Surfin' Safari - Surfin'
U.S.A. - Surfer Girl - Little
Deuce Coupe - Shut Down Vol.2 - All
Summer Long - The Beach Boys Today -
Summer Days (and Summer Nights)
Surfin' Safari (1962)
(Ratings: *1/2. It's ok, some good moments but comparatively, it's
a poor buy)
The first Beach Boys album. Generally admitted as being mostly filler,
the really strong tracks being the title track, that was the band's first
hit single, and "409" that was the B-side.
"Surfin'" is an interesting track, harsher and clearer than the band's
later recordings.
Apart from that the album gives the impression of middle-class white
boys' teenage 50s America. Things are light and joyful, mostly the reflection
of a carefree consumer society. Cars, or "hot rods", are given symbolic
value and relationships with the other sex aren't given any depth. Arguably,
there is adolescent angst just beneath this too smooth surface as in "County
Fair" where one of the boys sings of losing his girlfriend to a strong
"alpha" male at a fun fair.
The band should have probably stayed away from covering "Summertime
Blues" as they lack the bluesy, garagy, twang to make such numbers work.
On the other hand, the last two numbers, "Moon Dawg" and "Shift" have
a lot more kick to them. "Shift", whatever a shift is, it's obviously a
girl's piece of clothing, actually expresses sexual desire. A song expressing
desire in direct terms instead of staying in a kind of politically correct
for the time "safe teen" territory. In the same vein, at a slightly later
date in their career, the band recorded a song called "All dressed up for
school" which is a bit like "shift" in that it expresses arousal at a girl's
vestimentary appearance. The song was judged too sex-oriented for release
but is included in the bonus tracks on the Beach Boys 1990 two-fer that
brings together "Little Deuce Coupe" and "All Summer Long".
The rules were definitely different in 1962 than they would be five
years later. In years to come Brian Wilson would bend the preppy, stripe-shirted
image of the Beach Boys with compositions filled with emotion, with anguish,
with nostalgia, with desire… He would bend the preppy image out of shape
completely even if, in later years, the rest of the band would push this
image again. Unfairly, the band have never been able to fully rid themselves
of this preppy striped-shirted image. It's probably the main source of
Beach Boys phobia for people ill-acquainted with the band's best work.
It doesn't fit with the dominant "rock'n'roll" aesthetics of today.
Surfin' USA (1963)
(Rating: **. Better than the first, but there's still a long way to
go…)
Apparently this was an essential album in making surf-music a nation-wide
sensation. But is it an essential Beach Boys album? It's stronger than
the début album and includes several traits that were to become
typical of Beach Boys releases. Firstly, the influence of Chuck Berry as
witnessed by the title track that basically rips "Sweet little sixteen".
I wonder if the Beach Boys had to pay Berry royalties for this. Something
worth looking into. A band that did that today would have to. Still, it's
a strong track and the Beach Boys make something personal, even unique
out of it, as they do of other Berry inspired songs such as "Fun, Fun,
Fun". After all, it was Brian who described the essential Beach Boys early
sound as Chuck Berry riffs and Four Freshmen style vocal harmonies. Another
strong track is the next one, "Farmer's Daughter" including complex harmonies
including a very high-pitched, plaintive vocal. This kind of vocal is present
on some other songs here ("The lonely sea", "Lana" and "Cindy, oh Cindy"
in the bonus tracks on the two-fer edition). These high-pitched parts give
a plaintive beauty to the songs in question.
"The Lonely Sea" is a moving ballad penned by Brian. At this early
date you can sense his ambition to create truly beautiful music. Although
the song does not possess the near-transcendental beauty of some later
works, it's a nice start. It also possesses a small "talked part" which
I think is a definite plus on a song ( although this kind of thing is commonly
considered as the epitome of corniness today).
Another high point on the album is "Shut Down", a car song that was
the B-side of the "Surfin' U.S.A." single. With it's "Rebel without a cause"
imagery and it's drive it has the vitality an youthful fugue of slightly
later great Beach Boys tracks.
Less convincing, however, are the typically "surf" songs of the album.
There are five instrumentals on the album all more or less linked to the
"surf" aesthetic. There's the famous "Miserlou" recently publicised by
Quentin Tarantino's award winning "Pulp Fiction" and played by Dick dale,
I think. There's a Dale number here too (Let's go trippin').
Although these instumentals may have been instrumental (sorry about
that) in making surf music popular on a national level they are somehow
lacking something.
"Honky Tonk" is a very untypical, for the Beach Boys, almost bluesy,
boogie like number. "Almost" bluesy because somehow it all sounds to clear,
not raucous enough, not messy as a blues should be. Same with the surf
numbers. It's as if the band are holding back, as if they don't really
let it go. Often the reverb is there, the twangy sound is their, the parts
are played proficiently but it's just not rough enough.
Surfer Girl (Sep.23, 1963)
(Rating: ***. They're getting there. The band are beginning to define
their sound)
By this third album, The Beach Boys were really beginning to define
their "sound". Both the vocal harmonies and musical arrangements are more
complex making this a superior album to its two predecessors.
There are three good slow numbers on here. "Surfer Girl" with its high-pitched
wail and nice interplay of vocal harmonies, "Surfer Moon" with it's plucked
strings and violins and of course the famous "In My Room". The first real
introspective Brian track, this ode to childhood or to adolescence takes
another step forward in Brian's quest to produce truly beautiful and heartfelt
music. The first real admission of the fragility of the seemingly happy
scenes that were the usual Beach Boys fare.
"Your Summer Dream" is an interesting slow number with strummed guitar,
moving vocals and unusual harmonies. Maybe a taste of things to come as
later on, Brian Wilson would experiment with harmonies extensively.
The car and surf songs generally have more energy and imagination than
on the two previous albums. "Little Deuce Coupe" is an energetic car song
and a good example of successful harmonising.
On the surf front, the songs are more convincing than on the previous
album. "Hawaii" is a jumpy, energetic song, intermingling different vocals,
the longing high-pitch along with bass and mediums. It's a bouncy number
that ricochets along at high speed. In general the surf type songs have
both more kick and a greater degree of musical inventiveness than on the
previous album. "Rocking Surfer" is an example of this as is "Surfer's
Rule". Instrumental tracks have been cut down to one here. "Boogie Woodie",
a piano boogie, is belted along at breakneck speed probably making it a
better instrumental than the band's previous efforts.
Little Deuce Coupe (1963)
(Rating: ***: despite the setback of some previously released material
the sound is getting better and better)
A collection of car songs, Little Deuce Coupe could be considered a
bit of a rip-off because four of its 12 tracks had already been released
on the first three Beach Boys albums. Then again, this was the third album
the Beach Boys had released in one year ! Although some may criticise the
limited subject material of the record (nearly all songs revolving around
cars, sometimes stretching to frat boy high school life) both the harmonies
and the production are more along the lines of "Surfer Girl" than "Surfin'
Safari".
Three slow numbers make extensive use of vocal harmonies but all strike
a "retro" note. "Ballad of Ole" Betsy" is interesting for the vocals, especially
the finale, the same is true of "Spirit of America" and even more so of
"A young man is gone", a song about James Dean which is a nice experiment
in harmonisation. However, the songs may seem a little too "classical",
you've gotta like that sort of thing.
More interesting is "Be True to your school" that has been widely criticised
for its lyrics. These are a collection of high school frat-boy stereotypes
(loyalty to school, cruising with the school colours or insignia, being
on the football team, having one's girlfriend on the pom-pom team). The
song, however, has something triumphant and uplifting about it. Horns give
way to a vocal crescendo, that give way in turn to the chorus. The song
has that life-affirming quality of some of the best Beach Boys material,
that youthful energy that soars past the apparent vacuity of the lyrics
to reflect the immediate joy of adolescence. But the song is both triumphant
and fragile. Although it climbs and climbs it is also built on minor structures
and the voice is not boisterous or boastful but fairly fragile and unsure
against the sonic background. There's something symphonic to the piece,
there's certainly more than meets the ear.
In my opinion, the best car tracks on the record, apart from those
that had already been released, are the energetic "No-Go Showboat" with
it's ascendant structure and great "Custom Machine". I don't quite know
what kind of desires were supposed to be sublimated in hot rod songs. "Step
on the gas, she goes waaaaah…"; "I'll let you look, but don't touch my
custom machine" are these lyrics to the image of the 50s/early60s teen
world with its importance on appearances but taboo on contact ? The
song really goes wild each time the singer hits the accelerator and breaks
into a blissful harmony. The song comes complete with a neat piano boogie
break that rumbles along nicely. Ok, so it may not be "Fun, Fun, Fun" but
it's still one of the band's best car songs.
Shut Down Volume 2 (1964)
(Rating: ***1/2. Some truly wonderful tracks. Some filler as well)
Although all is not up to par on this album it contains some very powerful
tracks and the production is undeniably getting better. On the negative
side, there's the version of "Louie, Louie". Not really Beach Boys material,
the band cannot manage to instil any life into the track. "Denny's Drums"
is precisely that: A Dennis Wilson drum instrumental. Also, "'Cassius'
Love vs. 'Sonny' Wilson" is a painfully staged mock quarrel between two
of the band members about each other's singing abilities. They sing extracts
of Beach Boy tracks so I suppose the song is mildly interesting if you
want to hear, just once, the band trashing their so beautiful harmonies.
Or if you're into the "fan trivia" thing. As a surf style instrumental,
"Shut Down pt 2" "rocks" more than some of its predecessors on earlier
albums but still fails to be totally convincing.
The best rocker is undoubtedly "Fun, Fun, Fun". This time only the
intro is lifted from chuck Berry (Johnny B. Goode). It's a true Beach Boys
classic, a mixture of Berry guitar licks and incredible Beach Boys harmonies.
I don't know if its the speed, the dexterity, the beauty of the harmonies
at Berry's rocking pace: whatever, this is Beach Boys early magic, beaten
only by "I get Around" on the subsequent album. The Boys are managing to
talk about girls on this album ("Fun, Fun, Fun", "Pom Pom play girl").
The heroine of "Fun, Fun, Fun" is headstrong, defying both the parent and
patriarcal authority of the time and she's the one the singer falls for.
Should anything be read into this ?
Maybe not. Where the album really shows a developing personality is
in the slower numbers. In these Brian Wilson compositions, the budding
genius is truly beginning to find his mode of expression. "Keep an eye
on summer" relies on haunting harmonies that create a melancholy beauty.
"Don't Worry Baby" is a truly powerful song. Through the high-pitched plaintive
voice a great emotion is carried. It's a truly comforting, reassuring song.
It tells of the power of reassurance the singer finds in the devotion of
his loved one. It's Brian's magic. I can't explain it, you just really
feel soothed !
An absolute classic is the slow "Warmth of the Sun". The song shows
more depth of feeling than any previous song. The melancholy harmonies
convey the beauty of love and the pain of loss. The song tells of trying
to go on, of keeping faith in life, still feeling "the warmth of the sun"
after a heart-breaking separation. The lyrics are personal "I cried when
she said, I don't feel the same way" and the music is tender. Brian's quest
for the beautiful and the transcendent is fulfilled here. The song is worthy
of some of the best material from later releases.
All Summer Long (July 13,
1964)
(Rating: ****, great album)
Getting better all the time, only four tracks mar this otherwise great
album. The best of the four is "Drive-In" which, lyrically, would have
been better placed on an earlier album. Musically, the song is interesting
enough, there is work in the backing rumble and you can hear bells jingling.
At one point the song stops for three seconds or so and the suddenly starts
again which both works well and is fairly experimental, I suppose. "Our
favorite Recording Sessions" follows in the steps of "Cassius" Love vs.
"Sonny" Wilson. Where the band being recorded unbeknownst to them ? Was
it prepared ? Does it really matter ? In the extract one of them embers
breaks one of the other member's "Tie Thing". Fortunately, the aforesaid
member has another two "tie-things" which he purchased for 99 cents a piece.
Riveting stuff. The band goof around, and why not ? At least they're having
fun. "Carl's big chance" is just that: Carl Wilson's opportunity to demonstrate
his guitar playing. If you're learning to play the guitar, you can practise
soloing along there with Carl. Otherwise the track would have been more
appropriate on an earlier album. Still, at least the Beach Boys are still
a band, so its only fair that everyone gets his chance.
There are no redeeming values whatsoever for "Do you remember". Contender
for the worst song ever made by the Beach Boys it's an unimaginative "tribute"
to the early rock'n'rollers. It doesn't do justice to anyone, especially
not the Beach Boys. Why did they record this track ? What did they need
to unconvincingly sing the talents of others when they themselves had so
much to offer ? I suppose we'll just never know.
The rest of the album is rock solid. The rockers are fantastic. "I get
around" exudes that sense of youth and freedom the best early Beach Boys
recordings do, it's rapid, soaring harmonies bouncing along and "Little
Honda" is a close second. With background composition rumbling along the
song hits the same energy and feeling of freedom as "I get around". The
building up of the chorus "First gear…., second gear….faster, faster…"
has the same blissful liberation as the "step on the gas she goes waaaaaaaaaah"
of "Custom machine".
Brian is honing his ability to mix contrasting feelings in his works.
"All Summer long" is both happy and sad, joyful in parts and mournful and
nostalgic in others. "Girls on the Beach" has this double sided edge as
well: both happy and melancholy, affirmative yet uncertain. The key in
the lyrics is "If you know what to do": happiness is in your grasp but
you have to know how to obtain it, the mournful complex harmonies underline
the uncertainty. All these tracks seem personal: whether it be "Wendy",
"We'll run away" or even "Don't back down". "Don't back down" is a surf
song about not being afraid to tackle big waves but the song's treatment
takes it so much further than the mere lyrics. There is anxiety expressed
here, so much so that the song becomes almost existential, the wild surf
representing almost anything you want it to. The struggles of life ? The
weight of peer pressure and sexual stereotypes in early sixties America
? The struggle to control one's teenage angst ?
"We'll run away" has been criticised for its lyrics, however they are
in keeping with essential Brian Wilson themes where marriage is an ultimate
accomplishment promising great bliss but also something forbidden and something
unknown. Brian, in his moving falsetto, rings out like an adolescent striving
for independence. The song builds up with its complex instrumentation and
subtle backing vocals and it sounds like a fragile adolescent trying to
affirm himself against a patriarchal structure. The song expresses the
beauty of young love as opposed to a traditional framework.
"Wendy" a song about a girlfriend's betrayal, also sounds very personal.
It's a beautiful mix off a pop song and something a lot more plaintive
and experimental. The experimental intro plays with tonality and mood and
the sadness and imploring of the chorus fits interestingly with the jumpy
popiness of the rest.
Finally, "Hushabye", a cover of a fifties Doo-wop song, is given depth
and mood by a vocally complex layering of harmonies.
The Beach Boys Today (March
8th, 1965)
(Rating: *****, wonderful, go down the shops and buy it right away.)
This is truly a great Beach Boys album. Second only to "Pet Sounds".
Of course, by this time in the band's career Brian Wilson had retired from
touring and was able to devote his undivided attention to his studio work.
Every single track is excellent. Every track except one, but it's not a
song so doesn't really count. It's one of those famous "talking" tracks.
The band is loosely interviewed about their recent tour of Europe. They
don't have much of import to say about the old world. We learn, however,
that Brian has never yet made a mistake. The other members are all waiting
for him to make a mistake. Hummmm….
Fortunately, this track is at the end of the album so it doesn't spoil
the progression of the songs. And that's another aspect that's been given
greater attention here: there is no brusque break in mood between radically
opposed types of song. This could also be because there are no weak songs.
There is absolutely no "filler" on this album whatsoever.
Throughout the album, Brian can be heard experimenting with recording
techniques and sound composition but the result is far from an experiment.
It's an extremely complex work of art that manages to be pop at the same
time.
Thematically, the band have moved on from the "lightness" of their
early recordings. Family issues are still there but not in the same way.
The lyrics often deal with the trials and tribulations of teens and young
adults and so the family is a double-edged entity: at once a reassuring
place, the "home" with all its "homey" stereotypes, and a place of alienation,
where the youth is misunderstood or thwarted. This is one of the things
that makes Brian Wilson's music so powerful: the fact that it reflects
so poignantly this duality, the attraction of the home and the necessity
to break away from it and found a separate identity. A lot of Brian's music
manages to position itself just there, at that point between childhood
and adulthood: the necessity to make that jump, to affirm ones own identity,
but the pain of having to give up part of the past. The songs, with their
falsetto voice, manage to convey this sense of pain, of need, of torment.
Marriage is both seen as the traditional thing to do but also something
of a forbidden condition. It's seen as something that will bring transcendent
bliss and felicity, something that's regarded in a kind of awe. This is
the case in a cover song of the album "I'm so young" with the lyrics "I'm
so young - can't marry noone". Although this a cover song, the themes fit
well with Brian Wilson themes. It's close in theme to "Wouldn't it be Nice",
the opening track of the "Pet Sounds" album. "We'll Run Away", from "All
Summer Long" runs along similar lines although, of course, it chooses confrontation
rather than pained resignation. With it's spectorish symphonic rumble and
"fat" bass sound along with the pained falsetto vocal, "I'm so young" has
real drama to it. "Don't Hurt my little sister" may seem terribly unhip
today, because the world it evolves in is the family circle and it is seen
as "unrock'n'roll-like" to talk about the family circle in anything but
negative terms but it's a truly wonderful song. Basically centring around
a big brother's protective attitude towards his sister the song soars into
a very emotional falsetto chorus or pre-chorus that gives great feeling
to the song which becomes something mournful of a love gone wrong, a relationship
where an innocent party is abused by someone uncaring.
In "When I grow up (to be a man)" the singer, once more at the crossroads
between adolescence and adulthood, looks forward with uncertainty to the
future, and speculates about his life to come. Again, there is that fascination
about married life and the bliss it's supposed to bring: this comes through
in the wistful lyric "Will I love my wife, for the rest of my life". At
first the speculation sounds joyful and straightforward but all of a sudden
the falsetto rises in a much more poignant and immediate tone and the song
unexpectedly launches into a soaring, imaginative break which is contemplative
to say the least. It's not racked with doubt, or morbid in any way but
it comes across as a pure moment of speculation, far from the light-hearted
tone of the verses, as if the singer was at this moment contemplating the
future honestly with a mixture of expectancy and foreboding. It's a great
musical moment. What is also fantastic is the way this pure moment of contemplation
is worked into a poppy number that's barely two minutes long.
For the first time on a Beach Boys album you get the impression that
care has been given to the song progression. There's a definite movement:
The first part gradually builds up energy and steam, from "Do you wanna
dance", with its Spectorish arrangement, rumbling background and tempestuous
chorus to the soaring falsetto of "Dance, Dance, Dance". The second mellows
out though not in a carefree way all the songs being embedded in deep emotional
ground. Although there was still an album to come before the famous "Pet
Sounds" ("Summer Days (and summer nights)") it is often said that the second
side of "Today" prefigures that great album.
If early Beach Boys' albums could be accused of brushing off the fair
sex and sublimating desire in hot rods and surf boards this is no longer
the case here. Romantic relationships are given growing importance on this
record.
In "Good to my baby" there is an intimacy that was infrequent in earlier
Beach Boys tracks. An intimacy that is clearly stated in many other tracks
as well. The song draws a difference between social appearances and the
couple's intimacy. Whereas in earlier Beach Boys tracks the main focus
was on appearances, these appearances being shallow 50s stereotypes, this
song states clearly that appearances are misleading or inaccurate.
It's interesting to note that it's the singer and his loved one against
what the rest of the world thinks. Perhaps the singer is even partly admitting
to bad or erratic behaviour, and the song, with it's rapid, harmonic, repetition
of the lyric "Good to my baby" is supposed to repair all that, to act as
a charm or a mantra of sorts. On the second side, there is another song
where the singer admits to bad behaviour: the beautiful : "She Knows me
too well". There's something truly redemptive here. In this complex song
that delves as deeply into a romantic relationship as is possible in the
pop format, the singer admits his imperfection but is "forgiven" by his
loved one and accepted for being what he is. Although he "doesn't deserve
what he has", since his loved one knows that "(he) really loves(s) her",
she accepts him. The beautiful lush arrangements and soaring falsetto reflects
the beauty and bliss of this love.
This second side of the lp shows many facets of passion. "Please let
me wonder", a song with Spectorish overtones, goes from extreme fragility
to the symphonic, fuller harmonies of the chorus. In this song, the singer
has built the ideal image of love around a woman from afar. It's a perfect
image of bliss and he can no longer live without it and begs to be able
to go on imagining that the woman feels the same way about him as he does
about her. It's a very moving piece centred around the misleading power
of fantasy and one senses the singer's aspirations will be doomed. Still,
this misleading power of fantasy is also seen as the essential power of
the imagination in its quest for beauty.
"Kiss me baby" is a plea for reconciliation. Technically, that's what
it is but that hardly does justice to such a piece. The complex harmonies,
the succession of rising and falling melodic lines, the soothing, lulling
quality of the song, all these aspects give a vivid impression of the pain
of separation, the feeling of loss, the sleeplessness and torment and above
all the feeling of love, the impassioned plea to renew the relationship
and rejoin what was broken.
"in the Back of my mind" is an extraordinarily beautiful piece whose
theme is paralysing doubt. In itself, it's a difficult trick to pull off
in the pop format: to be able to speak so directly about ones mental state.
But the song is eloquent, extremely powerful and beautifully composed.
The singer lives in a state of unparalleled bliss but is afraid that this
state may not be for ever. There is a lingering doubt that haunts him,
a fear "in the back of (his) mind" that poisons his repose. The final climax
is truly beautiful.
Coming back to the first side of the album, there are a couple of more
upbeat numbers that deserve particular attention. "Help me Rhonda" is a
great pop number while being very emotional, too. The protagonist's
life is poisoned by a love relationship that went wrong, he is depressed
(stays out all night, stays in bed all day) and needs to clear this past
relationship from his mind. Rhonda is the one he implores to help him.
It's as if she has a curing, comforting power, the power to bring him back
to the land of the living again. As in "Good to my baby", the words "Help
me, Rhonda" are repeated so many times, in so many different harmonies,
that the whole thing comes to resemble some kind of implication, some kind
of prayer, or mantra, as if this repetition could in itself cure the protagonist
of his ills. It's a wonderful song, only the experimenting in stereo and
volume levels at one point is less successful. There is another version
of the song on "Summer Days (and summer nights)".
With "Dance, Dance, Dance", the most energetic, jiving number of the
album the group can now be considered, for this type of number, to have
moved way past Chuck Berry's heritage and onto their own ground entirely.
As on great tracks such as "Fun, Fun, Fun" or "I get around" there is this
same climbing, this rapid succession of soaring harmonies giving an impression
of youthful energy and total liberation. Thematically, the subject mature
has matured a little, too (no high-schools, no parents….).
Summer Days (and Summer Nights)
July 5th, 1965
(Rating:****, a step backwards from "Today", but there's some great
material nonethelss)
"Summer Days" is generally seen as a step backwards from the groundbreaking
material on "Today". Also, "Today" is a lot more coherent. "Summer
Nights" is a succession of sometimes very different songs whereas "Today"
had more of a unified feel to it. Unfortunately, there are a couple of
"weak" tracks on "Summer Nights" which hearkens back to the pattern of
earlier Beach Boys albums. To be fair, though, "weak" is a relative term.
Tracks like "Amusement parks U.S.A." and "Salt Lake City", although lyrically
dubious, are still a lot more interesting musically than earlier "filler"
could have been. Lyrically, both of these tracks are the remains of the
kind of subject matter the band had all but abandoned by this point. "Amusement
Parks U.S.A." is a distant cousin of that "County Fair" track on the very
first Beach Boys Album. "Salt Lake City" is a bit of a mystery. Basically
the band saying "thank you" to the inhabitants of that town for their warm
reception. It might have been alright if it were just an advertising stunt
released only in Salt Lake City, but how did it find its way onto an album?
"I'm bugged at my ol' man" is an oft criticised track as well. However,
although it is musically unadventurous, especially considering the things
Brian could do now, the track has a lot of feeling to it. Brian "killing
the father", as it were. Doing so with a sense of humour and choosing the
simplicity of a few "boogied" piano chords, thumped along anxiously, to
convey the frustration caused by the overbearing patriarch. A frustration
that is eloquently put over by Brian's torn falsetto.
There are a couple of covers decked out in Spector-ish splendour.
"Girl from New York City" and "Then I kissed Her" are good songs, but we
already learnt, on "Today", that Brian could produce booming, symphonic
recordings in the manner of Phil Spector. So this isn't really anything
new.
The remaining tracks are simply fantastic, sometimes even breathtakingly
brilliant !
"Girl don't tell me" is a beautiful piece that bears some resemblance
to Beatles material, notably in some of the guitar work and at the ending.
Although the song is winning for it's apparent simplicity, it is in fact
a complex, beautifully manufactured piece. Apparently, this is also Carl
Wilson's début for singing lead and what a beautiful début
it is. The song, whose theme is romantic disappointment, is given a great
sense of emotion and suffering when the voice suddenly rises in pitch mid-verse.
The voice is strained and this brilliantly conveys the singer's pain.
"Summer means new love" is the first of a kind. It's an instrumental
track: the symphonic, evocative kind that paint a whole scene and set a
definite mood. It announces the beautiful instrumental tracks of "Pet Sounds"
and later albums.
"California Girls" is one of the most famous Beach Boys numbers. Although
the song has been maligned for the ethnocentricity of it's lyrics it is
a wonderful composition. It's also a lovely exercise in blending commercial
potential and art. The famous introduction, experimental in tone and gradually,
slowly but surely, building up a mood, is a mini work of art just on its
own. The symphonic harmonies and lush arrangements of the song soar high
above the apparent simplicity of the lyrics making the song into an uplifting
hymn to fantasy.
On several numbers Brian continues in the vein explored on "Today":
depicting romantic scenes to create sincere, heartfelt and beautiful works
of art.
"You're so good to me" is a very emotional piece. The singer expresses
unreserved gratitude for the unconditional love given him. As on some previous
Brian Wilson compositions the singer is subject to self-doubt and admits
his imperfection. The woman , on the other hand, is all-forgiveness and
understanding.
"Let him run wild" is the track most in-keeping with the ground-breaking
songs of "Today" and announces the songs of "Pet Sounds". The subject matter
of the song is the singer watching the girl he loves being seduced by another
man. The torn falsetto reflects the pain felt by the singer at the situation
he's observing and the imploring chorus for the girl to abandon the one
she's being seduced by (and move towards the singer, who really cares for
her) rings with hope. There's even a kind of certainty reinforced
by the symphonic booming of the chorus.
The 1990 "two-fer" reedition, that paired "Today" and "Summer Nights"
offered a beautiful bonus track called "The little girl I once knew". The
song is wonderful musically speaking as well as interesting thematically.
The song is made up of many fascinating parts that run into each other
sometimes unexpectedly. The soaring chorus is a very strong moment. The
song equally experiments with silence, stopping and starting a couple of
times with great effect.
Thematically, the song is supposedly about the protagonist falling
in love with someone he knew when he was younger but has now grown more
attractive to him.
Although the song expresses action and desire it also contains a strong
element of nostalgia. There is regret in the tone, a longing for the past.
A possible announcement for things to come ("Where did your long hair go?
where is the girl I used to know?")