? While brevity is never a guaranteed deathblow, Long Promised Road does not escape that, feeling a little bullet point. It covers the most surface level stories, but admittedly with a few nice insights from Brian and overall a few good surprises.

Brian gets buttered up a lot. This documentary feels extremely formulaic. Save for a few moments, this could be made by a computer. There’s far too much willingness to treat Brian like he can do no wrong, while a few lows are tossed in for the sake of not making that as obvious as it could be. Brian’s first wife Marilyn Rovell was not interviewed. That may have been done consciously so as to not have her say anything negative about him. Elton John says Brian should receive accolades for his personal life, as in being a family man. Not to say this story is true, but he must not have heard when Marilyn claimed Brian gave their young children cocaine (Brian has also corroborated that).

Brian seems uncomfortable. One moment that feels especially awkward is when he’s really praising interviewer Jason Fine. You either get the impression Brian feels forced to say it or he’s like a scared child clinging to a relative. At one point the two are even holding hands. In the studio with his backing band, there’s a sense of this feeling staged, like everyone and everything is about too perfect. You can imagine he probably did not want to do this documentary, so seeing him here feels wrong, especially when the camera watches Brian tearing up when he learns of Jack Rieley’s death, which feels exploitative.

A common problem with documentaries about musicians is unfortunately caught here… Elton John insinuates that Brian Wilson is better than the Beatles, because the Beatles were produced by George Martin, while Brian produced himself (during the most well-known era of his career). This constant comparing to the Beatles basically proves that the Beatles are better, at least in a cultural sense, because that’s what people go to. I say this as someone who likes many music bands and artists more than the Beatles.

There’s a few fun moments here and there. It’s amusing to see Dennis sweet talk a female interviewer talking about the music, unable to not sugar up ladies. Taylor Hawkins amusingly speaks about Dennis quite a bit before quickly saying something about Brian, as if forgetting this was a documentary about the latter. It’s pretty hilarious when Eugene Landy says only two quick sentences before there’s a sudden cut to his face as vocal harmonies start playing, but not for the right reason.

The best parts of the film are Brian talking about his brothers and the old footage. It’s also nice to see Brian listening to the music he or his brothers made, contemplating it. Brian discussing Dennis and them doing cocaine together makes for a nice break from how glossy this film is, especially in how Brian doesn’t seem to think much of Dennis’ self-destructive behavior, with him lightly calling him a “crazy” guy. That actually tells us a lot about Brian. He has criticized his own drug use, at least in the past, so imagine the mentality that would lead him to not fret much on his brother that died essentially from drug abuse? It’s also a lot of fun seeing footage of Brian’s 1976 birthday, which features celebrities and touching when we see Dennis and Carl showing their affection for Brian. The brothers also show they really care about him in some nice concert footage.

OVERVIEW

It’s odd that at the end of the film, when Brian and his band are performing “Long Promised Road”, most of the vocals and footage are of the band members and not Brian. Why not show a Brian-focused video and song, especially one he wrote? There’s been quite a few discredited attempts to detail the story of the Beach Boys and Brian WIlson. Long Promised Road seems destined to be the next in line. Especially when the Beach Boys’ music comes into the public domain, hopefully we’ll get a more accurate detailing of the lives of this band, probably from the fans. In terms of its own proper value, it dug up a few fun bits of footage, gave us some stories of Brian with his brothers, and is a document of the later years of Brian’s life.

I’m not sure if I ever heard Brian curse before, so that was novel. Also, hopefully Jason Fine didn’t look at his phone while driving, which he may have done at one point, when Brian asked him to put on a song.

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (2021) Album Review

The album’s cover

After it seemed like time and time again that Brian Wilson would throw in the towel and stop making music, he stepped up and released more music. First in 1976 with 15 Big Ones, which led to one of his best periods in the late 70’s, then in the 80s with his numerous throwaway singles and his self-titled solo album, then 2004 with his completion of Smile, and now in 2021, six years after his last album, No Pier Pressure. Everytime there is the thought that this is the end for Brian. His poor health and periods without releasing music are infamous. This record; released almost exactly sixty years after the first Beach Boys single, Surfin’, just being one day off; had less Brian as a creative force. He did a lot of collaborating here. A pessimist may suspect that he only provided vocals and his role was over emphasized to make it look like he was involved more heavily. On the contrary, there are many moments which scream out from the legend’s brain.

Some solo Brian albums have backing vocalists that don’t seem to really fit the songs they’re singing on. The ones here have a good high and low, blending in well with the lead vocals. They seemed intentionally styled off of The Beach Boys’ singing style. There appears to be a wall of sound approach that makes the vocals sound larger than life and encompassing. The production also sounds inspired by The Beach Boys, especially Brian’s magnum opus, Pet Sounds. There’s weird little percussion and other instruments. It’s a lot of fun listening to the tracks and trying to hear what is being played. The Pet Sounds similarities are somewhat to a fault. Anyone that knows Brian Wilson music will likely think old ground is being covered. As an example, the trombone on “Must Be a Miracle” sounds like it could’ve been plucked straight from Pet Sounds. The production is good but unoriginal.

A new listener probably wouldn’t notice some of the old ground, but they would certainly notice the often comically poor lead vocals from Brian Wilson, especially compared to the lush backing vocalists and occasional co-leads. There’s often a sense that Brian doesn’t know what’s going on. Maybe he doesn’t. On at least one song, “Right Where I Belong”, someone else did the heavy lifting of writing and recording the song and then Brian added the vocals on top. He sounds at gunpoint on “It’s O.K.”, reaching new levels of uncomfortable, especially when he’s doing the wordless vocal in the song. He even doesn’t fully enunciate on “The Night Was So Young” and “Honeycomb”. Was there no better take than these shower-singing vocals?

The record does seem to have passion behind it. There are themes of revisiting your past and enjoying yourself. Several of the songs, such as “Right Where I Belong”, are very breezy and warm. The backing bands, there appear to be more than one, are at worst good, and at best moving. Particularly on tracks co-written by Andy Paley. “Slightly American Music” has a patriotic warm feeling. It is upbeat and hard not to at least move your head to, though it’s weird that the song ended with “Slightly American Music” being sung over and over. It’s a vapid phrase. It seems like no one could think of lyrics for the ending. What is “Slightly American Music”? What does that mean? Why are you saying that to me over and over? “It’s Not Easy Being Me” has a bouncy percussion which flavors the whole song and even gets a little solo. Little ideas like that are very effective for an album that’s supposed to capture a person’s spirit and be easy to listen to. The first five tracks are all what I would’ve hoped for from a project like this.

The more substantial criticisms start at track six with “It’s O.K.”, a cover of a 70’s Beach Boys song. Usually when a musician covers their past songs, it’s just an older and sadder version of the original, which isn’t to be bested. “It’s O.K.”, “The Night Was So Young”, and “In My Room” all lack an effort to create a new piece of music. They instead try and fail to show that Brian and friends can run through these old numbers. The effort appeared to be put in the look and not the performance. The arrangements are straightforward and uncreative. The closest to a natural and breezy sound is the snippets of studio chatter, which feel very forced in to give that “We’re fun guys” vibe. The Brian vocals are at their weakest here. You can hear the stress in his voice especially when he sings the “Rooooom” lyric. “Long Promised Road” is the only cover done justice, sounding like a more coherent and thought out reimagining than the other covers. There’s more vocalists, which gives us a break from Brian’s voice. Even he sounds better here than on other tracks. It’s still not a great performance from him. One of the singers on “Long Promised Road” sounds like the great singer Blondie Chaplin. If that is him, then it’s nice to hear him, as he’s very soulful and talented. A highlight of the song is when the backing singers sing “Down, down, down” in front of the lively instrumental performance.

The album ends with a Paley song. “I’m Broke” is another rocker with a comparatively good Brian vocal. It’s surprisingly bluesy. More surprising is that that’s pulled off. It’s so much fun to hear Brian and the band portraying this little concept of “being broke”. That song isn’t as thoughtful as tracks like “Right Where I Belong”, but it leaves you in a good mood. Hopefully if there is ever another Brian album, it’d have the more thoughtful lyrics found on albums like The Beach Boys Today!.

OVERVIEW

Perhaps there’s a bias due to how much I love Brian Wilson. It’s hard not to be captured by his charm and style of songs. The album doesn’t deliver the sophisticated sound that some of his work carries, but it does capture the mind of Brian, how he thinks and writes. It’s quirky and humble and sweet. There is a hope that he makes at least one more album that returns to the internal contemplation and feeling of belonging present on his best work. It’s good that that is captured here at the sixty year mark of his career, though only a little and only on a few songs. Long Promised Road is better than expected, though sometimes it is just what was expected.

The Beach Boys’ Songs Recorded Before Their First Album (1961-62) Review

The Beach Boys’ line-up at this time

The great Beach Boys weren’t always great. Their sound had to develop. Here we’ll look at their earliest, completed songs. Murry Wilson, the group’s manager, convinced his publisher, Hite Morgan, to meet the band. Morgan’s wife wanted to record the band. This led to them cutting a few songs over a session. This session from October 3rd, 1961 brought to life three songs…

“Surfin'”

While a student at Hawthorne High School in 1960, Brian Wilson submitted “Surfin'” to his music class as an assignment and received an “F” from his teacher. In 2018, the school changed the grade to an “A.”

On the recording of the band’s first song, “Surfin’”, Brian plays the drums and Dennis Wilson, the band’s proper drummer, only contributes vocally. After listening to the band’s first album for the first time, this was one of two songs that were at least decent. The single version and the studio album version are similar, but the single one has a very raw sound. The studio version seems better rehearsed and refined, though the song as a whole is very bland. It is trying so hard to pander to teenagers. There’s a line, “We’ll do the Surfer’s Stomp. It’s the latest dance craze!”, which isn’t about surfing, but it’s probably here to appeal to teenagers that like dancing. The lead singer, Mike Love, didn’t actually surf and you can tell. He doesn’t come off as invested in surfing. The lyrics, however, treat surfing very well. It’s “the only life the only way for me”. The protagonist of the song surfs “From the early morning to the middle of the night”. It’s almost obsessive. The Beach Boys have always been good at harmonized vocals and it’s good here, but underused.

It makes sense that this song would be given an “F”, I’d have to agree.

“Lavender”

An improvement

The “main” version of this song probably isn’t complete. The version I’ve listened to is the fourth and final take. It makes sense why this never made it to a studio album. There’s little use of the instruments and the lyrics are more somber than typically. The whole song is sung by the whole band harmonizing. That tone doesn’t seem to compliment the lyrics. I sang these lyrics to myself in a more stylized and high-mood tone, like the one used on the band’s 70’s song, “Deirdre” and that works better. “Lavender”’s last few seconds feature a little instrumentation solo and it sounds pretty good. This is the sort of song best shown, not described. By using instruments more and having more development in the vocal’s tone, you’d be showing us the song. Here, it’s just being described in a very surface-level manner.

“Luau”

This song is basically just “Surfin’” but worse. The plot is similar to it. “Let’s get together and have a fun day.” Now, it’s not about surfing, but instead about a luau. The vocals are stale. It sounds like no one cared and/or they were very tired. The instruments sound like the vocals. The pace is matched and they make such a small impression, they may as well not be there. “Surfin’” has the fun, young energy of kids that wrote a song and they want you to know it, this piece lacks that.

OVERVIEW

These three songs are an interesting footnote and precursor to the typical types of songs this band did for the first few years. They did ballads, like “Lavender” and party songs, like “Luau”. Ultimately, a single was released. “Surfin’” was the A-side and “Luau” its B-side. It was moderately successful, but not a game changer. It’s a surprise it made a dent at all. Now for the other Hite Morgan songs! The next few were recorded on February 8th, 1962.

“Beach Boys Stomp”

This one’s fun and catchy. It’s pretty reflexive of the early Beach Boys stuff. It’s a super simple instrumental. Simplicity is a good way of describing the early tunes in one word. They also like bad lyrics about 60’s life, so this song is already ahead of the curb. The piece isn’t unlike beach and pop songs of the time, but it’s a fun listen with a prominent guitar and drum. This is probably in part due to the band’s lead guitarist, Carl Wilson, writing “Beach Boys Stomp”.

“Judy”

Judy is a mixed bad. You can tell that the guitarists, Carl, Al Jardine, and later David Marks, are trying their hardest on the early songs. Their energy gives the poor songs a little boost. Brian is doing a fair job on backing vocals and Dennis is alright on the drums. Any of the effort given by these four is ruined by Mike’s vocals on “Judy”. This is a love song. The lyrics contain lines like “I can’t let you [go]” and “Judy, I smell love’s perfume in the air”, but based on the lifelessness, you’d think the singer was just lying to Judy. There’s no passion in the incredibly dry way the song’s sung. It’s interesting hearing this song as it’s the first direct love song by the group (One could count “Lavender”, but I don’t). Sadly, really passionate and loving songs with some character to them will take a while to come around. This song is once again a good way of summarizing what’s to come.

“Barbie” and “What Is a Young Girl Made Of?” could be considered not Beach Boy songs. Hite Morgan asked the group to record vocals to instrumentals he had of other musicians. The vocals were performed on March 8th, 1962. For whatever reason, Brian used the name “Kenny & the Cadets” with him under the pseudonym “Kenny”. The line-up was a little different than typically. Dennis and Mike were absent and the Wilson’s mother, Audree, was present. So how’s the songs?

“Barbie”

This is quite an interesting contrast from “Judy”. Brian has boat loads of love and passion for Barbie, unlike Mike for Judy. The lyrics are alright, but even the lame ones are given a kick by how hard Brian’s trying on them. There are likeable, amusing lines like, “Bell of the parties, a tom boy in jeans”. This song is benefitted by a more mature quality to it. Audree Wilson is obviously an adult woman who gives some maturity to the piece with her voice. The instrumentalists are very good. It makes sense as they’re probably session musicians way more familiar with their instruments than the Beach Boys. One big complaint is that the instruments are way louder than Brian. I couldn’t make out every line. This tune is classy and better than what’s come from the Hite Morgan sessions.

“What Is a Young Girl Made Of?”

Some sources have stated that Brian was the only Cadet or Beach Boy to appear on this song. If anyone else is featured, they’re very well hidden. There’s a female backing vocalist, who clearly sounds like they’re in their late 10’s or their 20’s. Maybe the lack of the rest of the group got Brian down because he’s not trying nearly as hard. So many of these silly songs could do so well with a vocalist that really cares. We can tell when you’re not really trying! The lyrics are also way less interesting than in “Barbie”. The instrumentalists are the best part but still… not as good. The ending is good. Brian sings “What is a young girl made of” followed by “Mostly a young man’s dreams”. The latter was repeated as it fades out. That line intrigues. It suggests that the desires seen from a person come more from the person observing. These little nuggets of intrigue will continue to pop up.

OVERVIEW

There’s some ground work being laid in these songs. We’re getting glimpses of how various members operate with their abilities; Mike and Brian singing, Carl playing guitar, etc. While the songs aren’t very good, they’re getting the group used to what’s to come. These songs aren’t so bad they can’t be finished or enjoyed at least on the level of “Well, they’re kids.” Overall, they’re only good or interesting enough to be enjoyed by Beach Boy super fans like myself.

The Beach Boys Miscellaneous Christmas Tracks (1964 & 1977) Review

Ultimate Christmas’ funny album cover

As is common with albums, not every song is going to make the cut. The Beach Boys made two Christmas albums. The first, The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album, was released in 1964. The second, Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys, was never released. Some of its tracks, the first album, and some other Christmas works were released in 1998 on the Ultimate Christmas compilation album. With one exception, all of these tracks were cut during the Merry Christmas sessions and most were likely intended for the album. They didn’t make the cut and turns out the album didn’t either. It made Ultimate Christmas, so they can now be enjoyed.

“Santa’s Got an Airplane”

This is another silly song. Merry Christmas featured some, but I guess there was a limit. We once more cover an absurd premise of Santa Claus needing to get a better ride. The whole group sings on the track and very well… except for Mike Love, but it’s easy to ignore him. It’s a shame, because everyone else has energy and spirit in their voices, but Mike drops the ball. It’s almost like they really want you to know that Santa’s got an airplane. They sing lines like “Fly Away!” in a spirited and warm way. It helps paint the picture of the story. Their voices are raised, as is Santa, because he’s in the sky. The instruments serve a very small role in the song, but they’re not really needed. This song works well carried by its vocals. Perhaps the easy to miss instruments are easy to miss as they were recorded in 1969. Why not rerecord them so they match the ‘77 vocals better?

“(I Saw Santa) Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”

The instruments and lead vocals work well. Al Jardine does a good job of expressing the song with his singing. This is imaginably due to him co-writing the piece. The lyrics aren’t great by any means, but they are written in a way where they can be sung well. The song’s interrupted by spoken word from Al’s kids, Matt and Adam Jardine. They do kill the pacing, but the use of them provides a little more Christmas spirit.

“Melekalikimaka” (aka “Kona Christmas”)

I was banging my head on my hand for part of this one. It’s the sum of the faults of the band at this point. How am I going to spend Christmas? By surfing of course! and in Hawaii. It’s stupid, but not in a fun way. This song’s almost depressing. Since the 60’s, the group has tried to hold onto relevance in the culture. One way this is done is by doing throwbacks to old songs that were successful, like their surfing songs. You can tell there’s no passion or care here. This is a bunch of pandering garbage, once again sung by uninterested Mike and it’s not worth anyone’s time.

“Bells of Christmas”

This song is once again standard, alright vocals and instruments, but there’s an interesting aspect to the piece. Biblical references are frequently brought up. There’s many references to God throughout the Beach Boys’ discography. This song is one of the expressions of that. I was surprised that Brian Wilson didn’t write this one as he seems the most interested in this element of life. These first four songs have all featured Al in a writing and lead vocal role, though he usually shared with others. I wonder if he was interested in the subject of Christmas or perhaps there’s another reason. Some of these songs aren’t as bad as some that made it on the main track listing. On Merry Christmas, only two songs feature an Al writing credit. Why was he writing so many of these songs and then they weren’t featured? The group could’ve used some of this stuff. Al seems to care the most about this album of the lot, based on his songwriting and singing. Overall, no one seemed very interested in the Christmas project, so why even bother?

“Toy Drive Public Service Announcement”

Here’s some more actual creativity. In this short ditty, the band is telling people that some kids don’t have toys due to a lack of money, so bring your’s to “Crystal Ship”. However, they aren’t saying it… they’re singing it. Someone might listen to this on the radio, think it’s a normal song, and perhaps get inspired to help. The Beach Boys do well when taking a little concept and playing with it. One problem that may be the fault of the recording I heard is that some of the lyrics were difficult to make out. A big criticism for many of their Christmas songs is that there’s little about them to differentiate them from any other Christmas song. Here, their charm is making this their own… and it’s just a little PSA.

“Dennis Wilson Christmas Message”

This piece is similar to “Auld Lang Syne” from Christmas Album. The whole gang’s singing, only for that to shift into background noise so Dennis Wilson can do spoken word. He’s telling us to donate toys so kids can get them. A.) We already did this last song and B.) Dennis’ voice is so creepy. Due to all the drug and alcohol abuse, his voice is raspy and dry. In “Auld Lang Syne”, his voice was much nicer to listen to. Maybe the group wanted to uphold that tradition. For the sake of the album, why not get Al or Brian to give this message as their voices are a lot softer and friendlier. Brian sounds like your nice grandpa. The background music wasn’t too bad, though it’s very hard to hear (by design) for most of the piece. I wouldn’t mind hearing it without the Dennis part.

“Brian Wilson Christmas Interview”

I was looking forward to the one non-70s track for this whole Christmas excursion. Hopefully, Brian would give some interesting insight. When I finally reached it, I was disappointed as it’s just Brian having a quite boring conversation about their 1964 Christmas album. This seems like standard promotional material that comes with albums and movies. However, near the end, Brian talked about The Four Freshman briefly. Despite how briefly he was on the topic, it was so nice hearing Brian give love and praise to a band he loves so much. He called them, “one of the greater vocal influences in the world”. This is a good way of contextualizing Brian and maybe this whole band. They wear their influences on their sleeves.

OVERVIEW

Christmas albums are hard to pull off in general, but The Beach Boys certainly didn’t do the concept justice in the 60s or the 70s. There are some good ideas, but they are unrealized and rushed typically. It makes for a difficult listening experience.

Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys (1977) Review

A fan-made cover for the album

There’s quite the story behind the seemingly unimpressive M.I.U. Album. Its origins stem from 1977 where band member Brian Wilson did what he knew best, lose his mind and write a bunch of weird songs. As is typical, the other band members didn’t get it and more importantly, their label didn’t get it and the project was scrapped. This project of his was called Adult/Child. The band then got to work on two albums, one a Christmas album called Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys and another, California Feeling. Both utilized Adult/Child to a minimal degree. Surely one of them will be accepted. Upon the completion of the albums, they were rejected by the label and over a bit of time, these three albums were modified and cut down to be more commercial… mostly without Carl and Dennis Wilson, both disliked this fourth endeavor for lacking artistic integrity. The ultimate product of all this work resulted in M.I.U. Album, which was accepted. Merry Christmas seemed worth discussing as it and Adult/Child were mostly recorded and written to be their own thing. California Feeling and M.I.U. Album are basically compilation albums with songs from various years and intentions.

Seeing as this album was never officially released, I’ve obtained these tracks from the 1998 compilation album, Ultimate Christmas. Any tracks not on it were obtained from bootleg releases or other official release if available. The songs were listened to in order of the track listing they were ordered in for release.

“Christmas Time Is Here Again”

Surprisingly, this piece isn’t bad. It’s very wordy and simplified, but it’s not done too badly. The singing and drumming were surprisingly good. I’m not a fan of stories that paint a metaphorical picture of everything being perfectly happy and clean. One interesting lyric refers to the singer being sixteen. This gives the impression of the band trying to reference the good ol’ days of being young. The Beach Boys would do more throwbacks as time progressed. They’ve seemed to dislike being in their thirties and lacking relevance with the current culture of ‘77.

“Child of Winter (Christmas Song)”

This track suffers from the singer lacking enthusiasm, it’s more like spoken word due to the limited vocal stylization. Mike Love’s singing here is at the same level throughout. He’s not really singing and that kills the song. This is one of his least impressive performances. The lyrics don’t help, which is just listing details about nothing. “Here’s details about Christmas and how I feel about it, what does this mean?” Nothing, really.

“Winter Symphony”

Not too shabby. It was immediately refreshing after hearing Child to be greeted with some good vocals and great keyboard playing, probably by Brian. The trend of just describing Christmas is continued, but after a false ending half way through, we jump into an instrumental that lasts until almost the end. The instrumental section is the best part of the song. Instrumentals can be the best way of describing something as it can give more nuance and depth than words can. However, this one doesn’t do that. The instrumental isn’t Christmasy. The instrumental sadly wasn’t rescued from this song and put on another, non-Christmas album where it belongs.

“Michael Row the Boat Ashore”

Mike Love sings again and much better than last time. Its slightly more complex lyrics than the earlier songs and once more good instrumentals are applaudable, but then it all devolved into a pretty repetitive and uninteresting piece. The chorus is sung over and over again. I almost wonder if Mike just said it once or twice and that was just repeated over and over.

“Seasons in the Sun”

Finally, a great song. This one is beautiful. It’s about someone remembering the good times with an old friend. The work is a little depressing as the singer says the relationship’s gone, but they don’t just say that. That message is communicated with lines like, “Like the seasons, have all gone”. This is the power of a good holiday song. There’s meaning that can be derived from the change in weather and social climate. People act differently in Winter and Summer, same with trees and animals. Several parallels are drawn. Lines like “the birds are singing in the sky” are paralleled by the excellent backing vocals. The light, spring time is mirrored with a lovely trumpet. That’s right, spring, no winter elements, including Christmas, are mentioned. It’s stated that old things they used to do, like beaches, wine, and singing, are gone now. All of this parallels happy and warm times. This song is saying that to varying degrees, we lose this feeling in the Winter, so this song isn’t even pro-winter time. Despite that, “Seasons in the Sun” is an intelligent and sophisticated piece that deserves to be heard by everyone due to its harmonies and thoughtful lyrics, among other qualities.

“Morning Christmas”

This one’s hard to grasp. The slow harmony that the whole song is sung as is a nice change of pace, but it isn’t reaching or grabbing the listener. The lyrics are once again bad, but there’s not much of them. Lyrics like, “Children love to play, Children laugh, Children love to sing” are positive and supportive of the winter time, but lines like, “Cold wind blowing” aren’t. The whole song is sung in a melancholy style. There’s once again an instrumental portion and while it is a highlight, it isn’t as good as the other one. This song is too all over the place to really be comprehended. It doesn’t help that the audio quality is quite poor. I needed to look at the lyrics while listening so I could understand what was being said.

“Alone on Christmas Day”

“Child of Winter” has great vocals in comparison to this. I got tired listening to how bored Mike obviously was. I can just imagine him reading the lyrics with no life in him. The lyrics are okay. Real singing could propel them way more. The line “Alone on Christmas Day” recurs throughout the song, only to be subverted at the end with, “In reality you’ll never be Alone on Christmas Day.” That’s a highlight. This song also has a brief instrumental portion, but it’s unimpressive just like the instruments for this whole song. Those musicians sound bored as well.

“Go and Get That Girl”

The vocals are admirable here. There’s some effort in describing the story. While the singers seem somewhat disinterested, it’s still more than Mike was. The instruments are the most impressive part of the piece, with trumpets once again emphasizing the goings on. This girl wants you, go get her! This one’s one of the better songs featured, but it doesn’t try much and doesn’t achieve much. This also has nothing to do with Christmas or winter.

“Santa’s On His Way”

This one’s pretty amusing. It starts pretty typically, moderately interested singer sings of Christmas happenings with more interesting instrumentals. The keyboard is once again king. Here, the song’s about Santa and his sled. He’s actually got a new sled. This sled’s a 747 with a “super-speed” clutch. This sled also has cargo doors and can defy physics. The sled’s also used outside of Christmas for local runs and Mrs. Claus has joy rides on the weekends. The sled is taken to car shows and drag races. I am without words for how dumb this song is. I guess it’s a throwback to their earlier car songs, but I’m filled with questions. Why relate it to Santa? Why have the first half of the song unrelated to the sled’s specs? Why do more car songs? This tune is pretty fun and easy to listen to and like. This song does damage to the integrity of an album trying to be serious, but seeing as the album is failing to do much of note, this is a little Christmas treat.

“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”

This piece is sung pretty straightforward by a group of children with the Beach Boys doing backing vocals. The two different types of voices, child and adult, don’t compliment each other. The kids also aren’t very good singers. However, those aren’t the main problems. This song doesn’t try anything new. The instruments and the singers sing this basically like how anyone else has over the years. Think of Beach Boy songs like “Sloop John B”, which brilliantly reinvent old tunes. The band may as well have just not participated in this recording and just pulled one of the million stock recordings around. It’d sound the same.

“Xmas Carol Medley”

I was glad to see a medley was thrown in this mix, only to be disappointed by more child singers. I think they’re the same ones that did the last one. However, here they’re sharing lead with the Beach Boys. The singing is decent. The instruments are decent. I’m a big fan of reinventing old songs with creative techniques, such as medleys. The songs are woven together well and it’s a fair tune to listen to. One highlight is the very wholesome ending line, “We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”. It’s a peaceful and relaxing way to end the album and by extension, the year. One change that would’ve helped the piece would be to lose the kids and have the Beach Boys be the only singers. They are better singers and can carry the piece further. Overall, this one isn’t good, but it’s not bad either.

OVERVIEW

Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys is unimpressive. Every right it does is contrasted by two wrongs. Instead of slogging through these eleven tracks, just listen to “Seasons in the Sun” eleven times. Maybe toss in “Santa’s On His Way” or another “fun” one. I’ve wondered why the Beach Boys did another Christmas album. I suspect that their lack of commercial appeal and their fragmenting as a band may have given them a need to have a little more positivity tossed in their life and discography

or maybe they thought it’d make money.

The Beach Boys Today! (1965) Review

The Beach Boys, pictured 1965.

It’s not uncommon for people who listen to music to cite the Beach Boys album, Pet Sounds, as one of the greatest albums of all time. I can’t help but agree wholeheartedly. When I learned of its legendary status, I couldn’t help but be surprised. Before listening to it, their only song I liked was “I Get Around”, which is very fun but lacking in depth of really any kind. Most of the band’s songs and even their name gives the impression of dumb of the time music which couldn’t have anything to it. Discovering this work of art, I listened to numerous other albums the band had to offer. Sadly, I was mostly disappointed. Post-Pet Sounds albums such as Wild Honey felt like no one knew what to do or how to do it. The lyrics and composition are far less complex than their highlights and it suffers for it due to what appears to be attempted. Pre-Pet Sounds albums like Surfin’ Safari feel like commercial products, products that anyone, anywhere could do. It’s light and unprofessional. Its only success is the excess of charm that comes from the youthful inexperience and idealism of a mal-understood world. One of the band members was literally thirteen at the time.

A friend of mine then recommended The Beach Boys Today!, which he said was more complex than most of their albums from that era and included numerous seeds that would be explored further in Pet Sounds. This makes enough sense seeing as this album was three albums and fourteen months before Pet Sounds. I was compelled, for lack of a better term, to give it a listen. I was struggling to find a book, movie, or album to review. I wanted the thing to be interesting enough to discuss for a few paragraphs and to be unrated and/or underknown. Partway through this album, I realized how perfect it was for this.

This might be the best Beach Boys album I’ve heard. Pet Sounds is far better, but many fans, including me, can’t help but think of it more as a solo album by the band’s unofficial leader, Brian Wilson. He’s the only member of the band to have more than a minimal role on the album. Most of the band’s albums, including this one, utilize the current lineup of the time in a similar capacity. Numerous tracks include harmony from the band that makes them feel there. It’s not giving the impression that one person is doing the work while the others go off for a toke.

A possibly unintentional theme is desperation and longing, which parallels the real-life desires of main writer, Brian Wilson. The titles of the songs, as well as how they’re sung in the tracks, are like pleas. “Don’t Hurt My Little Sister”, “Help Me, Ronda”, and “Please Let Me Wonder” come off as violent just from looking at the titles. However, just like the rest of the album, the songs have a cheery quality and nature to them. “I’m So Young”, “Do You Wanna Dance?”, and “When I Grow Up” read like the perspective of a child, looking up into an unknown world. Every song could be the perspective of someone the age of around a teenager.

The A-side of the album gives the impression of happy, upbeat good times. The B-side of the album gives the impression of a more somber and upsetting world. The B-side consists of ballads, which is pointed out in other reviews commonly. If your impression of this album is that it’s two distinct halves, you’re sorely mistaken. In the A-side, you can feel the creeping in of the slower and more depressing. Such as in “Help Me, Ronda”, the second last track on the A-side, where “Help” is quietly heard, partially buried by the instrumentation. The final A-side track, “Dance, Dance, Dance”, seems to be absorbed by dancing, as if the singer is focusing on dancing to distract from other matters. The B-side is upbeat throughout, but more minimally, as if the darkness can’t snuff out the light. “She Knows Me Too Well” is somber, but there is an aura of excitement in the singer’s voice, as if “She” knowing him so well isn’t too bad. Sometimes I relistened to songs as they needed more than one go to be understood to their fullest.

This album is no masterpiece, despite what I’ve said. It is trapped in its own brilliance. It never breaks the mold of being a pop album enough to grow its wings. It uses the expectation of being a pop album to its advantage, but it sometimes feels like the lock hasn’t been broken, but we are being told it is broken. Fortunately, the inner beauty is trying to escape out the back of its cage. It never manages to fully.

An earlier Beach Boys album, All Summer Long contained a track called “Our Favorite Recording Sessions” which isn’t a song and added nothing to that album’s atmosphere (what little it had). This album makes the same mistake, but worse. Its last track is a little comical interview titled, “Bull Session With the “Big Daddy””. It awkwardly and sharply ends the album without respecting what it was going for. The second to last track, “In the Back of My Mind” is beautiful in how it moves and pushes forward the album. It just begged for some kind of conclusion. Perhaps the last track could have a battle of overt happy pop and slow ballad.

I can’t honestly say I’ve heard an album quite like this one. It effortlessly marries different concepts and ideas to create an interesting experience to say the least. It’s not too happy, too cheery, too depressing, too much of anything. That doesn’t always work exceptionally, but it didn’t sell itself too highly and back down. The Beach Boys Today! was honest.