For most casual music fans of the 20something variety, the history of the Beach Boys is a 3-chapter saga that breaks down something like this:
1. The candy-striped, surf & car-obsessed Beach Boys.
2. The artsy, Brian Wilson-centric Pet Sounds/Good Vibrations/
I'm the kind of unabashedly die-hard fan who loves each of these iterations of this great American band – and all of the overlooked flavors and varieties in between. I'm specifically (and not uniquely) fascinated with the Beach Boys of the late '60s and early '70s, just after the close of chapter no. 2 – a rag tag, sometimes reeling, sometimes thriving family band on a popularity downswing, alternately critical darlings and critical punching bags.
These Beach Boys looked something like this:
(As a product of their times, they're the version that's most fun to Google image search.)
This week marked the release of Made In California, a 6-disc, career-spanning box set that appears to be Capitol Records' final attempt to squeeze revenue out of the 50th anniversary of the band. In commemoration of this release (and the kickoff of the unofficial Last Weekend of Summer), I humbly (if self-indulgently) present a 5-song introduction to these "mid-period" Beach Boys – one cut from each of the five LPs that followed Smiley Smile (the trippy, minimized version of their cancelled, would-be masterwork).
From Wild Honey (1967)
"Here Comes the Night"
In naming it the second-coolest "summer album" of all-time, Rolling Stone has written that Wild Honey "captures the grimy feel of beer-soaked California sand under your feet." Although you wouldn't know it by the track's 1979 re-release as a 10+ minute disco romp (yes, really), "Here Comes the Night" captures everything memorable about this "grimy," straightforward production that helped the Boys step out of the considerable shadow cast by Smile.
From Friends (1968)
"Busy Doin' Nothin'"
While re-purposing "Here Comes the Night" for the disco set may have been a misstep in genre-jumping, the Beach Boys did dabble successfully in bossa nova with the quirky Friends track "Busy Doin' Nothin'" in 1968. Here, Brian Wilson hypnotically describes the mundane details of his increasingly reclusive lifestyle.
From 20/20 (1969)
"Time to Get Alone"
Brian's reclusiveness, of course, wasn't all fun, games, and neat bossa nova compositions, and Brian's waning energy for the Beach Boys is evident in his absence from the 20/20 album cover. In fact, after writing "Time to Get Alone," Brian had originally gifted the tune to friend Danny Hutton's group, Redwood (who later found success as Three Dog Night) before his Beach Boys bandmates convinced him to halt their recording of it. It's a good thing, because, however shaky their group dynamics may have been, their vocal blend – on grand display in this lilting waltz – was still as good as ever.
From Sunflower (1970)
"Add Some Music To Your Day"
On the Sunflower cover, all the Boys are back! And here they come together for a grand tribute to the force that keeps them together (the power of music – although DNA and financial considerations probably didn't hurt), complete with their signature harmonies stacked halfway to the clouds.
From Surf's Up (1971)
"Disney Girls (1957)"
When Brian originally stopped touring to focus on studio work in 1965 – and after his original replacement, Glen Campbell, found his own path as a solo artist – Bruce Johnston stepped in to play bass and sing the high parts, and he never looked back. On 1971's Surf's Up, he delivered his most enduring contribution to the Beach Boys cannon: "Disney Girls," a ballad reflecting on the innocence of his youth in the context of the increasingly strong drug culture surrounding the band of which he was once a fan – and now a full-fledged member.
"I started seeing kids in the audience – precocious 15-year-olds – who just couldn't wait to smoke some marijuana in front of the band," Bruce told Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys author Mark Dillon. "The drug world is never such a great idea, and sadly, I had a front-row seat observing it have a horrible effect on some of the guys in the band. 'Disney Girls' was my very subtle anti-drug song."
BONUS VIDEO: "Cool Cool Water" (Live, 1971)
You should really watch the whole thing but Mike Love, from 1:10 to 1:25, is the greatest thing you've ever seen. You're welcome.
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