Saturday, January 7, 2012

"All Summer Long" by The Beach Boys (July, 1964)


Brad's Take:


For those who don't know, my dad is arguably one of the biggest Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fans ever so this band of fine young gents are no strangers to me. This is an album that contains a lot of songs that I grew up hearing a lot, especially "I Get Around."

You can tell that the boys were growing up with this release. There were still some songs that sounded like good old fashioned Beach Boys, like "I Get Around" and "Little Honda", but there were also a few glimpses into the sound that they'd eventually find with Pet Sounds just a couple years later. Song like "Wendy", "We'll Run Away", and "Don't Back Down" still have young Brian Wilson lyrics, but you can tell that his production skills and melody/harmony ideas were starting to really take shape here. I read that Brian even had studio musicians come in and record demos of the whole album, under his direction, and then he had the actual Beach Boys come in and overdub their parts. Whether or not that is true, my dad will let us know.

"Wendy" and "Don't Back Down" are both songs that I remember listening to in the past, but I didn't realize how much I really like them until I listened to this in my car when preparing to write this review. Both of those songs are really great, and are definitely highlights on this album for me.

This album does have its flaws though. "Drive-In" was pretty bad, let's be honest....

If you say you watch the movie you're a couple o' liars
And "Remember only you can prevent forest fires"

Ouch.

Overall though, this album had its ups and downs, but it's a perfect transitional album of classic Beach Boys to influential Beach Boys.

Dad's Take:

Of all the summery sounds in the Beach Boys canon, this could easily be argued to be their classic summer album. This is when the Beach Boys still sounded like they were having fun, Brian Wilson was still touring with the group, and they were putting out at least three records a year, produced, arranged, and mostly written by Brian. As the boy said, the music was starting to get more complex, but it still had that classic Beach Boys sound.

Few albums have started with the one-two punch this one had. The brilliant and surprisingly complex "I Get Around" with its deep organ notes followed by "All Summer Long" with its chimes provide all the signal you'll need that this is an extraordinary record. How they never released "All Summer Long" as a single has always amazed me.

This may well be the feel-good record of all time.

The Beach Boys reputation has been diminished somewhat by soft drink commercials and endless jukebox tours, but listen to this album and you'll understand why they are the classic American band. Complex arrangements, perfect harmonies, fun themes, and successful mythologizing of the American teenaged lifestyle create a sound that has often been copied but never matched. Even filler like their cover of the doo-wop classic "Hushabye" show that these young men were up to something. We'd soon see what that was. "We'll Run Away" would have been a perfect fit on side two of the even better "Beach Boys Today!" album a year later. (How did THAT gem not make our lists? Flat-out amazing record.)

As for "Drive-In," Bradley Boy, it's a funny song with an unusual arrangement. Like much of their filler of the time it was a chance to experiment a bit. And that "Only you can prevent forest fires" rings a bell with those of us who grew up at the drive-in. It's a reference to the classic "Smokey the Bear" PSA that played for years at the drive-in, mixed with a bit of innuendo.

That the British authors of our list would choose this album is no surprise. "I Get Around" was a monster British hit, the first major success by the Beach Boys in Britain, the beginning of a relationship with a country that treated the band with more respect than their own country did.

This was one of my first three Beach Boys albums (along with "Today!" and "Surfer Girl"), purchased for nearly nothing at a flea market by my parents and given me on my 12th birthday. This record played a key role in beginning decades of fanaticism, and remains a favorite. I've told people that if they want to get just one Beach Boys album and want that classic sound, then get this one. Not every second is brilliant, but close. Even the gimicky bit of humorous filler goofiness called "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" is fun.

In retrospect, closing the album with their last surfing song, "Don't Back Down" was a stroke of genius. They used their original sound as a challenge for what was to come. Like the Beatles, they were growing musically at an astounding pace, and only two years later would create what many consider the finest rock and roll album ever, "Pet Sounds."

But for now it was all about Brian's studio creations of the California myth, played (yes) mostly by the finest studio musicians in LA, the same ones used by Phil Spector, and sung impeccably by this brilliant harmony group.

1 comment:

Scott said...

Funny thing about Brian's use of studio musicians. There are demos of some of the songs floating around, using only the Beach Boys. Those and the live recordings show that they were competent musicians. But Brian wanted perfection, so he hired the best musicians available. When he stopped touring, he recorded the tracks and waited for the boys to come off the tour and do the vocals.