The Beach Boys, An Annotated Tour

The Greatest Hits Vol.1: 20 Good Vibrations (1999)

Well, if you live in the United States at least, The Beach Boys are so ubiquitous on the radio, on the TV, and everywhere, that you’ve probably heard most or all of these songs somewhere before.  So that’s where we’ll begin this tour through The Beach Boys catalog.  I don’t think this specific compilation makes a particularly representative overview of the group’s whole career, but it is just what it claims to be: a gathering of the group’s biggest hits.  So I’ll assume you already know The Beach Boys as a vocal pop band, kind of focused on surf music and catchy fun-in-the-sun tunes.  Well, that’s only the beginning…

The Beach Boys Today! (1965)

Okay, so we’ve touched on the vaunted Pet Sounds already, so it’s time to go back and pick up on a few earlier albums that led up to it.  Frankly, The Beach Boys started out as a teen group and their early albums are very thin.  Often pushed to release albums of mostly uninteresting filler, their earliest hits are best heard apart from the early albums (and you’ve heard the hits before!).  The Beach Boys Today! is one of the best–probably THE best–of the pre-Pet Sounds albums.  You can actually hear the group starting to hit their stride with the full-fledged orchestrated pop that made them great on songs like “Please Let Me Wonder” and “She Knows Me Too Well” that populate side two.  But you also get a shot in the arm of fun pop songs on side one, like “Dance, Dance, Dance” and “Do You Wanna Dance.”  But what you shouldn’t overlook is the original album-only version of “Help Me, Ronda” (it’s spelled differently than the more popular later version), which is perhaps the best version the group recorded.  This album is helped tremendously by the fact that session musicians like Hal Blaine were being used on the records by this point, so that the boys could focus on the vocals.

The SMiLE Sessions (2011)

We’ve gotten through a few discs now.  The truth is, though, you’re probably still listening to Pet Sounds.  Actually, you should be, it’s just that good.  Well, you’re probably also starting to wonder “How could they follow this up?”  At the time, answering that question seemed to trouble Brian Wilson quite a bit too.  The planned follow-up was SMiLE.  The project, perhaps the most ambitous pop album ever attempted to date, never really came to fruition.  Van Dyke Parks, a brilliant lyricists with surrealist tendencies, was brought in to pen the words for Brian Wilson’s music.  With some great songs in hand, recording began.  But, for whatever reasons (there were probably many), Brian Wilson broke down before the album could be completed and the project was shelved.  Of course, one song–the most expensive to record in history–did emerge as a single: “Good Vibrations.”  So this album remained a mystery.  Instead, Brian retreated to his house.  He built an indoor sandbox in his living room.  He drained his swimming pool and set up recording equipment in it.  From the safety of his own home, and with a few (very few) snippets and songs from the SMiLE sessions, Brian Wilson had The Beach Boys record their next album to actually see release. Smiley Smile.  Fast forward a few decades, well, almost four decades actually.  Brian is back, and he has released a newly-recorded solo album called Presents SMiLE, after revisiting fragments of the original recordings.  He even tours to support that effort.  But then, another seven years later, comes the surprise of The SMiLE Sessions.  It’s not new recordings of the old songs.  These are the old recordings stitched together.  At last!  Hallelujah!  The holy grail of 60s pop!  Well, er, almost.  No doubt, this is a classic, even decades late.  The orchestration soars, the tunes, magnificent.  Yet there’s also something not quite right in some of the digital manipulations used to pull together the unfinished recordings for the original album.  It’s minor quibble altogether, but it’s one reason not to start your Beach Boys journey here.  You’re gonna have to make this a stop on it though.  The sunshine daydreaming, the childish mythology, the druggy schizophrenia, the historical compendium-building, the christian moralizing, the hopeful irreverence–The SMiLE Sessions are all that and more.  This must be called something other than simply SMiLE, but a newcomer is probably best served sticking to the presentation of the “original” album and skip the bonus tracks (for now), so as to bask in the wonderful vision and not turn it into something tedious.

Wild Honey (1967)

So this, the follow-up to Smiley Smile, was probably another surprise for those trying to anticipate what The Beach Boys would do next.  Wild Honey was the most stripped down, rocking album the group had made yet.  The driving title track would become a concert favorite in the coming years (particularly with Blondie Chaplin to play it, but more on him later).  This album brought The Beach Boys back into critical regard somewhat, and it inspired a lot of other artists to adopt a more stipped-down recording style too.  But really it’s quite simply one of the nicest, most enjoyable and listenable Beach Boys albums around.  No, there are no hits you’ll ever hear on the radio (even Smiley Smile ended up including “Good Vibrations”).  But the mellow, soulful sound here is just real nice.  Later, under Brain’s brother Carl Wilson’s direction, the band would return to a more soul-influenced sound, but the results then would never come close to the heights of Wild Honey.

Sunflower (1970)

A good effort for the 1970s Beach Boys.  This album has held up better than most from the era. But clearly, they had lost a step by this point (don’t believe the fan hype surrounding this one).  The best tracks are the ones with the most input from Brian, like “This Whole World.”   You can feel the schmaltz creeping in here though.

Surfin’ Safari (1962)

Time to come back to reality.  Here’s the first ever Beach Boys album.  It’s an almost totally forgettable assemblage of filler, with the title track and their breakout single “Surfin'” thrown in.  I put this here on the list so that we remember to appreciate how good things were in the late 1960s and into the early 1970s.

Shut Down Volume 2 (1964)

This mysteriously titled album (there is no “Vol. 1”) makes a few more advances in songwriting with “Don’t Worry Baby” and “The Warmth of the Sun”, and includes the popular “Fun, Fun, Fun.”  I think it’s at least as good as Surfer Girl.  But still too much throwaway filler!  In fact, much of this is far worse than just throwaway filler.  “Denny’s Drums” is rightly the butt of many Beach Boys jokes, and “‘Cassius’ Love vs. ‘Sonny’ Wilson” is just as bad.

The Beach Boys in Concert (1973)

I like to think of this as one of the hidden gems in the Beach Boys catalog.  Coming as a live album in the early-to-mid 1970s, it doesn’t look promising on paper.  Brian had stopped touring with the band long ago, and he really wasn’t doing much at all, if anything, with band at this point.  And Mike Love was long an advocate of milking the summer fun hits that were easy to perform live (he got his way soon enough).  But here, we actually get a lot of great, more complex songs.  Even the rambling “Heroes and Villains” from Smiley Smile appears.  And a few of the versions of songs from the early 1970s studio albums (“Marcella”, “Leaving This Town”) sound better live than on the studio originals.  The value of newish members Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar is clear.  Their contributions, though their songwriting is maligned by some, are far superior to wholesale crap like “The Nearest Faraway Place” offered on 20/20 by departed member Bruce Johnston (good riddance!  But he would return).  I guess you have to like The Beach Boys by this point, and need to have heard some of their poorer albums, to really appreciate this album.  It may not be great, and I wouldn’t quite call it essential–it comes close though.  But if you have made it this far and are still intrigued, you’ll really enjoy this one.  It’s a nice little reminder of why Bob Dylan made his “famous” comment that I mentioned above.

Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” (1972)

When Brian went pretty much into full retirement, his brother Carl Wilson took over the duties of producing the records. He’s in charge here, as the title suggests.  Also, with this album, we first hear the new South African members Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar.  This is a pretty disappointing record.  It has a few decent cuts, without having anything particularly memorable.   The soulful blues rock of “Here She Comes,” written and sung entirely by Chaplin and Fataar, is something totally new for a Beach Boys record.  It’s a good cut to fool someone with in a blindfold test.  Brian’s “You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone” may be the best here.  But “Cuddle Up,” with string arrangements from Daryl Dragon of Captain and Tennille “fame” is just awful.  I don’t want to hear any of this “but it’s a touching performance by Dennis” crap.  That shit blows and y’all should know better.

Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale) (1973)

A free bonus EP included with Holland.  It’s an unusual child-like spoken word piece set to music.  You guessed right if you think this one is all Brian.  Actually it’s a fascinating concept, and the background music is quite good at times.  But the band manager Jack Rieley does the narration without any spirit, and Brian’s words are clumsy at times.  Conceptually, this is way more interesting than Holland itself.  It comes across as a little half-assed.  I still like it.

Brian Wilson

Presents SMiLE (2004)

If you enjoyed The SMiLE Sessions, it may be worth finding the Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE solo version too.  Now, some of you will complain that Brian’s new backing band The Wondermints are nothing compared the original Beach Boys.  And some of you will say that these songs, and the album as a whole, seem a bit more concise and streamlined than what had been reported about the aborted original album suggested.  And a lot of you will probably find this rendered completely superfluous by The SMiLE Sessions.  Well, feel free to complain.  If you’ve made it this far down the list, you’ve earned the right to bitch and moan a little.  But apart from what this album could have been or whatever, this is still some great music.  It is a little out of place 40 years after it was written, but that shouldn’t matter.  I was lucky enough to go to the first ever live performance of the album in the United States (me and a slew of middle-aged men wearing tacky Hawaiian shirts).  This recording didn’t entirely live up to the live performance for me, but I still like it.

Love You (1977)

Originally a Brain Wilson solo effort converted into a Beach Boys record.  Fans like this one for its weirdness and the fact that Brian was back in form, musically.  Still, Brian was working without the aid of a lyricist, and so we get a lot of garbage in that department, like a song about Johnny Carson with the line “when guests are boring he fills up the slack.”  In spite of the weak lyrics, the goofiness of this is charming, and fun.  Chronologically, this is probably the last Beach Boys album worth bothering with.

L.A. (Light Album) (1979)

An album emblematic of The Beach Boys’ descent into soft rock purgatory.  Most of this is so bland it drifts by without notice, with the better tracks (“Good Timin’,” “Angel Come Home,” “Baby Blue”) not really good enough compared to their best material to cause that much of a stir and the bad tracks (“Here Comes the Night,” “Shortenin’ Bread”) so forced it’s embarrassing.  At this point it became clear that no matter how hard the group might try, they simply weren’t going to be able to be truly relevant anymore.  Still, the album is listenable for the most part, and fans of the slower material on the group’s various other 1970s albums might like it.

Keepin’ the Summer Alive (1980)

By the 1980s, The Beach Boys hardly seemed relevant anymore.  Yet Keepin’ the Summer Alive has a few good tunes, including the title track.  This is better than the last couple albums, and better than anything that came later.  But it also casts the Boys as grumpy old timers desperately trying to summon up the past rather than looking toward the future.

Little Deuce Coupe (1963)

Another novelty.  This album features almost entirely songs about cars.  The best songs had previously been released on other albums.  Not much of interest new here.  A by-product of the ridiculous rush to put out “new” albums at too quick a pace.

All Summer Long (1964)

I needed to hold something back on the list so that the tail end doesn’t seem like just a bunch of marginal later efforts and oddities.  This one is another step up from Surfer Girl and Shut Down, Vol. 2, and was their best album up through that point.  But it is still a distinct step down from the very best albums in their catalog with the ever present bother of filler from which the early albums never escape.  But this one is pleasant, and can be handled all the way through.  It’s appropriately titled.

The Beach Boys (1985)

This was something of a reunion album after the death of Dennis Wilson.  Unfortunately, the album spawned a hit song, which probably encouraged the group to keep going well beyond their prime.  Anyway, this one makes extremely overt attempts to sound current, complete with lots of mid-1980s synths and drum machines.  Apart from the two mediocre songs that open the album, this could be classified by the UN as cruel and inhumane treatment of its listeners.  This is one of those albums that plays in the waiting room to hell–as the universe sadistically waits for you to realize that you are already there.

Summer in Paradise (1992)

I think everyone with functioning ears would have been happy if The Beach Boys just hung it up after Love You or even L.A. (Light Album).  But instead, we have a parade of worthless junk tarnishing the catalog from the 1980s onward.  An album like this with John motherfuckin’ Stamos singing Dennis Wilson‘s “Forever” is perhaps the lowest of the low for the band (though, admittedly, it’s not that bad, and even better than some of the stuff the band proper was up to at this point).  Although, with some of the original members still alive (Mike Love, Al Jardine…looking in your direction) I won’t hold my breath on that.

Beach Boys’ Party! (1965)

A quickly tossed off album that few seem to like.  It’s actually much better than it seems.  Despite a lack of Brian Wilson originals, covers of the likes of The Beatles are choice.  There is a lot of energy here, and it’s a fun listen from beginning to end.  The vocals and instrumentals aren’t polished, but that’s part of what makes this feel as lively as it does.  Beach Boys’ Party! is worth giving a chance for anyone with an interest in the band’s pre-Pet Sounds period.

Live in London (1970)

Some claim this live album is the group’s best.  I haven’t heard it to judge for sure.

Classics: Selected by Brian Wilson (2002)

This is the most interesting Beach Boys compilation that I’ve seen.  The tracks were selected by Brian Wilson, and he focuses on a lot of his own best songs.  For me at least, it’s those songs that I find myself wanting to listen to again and again.  There are a select few of the summertime hits here, but mostly this focuses on the songs you’ll never (or rarely) hear on the radio.  By this point in our tour, you’ve really heard everything The Beach Boys have to offer.  This disc, or a digital playlist resembling it, is probably what you’re looking to listen to on a regular basis to get a nice cross-section of the entire Beach Boys universe–if your tastes are anything like mine.

I’m going to end the list here.  The other stragglers in the catalog just aren’t worth mentioning.  Those are for the obsessively completist collectors only, and I’m not one of those (or am I?).