Remember these guys?

You may not appreciate it at this point but these guys were a sort of cutting edge rock and roll group for their time. They were a self contained song writing, performance and production unit, that lyrically addressed in any depth for the first time, the youth culture of California of their day. There were other groups that represented the surf culture of the time but they were mainly instrumental twangy surf groups with only regional appeal. No one had yet lyrically put this whole scene on the map nationally.

I don’t need to go too deeply into a detailed account of their history, but with three brothers, a cousin and a good friend, with an insane talent for tight harmonies that no one else comes close to, and a bit of help from the Wilson brothers’ creepy idiot father, and Brian Wilson‘s natural talent for writing music and arranging these insane harmonies of the top of his little Hawthorne Valley, California  head, they uniquely represented for the whole country and the world, a romantic vision of the surf, cars and girls lifestyle on the beach, just as we all imagined it would be like.

As time went on and Brian and the group’s creations became more and more adventurous and successful, they began to make a permanent mark in American culture. The Beach Boys. All American good guys. Until Pet Sounds.

The popular story is that the ‘boys’, especially Mike Love, questioned (to put it mildly, according to the legends) Brian’s veering away from the successful ‘formula‘ to indulge Brian’s desire to keep progressing and pushing boundaries musically. Maybe understandable in view of the fact that the band were never around for the creative process anymore. They were usually on tour while Brian was at home writing and recording backing tracks with ‘The Wrecking Crew’, after which he would present the music to the band for them to sing on it without them really understanding what the point or reason for this new type of music was.

I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Just keep in mind that Mike Love was the one who went with Brian to present Pet Sounds to the baffled brass at Capitol Records, who then went on to sabotage any chance the album might have had for success by not promoting it and putting a “Greatest Hits” out instead.

But, it was a #1 in the U.K. and all the ‘cool‘ people in America ‘got it’ and The Beach Boys gradually started to be recognised (Brian in particular) as real cultural cutting edge sages on par with The Beatles. This viewpoint was further supported by the “Good Vibrations” single in ’66, which was a production masterpiece and a #1 hit in America.

Then there was the whole anticipation of the new project on the go which Brian said would combine the ridiculous with the sublime, “a teenage symphony to God“. But with the unfortunate combination of fan and record company pressure of almost unreal expectation, and the band’s not grasping Brian’s new experimental direction and his already bad mental/emotional disorders (always misunderstood as self centeredness) coupled with insane amounts of self-medicating drug abuse, he couldn’t get the damn thing finished and then felt that he had just plain lost his self styled production race with The Beatles. He then cancelled SMiLE.

Sgt. Pepper’s then came out a month later and the whole world forgot about The Beach Boys. They cancelled their headlining spot at June’s Monterey Pop Festival. As a result, the new culture passed them by and left them in the dust.

Any thought that The Beach Boys were cool or hip virtually disappeared over night! Smiley Smile was cobbled together from the leftover wreckage of SMiLE, stripped down and put out and later describe by Carl Wilson as a “bunt instead of a grand slam“. That was it. For the next few years, they were almost untouchables. The albums from ’67-73 only sold, maybe, a million between them all!

But for the most part, the music that people wanted to hear from The Beach Boys was being made, but was just being ignored and not promoted. Nobody had the patience anymore to listen. The music was also, I guess, going against the trendy heavy rock/protest grain and promoting a much more peaceful, pleasant, laid back approach to life and music that didn’t resonate with the ‘cool’ people. But these albums are full of hidden treasures and we’re going to take a look at these ‘lost’ albums and try to find out why they should be listened to.

Here is a brief album by album summary of those ‘lost’ years:

Wild Honey – 1967

This is the first post-SMiLE album and the first not to be produced by Brian Wilson since their first album. Carl Wilson described the album as “music for Brian to cool out by”. Because of it’s complete lack of artistic pretension, all the ‘cool/hip’ people ignored it and consigned it to the lower reaches of the charts. With spare production, a few gorgeous melodies and some psuedo-R&B/Soul rock nuggets, this was the Beach Boys first move into a largely Brian-less future. It’s probably their shortest album too, clocking in at 24 minutes. Check out: “ Wild Honey“, “Darlin‘”.

Friends – 1968

Brian: “…Pet Sounds is by far my very best album. Still, though, my favorite is Friends.” A bit more of a lushly produced album with the first of Dennis Wilson’s significant contributions. A very tranquil, pleasant album sent out into the political unrest and angst of 1968 America and widely ignored as a result. Check out Dennis’ “Little Bird” and Brian’s “Busy Doin’ Nothing“.

20/20 – 1969

An odd collection of hits/misses and SMiLE out-takes, this album delivers some really good tunes that don’t, in my opinion, sit well together, especially in hind-sight, knowing that pieces like “Cabin Essence” and “Our Prayer” belong to 1966 and SMiLE. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad album though. There’s even a Charles Manson song, “Cease To Exist“, that Dennis knocked into shape with a new title, “Never Learn Not To Love“, but adhering to Manson’s lyrics. Check out Dennis’ gorgeous “Be With Me” and Brian’s Beautiful “Time To Get Alone”

Sunflower – 1970

This album charted at a staggering #151 on the Billboard top 200. There worst showing by far up to this point. But with a new record label, a sort of new lease on life as a result, a pretty good album was produced that started to get a few people thinking that maybe the Beach Boys were not a bad band after all. (By the way, all of these albums did well in the U.K. and internationally! Go figure!) But by and large, their image was, in the public’s eye, so far put of sync with the prevailing hippie sub-culture that this album just didn’t stand a chance. Check out: The rockin’ “It’s About Time” and the first “shoegaze/dream pop” song ever; “All I Wanna Do”

Surf’s Up – 1971

As the band slowly worked their way back into relevancy and with a new manager, and playing memorable concerts, jamming with The Grateful Dead, and doing an anti-war protest concert in D.C., they produced an album with some politically aware and environmentally conscious lyrics and some killer tunes to go with it all. And it contains a re-working of what was then, the mythical unreleased monster that was SMiLE’s “Surf’s Up“. Check out; “Long Promised Road” and Brian’s heartbreakingly beautiful “‘Till I Die”

Carl and The Passions: So Tough – 1972

With South African musicians Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar (better known as Stig O’Hara of The Rutles) as new full members of the band, the first album with this line-up is a transitional point between two line-ups, unhappy members and a virtually invisible Brian. With a few rock and roll/funky numbers, some gorgeous harmonizing and a couple of lush orchestral Dennis (with Daryl Dragon) tunes, it’s an unfairly overlooked album, but again, did fairly well internationally. Check out: ” You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone” and Dennis’ moving “Cuddle Up“.

Holland – 1973

With debilitating mental illness/drug abuse problems, Brian was virtually non existent as a Beach Boy. And was virtually non existent on this album except for a fairy tale he wrote that he moodily insisted be the basis for the new album. Carl let it through as a bonus 7″ e.p. included with the regular album release which was initially rejected by the record company as just not good enough. So with a couple of track shuffles and a couple of new songs added, a little three part history of California saga, it finally went out and was critically well received. Check out; “Sail On Sailor” and Blondie and Ricky’s “Leaving this Town”

But just as the band’s cred was on the rise for the first time in years, record company ruined it again by issuing another greatest hits album, the ever favorite Endless Summer. For a while they were able to do great live shows combining the new material with the old favorites, as shown on the double live album The Beach Boys In Concert (1973)(check out “Leaving This Town“), but the momentum was quickly lost again and they were from then on destined to be just a juke-box act.

With all the hoo-ha surrounding the legendary SMiLE sessions, most people would think that The Beach Boys history ended in 1967, or worse, jumped from “Good Vibrations” straight to “Kokomo“! Trust me folks, that is just not true! Now, you can check it out for yourself.

sphincter

HA hahahhahahh  hah ah   ha h

(sorry)

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