mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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surfin' safari surfin' usa shut down, vol.2 the beach boys today summer days and summer nights the beach boys party pet sounds smiley smile sunflower surf's up holland in concert 15 big ones
Surfin' Safari Released: 1962 Rating: 2/10 Track listing: 1. Surfin' Safari/ 2. Country Fair/ 3. Ten Little Indians/ 4. Chug A Lug/ 5. Little Girl ( You're My Miss America )/ 6. 409 / 7. Surfin'/ 8. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose/ 9. Summertime Blues/ 10. Cuckoo Clock/ 11. Moon Dawg/ 12. The Shift This is the Beach Boys, and I tell you, if it had been any other group I never would have listen to this all the way through. It's non-serious, unpretentious popmusic. Sure, sometimes it can be a relief to listen to that kind of music, but only if there are strong song material. Unfortunately, this is not the case on Surfin' Safari. The music isn’t very well played, the vocal harmonies are far from the magic the boys later would create and the production sounds thin and not very inspired. The lyrics is mostly about cars, surfing and girls. Maybe it echoed the lives of the youth in California around the time who were held back by the oldfashion tradition of the fifties, but the songs haven't stood the test of time. Nothing wrong about that, but the lyrics are not very good and all the songs starts to sound the same after a while. Just the fact that the title song is by far the best song here should come off as a warning signe. Nothing even indicates that this is the group that would challenge The Beatles a few years later. Both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones made much better debut albums. If I had heard The Beach Boys back in 1962 I would have suggested them to get day time jobs and keep practising during nights and weekends. Perhaps Brian could try to make a living by writing commercial jingles?
Surfin' USA The follow up isn't much different than the debut. There's no change in sound at all, but the production is a little bit better and there are even a few ballads to change the pattern. "Farmers Daughters" is reason enough to buy this album. It's a lost classic, done very much in the same vein as more acclaimed songs such as "Surfer Girl" and "Don't Worry Baby". That means fine, moody music arrangements and a wonderful lead vocal delivered from Brian. Finally some of the genius of his is shining through, even if it shines very weak and pale. Everybody knows the title track that is a Chuck Berry-ripp off. Brian denies that he stole "Sweet Little Sixteen" and just claims it to be a source of inspiration. You be the judge. The rest is simply fillers in the same style as the previous album. "Lonely Sea" is an exception, though! It's nice ballad strikes me as an early version of "'Til I Die". Of course I'm probably wrong, but worse things can happen! Anyway, if you find this album cheap, pick it up to hear "Farmers Daughters". If you don't care for Brians ballads, then stay away. Unless you really loved Surfin' Safari, that is!
Shut Down, Vol. 2 Although the theme of the songs haven’t changed much since the debut, there are some serious improvement. Not only is the production better, but the harmonies are finally sounding as timeless as their reputation suggests. The for some reason forgotten “The Warmth of The Sun” is truly beautiful. Gorgeous melody, sweet harmonies and also pretty tricky chord changes that doesn’t seemed forced, but flows natural and easy. A little magic from the mid-60’s. “Don’t Worry Baby” is, arguably, even better. A hit and maybe overplayed, but very affecting. Also, the lyrics in both songs witness of a more mature songwriter. “Fun, Fun. Fun” finds the group at their peak with the faster, upbeat Chuck Berry-rock. Whilst the previous songs (“Surfin’ USA”, “Surfin’” etc) sounded like the boys took it seriously, “Fun, Fun, Fun” seems to have been written with more distance and humor. Yet, despite having the groups best material to date, the album is extremely flawed. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have a track with Mike and Brian making jokes about each others voices? It’s probably just a way to inform the listener who is singing what, but that’s why the liner notes was invented, right? And since when was The Beach Boys listened to for the instrumental skills? Why are there instrumentals here? These are some of the things that makes people see The Beatles and other groups at the time as more accomplished and developed. I mean, The Beach Boys clearly had material enough to make extraordinary good albums even at this stage in their career, but instead of releasing two or three near to perfect albums, they released nine(!) rather mediocre albums between 1963 – 1964. Why?
Beach Boys Today I’m not sure if this is regarded as a classic or not. Well, I know that Beach Boys-fan tend to raise it to the skies, but what about the rest of the world? This is no Pet Sounds, but it is still good in its own right and certainly better than most of the other albums released at the time. The album is divided into two parts. We got the pop-part on the first half of the album, and the gorgeous ballad-part on the second side of the album. At first I wished they would have mixed the songs up a little which would have made the album more diverse, but after repeated listenings I realize that it couldn’t have been made in any other way than it is. Well, it could been, but it just wouldn’t have achieved the same effect. While the pop songs all rates among the groups best, the lyrics are still quite lightweight and very much the same as on previous albums. What really differs this from the other work is how much better it sounds. The production is stronger, the playing is better and the vocals are more confident and the harmonies reaches new hights. Personal favourites are the two “dance”-songs. While the first side celebrates the naive pop music as its never been done previously on a Beach Boys-record, the second side is deep, rich and beautiful with a rather new twist to the lyrics. Quite unexpected, if I may say so. I mean, songs like "Surfer Girl" and "Don’t Worry Baby" were beautiful so we knew what Brian was capable of, but to be honest, the lyrics weren’t exactly worth the Noble-prize in litterature. The ballads here changes things around a little. Also, the atmosphere is totally different and is the closest thing to a Pet Sounds-clone they ever got. "She Knows Me Too Well" is a good exampel on both points. In my review of Summer Days Summer Nights, I claimed that it could be the best Beach Boys-album, besides Pet Sounds. Well, I must say that The Beach Boys Today is a safer and stronger bet.
Summer Days Summer Nights You know, this might be the best Beach Boys-album not named Pet Sounds. The production is better, the songwriting has improved drastically. Yes, many of the songs are based on the same foundation as the debut was. The difference is that the songs actually are memorable and not the slightest annoying. You get some fat, acoustic guitars to fill out the overall sound that makes it a bit softer than on the 1962/1963-albums. There are some nice hornsections which brings more bass and groove to the songs, while neat little organs and pianos are adding colour on the top of it all. The album is so much more diverse than anything else the group had done earlier in their career. Even the lightweight lyrics seems good! The only main flop on here is "I’m Bugged At My Ol’ Man". It sounds almost as a comedy number and people that knows nothing about the Wilson-family might smile and even laugh a little when listening to it. However, if you do know the situation that the brothers were in, and especially Brian, you just feel depressed, disgusted and not amused at all. Speaking of amused... "Amusement Parks U.S.A." is great! Makes it easier to see where "Heroes And Villains" came from! Anyway, this album is filled with classics, the fillers are next to none and the more obscure songs are well worth hearing. The surf-theme is pretty much left behind and that’s a good thing. Also notice the similarity between "California Girls" and the middle section in The Beatles’ "Back In The U.S.S.R." released 3 years later. Apperantly, Mike Love claims that he inspired Paul to write that. Who cares, anyway? It’s great fun. The entire album is mostly pure, fun, pop music.
The Beach Boys Party My first reaction when I had a look at this album was "Woah, three Beatles-covers!" Of course, a second look later I noticed that ALL songs were covers. Except for the so-called medley of "I Get Around" and "Little Deuce Coup". Anyway, if I got it right, this album is supposed to be a recorded jam/party in the studio. I'm not sure if there really was a party, and the songs seems quite rehearsed. This album is far from being as bad as it seems, it's kinda entertaining and it has a warm, acoustic sound to it. I guess you could call this an alternative to the Beach Boys' MTV Unplugged-album that never happened. So, some highlights are "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" simply because it fits perfect on a loose album like this and because I just adore those high pitched "beepbeeps’s" or whatever they are singing. It's wonderful! Other than that, Dennis does a fine job with the Beatles-classic "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". Quite the opposite to "Papa-Oom", it certainly deserved a better fate and a more strict arrangement. I guess the problem was on which album they could have fitted in a Beatles-cover. They only really butcher two songs here, "I Get Around" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'". The former is not tight and Mike delivers his infamous humor and changes the lyrics. Not fun, and not an easy listen. The Bob Dylan-song is a bit better, but just seems wrong. And when a piano comes in, it mess everything up. However, much better than I expected and while it's no classic it’s still entertaining. People say that the album came out this way because the record company wanted another record out from the Boys, but Brian was working on Pet Sounds and didn't want to leave that project and spend too much time on other albums. Well, that might be the truth. My personal belief is that they just needed a reason to record some Beatles tracks!
Pet Sounds I can’t really see the universal love theme that everybody is talking about. What I hear when listening is heartache. Real, old fashion heartache. I hear about the fear and at the same time longing for growing up and step out in the real world. I hear about regrets, shame and downright pain. Sure, the opening track "Wouldn’t It Be Nice" is about two people that actually are happy together, but still trapped in a situation which nothing but time itself can sort out. And we all know that waiting for something you can’t hurry is frustrating. Still the arrangement of the song is happy so I guess people tend to overlook the lyrics. Also, this is how I see it. One could as well just look at the lyrics coming from a day dreaming guy. "You Still Believe In Me" is really about a relationship that’s gone wrong and about shame and still some gratefulness. How come she still believes in me after all I’ve been putting her through? "I’m Waiting For The Day" is quite up lifting musically speaking, but once again the lyrics is pretty depressing. Imagine being with the girl you love and still not connecting because she’s still in love with her old boyfriend. That hurts. The cover of "Sloop John B" has a great arrangement with fantastic harmony hooks. But once again, 'I feel so broke up, I wanna go home'. No happiness here. "Here Today" can be taken positive ('Love is here') or just as well equally depressing ('It makes you feel so bad/It makes your heart feel sad/It makes your days go wrong/It makes your nights so long'). "I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times" has even more depressing lyrics ('They say I’ve got brains, but they ain’t doing me no good') AND they actually fits the music very well. Not that the other songs don’t go well with the lyrics, but there are occasions when the lyrics isn’t in the foreground. The last song on this album is the aching beautiful "Caroline No", which is a gentle, quiet song about broken love ('Oh Caroline you break my heart/I wanna go and cry/It's so sad to watch a sweet thing die/Oh Caroline, why?'). As you can tell, I’ve chosen to put the main focus on the lyrics. The reason for that is that on no other Beach Boys album you will ever find such great lyrics. I mean that. I just can’t see why Brian Wilson hasn’t worked with Tony Asher again on a full album. Tony’s lyrics and Brian’s melodies and vocal arrangements goes hand in hand. The result is one of the most beautiful albums in the history of pop. Yes, there are flaws on here and sometimes some of the orchestral arrangements feels a bit overproduced. I would have loved to hear the complete album in the same vein as "Caroline No" or "God Only Knows". These are minor complaints, though. The high points are so many and so lovely and beautiful that it would be plain stupid to give this album anything other than the highest rating.
Smiley Smile After the artistic success of Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson set out to record, write and perform ‘a teenage symphony to God’, supposedly to be titled Smile. Naturally, considering the pressure from record companies, the willing to prove his talent for his father, the drugs, his ban members lack of faith in the project and maybe even the competition with The Beatles finally became too much for Brian. Smile was abandoned and since the record company demanded a record the others in the band cleaned some things up, just to make it decent enough for a release. They had really no idea of Brian’s idea and to tell you the truth, most of these tracks are merely sections and fractions of songs that no one but Brian knew what they were going to sound like and in which context they were going to be used in. It was just really two songs on Smiley Smile that Brian Wilson had completed before he left the sessions for the others; “Heroes And Villains” and “Good Vibrations”. Both of them clearly are worked up on so much more than the rest of the songs. Two genuine, unquestionable masterpieces. When listening to Smiley Smile you might be a little disappointed if you’re expecting the rest of the songs to be just as powerful. However, if you’re able to hear some of the takes from the countless Smile-bootlegs, you’ll hear short songs, a lot of them not making any sense at all, seemingly nonsense takes. After a while you start to recognize some of those brief recordings, hearing stuff that later was put into “Heroes And Villains”, if only just a short piece. Then there’s something that was used in “Good Vibrations”. You understand that all those small bits are not meant to be taken as songs, but as passages or sections in a song. Songs that were meant to sound just like the two masterpieces on Smiley Smile. That would probably have been the greatest album ever, a genuine ‘teenage symphony to God’. The official release is done with the other Beach Boys best intention, but since they never were fully involved they just could not finish it as it was meant to be. Most of the songs end up sounding like not quite finished, but yet not quite as fragile as the Smile-bootlegs. When the listener has accepted that there only will be one “Good Vibrations” and only one “Heroes And Villains” it is possible to listen to Smiley Smile the way it is, rather than listen to what it is not. It’s loose and relaxed. It’s cool and undemanding. It actually sounds like one of the least pretentious albums ever, even though it started out with the greatest ambitions it sounds like the opposite. Whilst “Vegetables” and “Little Pad” are hard to take seriously, “Wind Chimes” and “Wonderful” are just great songs, beautifully and sparsely arranged and the gorgeous vocals close and near. Rumor has it that Paul McCartney sat in during one of the sessions, playing vegetables on “Vegetables”, and it probably is no coincident that his own Ram has a somewhat similar feel to it as Smiley Smile has. Yes, it sometimes can be a frustrating listening to these songs and realizing that they are not completed, yet it is interesting and sometimes even these fragments works on their own. No matter which approach the listener chooses: is it a collection of unfinished songs or a nice laid-back atmosphere, it is always a fascinating listen, at the very least.
Sunflower The album that brought the Beach Boys into the seventies, following the Rolling Stones to be pretty much the only major group from the British Invasion to continue to make good music. British Invasion, you ask? Yes, I know the non-surfing surfing group was American, but they easily fall in the same category as acts such as Herman & The Hermits, Manfred Mann and all those other artists. So what’s new for the new decade? Well, first of all Brian Wilson takes a step back and his brother Dennis (of all people!) takes control. The opening track is a Dennis composition, "Slip On Through", which is an ok song, but the chorus is perfect. It also has some great harmony vocals that really lifts the song. Another contribution by Dennis is "Got To Know The Woman". It’s a nice little rocker very 1950’s sounding. Good vocal delivery from Dennis as well. It might seem stupid to talk about great vocal performances on a Beach Boy album, but fact is that Dennis was the least gifted singer in the band. Technically speaking that is, because he always seems to find the right mood for the song. No matter if it’s gentle, rocking or just funny. Besides the previously mentioned two songs he also co-wrote two more. "It’s About Time" with Bob Burchman and Al Jardine and "Forever" together with Gregg Jakobson. "It’s About Time" might come off as a forgettable tune, but has a nice calm middle eight which suddenly explodes into a guitar solo and then fades out. "Forever", on the other hand is one of the album’s centrepieces. A fantastic ballad with lyrics filled with clichés, but still it doesn’t end up silly or stupid. It’s a perfect pop ballad. I mean that. It has some of the most overwhelming vocal arrangements I’ve ever heard and makes this record worth buying even if the rest would have been crap. Luckily enough, the rest isn’t crap. Quite the opposite, actually! My other favourite on here is Bruce Johnston’s "Tears In The Morning". It has even more of those unbelievable harmony vocals. It’s so good that I just don’t know what to do. I want to open the window and scream out to the world. Asking them how the hell they could have missed this fucking incredible song. Why is it over looked? Oh well, what can one do? Write a really favourable review of it on the Internet and hope somebody is reading it and go out and buy the album! That’s the thing to do! Back to track… I really like Bruce’s voice too. Sadly overlooked singer. What about Brian? Yes, he doesn’t control the group in the same way longer, but that doesn’t keep him from come up with some really good songs, right? "This Whole World", "All I Wanna Do" and "Our Sweet Love" are all semi-classics, the second being co-written with Mike Love and the latter with Carl and Al. A good album from a good band. Tell me again why you don’t own it?
Surf’s Up People often thinks the title of this album is something positive, you know “let’s go and surf!”, while I feel it’s a bit more negative (Surf’s up as in “time’s up”). The music itself has very little to do with surfing, so I’m sticking with my explanation. Anyway, Surf’s Up took me quite some time to get into. First I felt it was terrible week and boring and I was ready to consider the Beach Boys’ creative and important era as officially over. I was wrong. Way wrong, actually. There are lightweight material here which mostly are left overs from the abandoned Smile-project. It’s catchy, filled with humor and pretty basic reflections of the ordinary life. Moments and things we sometimes forget since we’re too caught up in to really notice. It’s far from groundbreaking, but enjoyable nonetheless. While the more simpler songs can pretty easily be written off as throwaways, despite their charm, is the more serious, sophisticated material here harder to dismiss with valid arguments. I’m especially talking about the three closing tracks. Emotional, strong melodies, interesting arrangements and, as usual, fantastic vocal harmonies. Songs that defines the Beach Boys post-1965 and that no other group could have pulled off. Only the Beach Boys in absolute top form could. But there is more to the album than just those three songs. The “Darlin’”/”Slip On Through”-spirited “Long Promised Road”, Bruce Johnstons beautiful and tender “Disney Girls” and Al Jardines dark, melodic “Lookin’ At Tomorrow” which is built upon nice acoustic guitar playing are all highlights in the bands catalog. The only song that recembles weakness here is “Student Demonstration Time”, a Mike Love rewrite of Lieber/Stollers Riot in Cell Block #9, which was recorded by the Coasters. A song that leans more towards classic 50’s rock and roll and seems a bit out of place. Other than that, Surf’s Up is one the Beach Boy’s best albums and is forgotten for reasons I cannot understand.
Holland It seems like the band spent more time on Holland than on any other album, bar Pet Sounds. It's well played, the songwriting is more consistant and thoughtful than previously and the album just is more solid. It's not that strange. Besides greatest hits-compilations, the boys weren't doing well on the American charts and their record company wasn't too patient. They simply had to release a winner. Not that the albums before Holland had been bad or anything but they were for the most part not easially accessable. There were hooks and good ideas, just hard to find. The albums might also sound unfinished and even uninspired on the first cupple of listens. That's not something that will appeal to the general record buying public. Anyway, this is not the case with Holland. As I said, the band seemed more careful and inspired than in a long time. Even though the high quality of songwriting and sometimes slick production is present on the expense of charm. The band spent a lot of time in Holland when recording this album, and being away from sunny California may very well have brought the old surf feeling to life again. You still can’t compare this new work to the early recordings, but sun and beaches, waves and surfing are subjects that runs through the album. They even knick their own bassline in" California Girls" for the song "California Saga/California". Brian is pretty much out of the picture, but the other members makes a good job. They don't create magic, but it's a solid, wellproduced album with glimpses of talent very few in this world has been blessed with.
In Concert The Beach Boys had problems at home in the States, with problems getting their albums released. Even the first version of this live album was at first rejected by the company. However, here it is. And it’s great. Well, nearly. With a new line up, the group actually had become a competent live act. Yes, they had knocked their audience off their feet in the early days too, but then mostly because of the high energy the boys put into their shows, rather than playing the songs really well. Now, the songs are presented very professional, maybe at the expense of the energy. And perhaps that’s why the ballads are more successful than the faster numbers. They still manage to make “Fun, Fun, Fun” a hoot, but that’s more thanks to the exciting backing vocals, rather than the new distorted guitar. Brian is not present obviously, but I don’t mind that much. Carl and Mike are doing a great job with the vocals, and the big surprise for me is Al Jardine. The way he treats Brian’s lead vocals are quite emotional. Even challenging the original studio versions. In fact, “Let The Wind Blow” is without a doubt surpassing the Wild Honey-version and is a clear highlight in this set. A set that is far more interesting than on previous live albums. Mainly because classic material is mixed up with new and fresh songs, that never became classics because the record buying audience was to stupid to appreciate the albums released after Pet Sounds. The only complaint I have about the song selection is that Sunflower is completely ignored. Maybe songs such as “Help Me, Rhonda” and “California Girls” should have been left off in favor of “Slip On Through” and “This Whole World”. “Forever” would probably have brought a tear to every eye in the audience. But that’s really me whining about small things. In fact, there’s hardly a dull moment on the album and it’s never embarrassing or ugly, as many people may think Beach Boys would sound like live. Yes, “Sloop John B” isn’t close in touching the original and neither is “Good Vibrations”, but on the other hand you get an impressive “Heroes And Villains” and absolutely stunning versions of “Surfer Girl” and especially “Don’t Worry, Baby” is affecting. A really nice live album that is enjoyable for everyone. Get this one instead of all the lousy compilations out there.
15 Big Ones Promoted as Brian Wilson’s comeback album, the hype was tremendous. Sadly, the band failed to live up to the expectations. Because of this, 15 Big Ones has been remembered as one of the worst Beach Boys albums ever. Yes, it has a lot of lame covers (and lame is the right word) and is far from interesting musically but it’s not that bad. Only empty and shallow. It lacks the energy of the early days and is far from being as deep as the Pet Sounds era. Musically and lyrically. But it sure tries to be bigger than it’s capable of. Or maybe it’s just Mike Love. The only songs that really stands out are the ballad “Everyone’s In Love With You”. It’s a ballad that the boys have done before. Better too. However, here it is a relief compared to the surrounding songs and what makes it special is the harmony vocals. At least it sounds like they actually gave a damn. The lead vocals and lyrics are nothing special, though. The closing “Just Once In My Life” falls into that category too. The ‘give a damn’-category. Sadly it’s destroyed thanks to the incredibly dated keyboards. It could have been amazing, though. “It’s OK” is a decent song too, which fits in good with the formula here. You see, it seems like a stab at a retro-album, back to the sixties. But with some new exciting synthesizers to attract a younger crowd. Not a good idea. I would have preferred the old wall of sound copies instead of this. Listen to “Palisades Park” to hear a song that proves the theory and also is relatively successful. The covers of Chuck Berry’s classic “Rock And Roll Music” and Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” are ugliness defined. Lame, boring and provoking with it’s smarmy approach. What actually is interesting on this album is “Talk To Me” which points the way towards the last work of the group that resembles a classic album, Love You. Also notice “Back Home” which is also presented on Brian Wilson’s Live At The Roxy-album. There, in a live setting with a great band and no Mike Love in sight it turns out to be a really good song. Much better than here, with it’s sterile production and cold arrangement. What’s funny, is that it’s still a highlight here. That’s what makes a good song, I guess. That it’s enjoyable even no matter how abused it is. Anyway, this is a decent album. Just boring. My advice is to stay away and get the nearly forgotten Today and Sunflower to confirm this band’s greatness. Besides Pet Sounds, obviously. But that goes without saying.
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