Music Boys: The Full Guide to the band’s albums

You Beach Boys They are the most legendary saga in Rock & Roll American – and also one of the most turbulent, with a troubled family history in the center of everything. The brothers Wilson They were boys from the suburbs of California: Brianthe tormented genius of the pop that heard harmonies within his own head. Carlthe shy boy with a heavenly voice. Dennisthe wild drummer who actually lived the lifestyle of cars and surfing that Brian just sang. Next to them, the college friend Al Jardine and a cousin called Mike Lovewhich was proud to bring bad vibrations. They spent more than 50 years surfing this wild wave – sometimes falling ugly, but often reaching places where no one arrived. Their hits are just the beginning – the band’s catalog is full of timeless classics, jewelry buried in forgotten albums and insane belly jumps. Here is a map of this vast songbook of Beach Boys.

Indispensable:

Today! (1965)

“I just tried to surf once, and the board almost hit my head,” he said Brian Wilson the Rolling Stone in 1999. But he turned his fantasies into a Californian dream world of fast cars and perfect waves, a world that perhaps even had room for a sacred maladjusted like him. Today! is full of painfully complex songs, as “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” and “She Knows Me Too Well”which sounds like a Greek tragedy with doo-wop harmonies and surf guitars.

Indispensable:

Pet Sounds (1966)

Brian was impressed with RUBBER SOULof the Beatlesand PET SOUTHS It was your answer. He paid the price for abandoning the band’s hits formula when PET SOUTHS failed the charts. Today, it is one of the most beloved albums on the planet (occupying second place on the list of the 500 largest albums in the history of Rolling Stone). Still, it is still surprising to hear, full of almost alien sound details. Especially “God Only Knows”a song that everyone would like to sing, although only angels – or Carl Wilson – They could reach those acute notes.

Indispensable:

Endless Summer (1974)

An entire album of “Fun, fun, fun”extended in a double portrait in vinyl on the life and death of the American dream. Endless Summer gathers all the first hits – from the euphoria of “I Get Around” to the introspective melancholy of “In My Room”. It ends before PET SOUTHSbut it still remains the band’s essential anthology – even if it is just because you will not come across “Kokomo”.

Indispensable:

The Smile Sessions (2011)

Brian I wanted to follow the monumental single of 1966, “Good Vibrations”with an even more ambitious teenage symphony. But after a collapse in the studio, he abandoned the project, which was only finalized in 2004 with his tour band. The ribbons of the original 60s sessions were compiled in 2011. Still today, it sounds like something from another world.

To listen beyond:

Summer Days (and Summer Nights !!) (1965)

The last beach party before PET SOUTHS. “California Girls” It was a thinned thinning of the psychedelism that would come, besides representing a vocal peak for Mike Lovewhile Carl discovered his voice as the main vocalist in “Girl Don’t Tell Me”.

To listen beyond:

Wild Honey (1967)

After the project disaster Smileyou Beach Boys They returned to the basics, delivering their purest rock & roll manifesto. No poetry, just 24 minutes from a soul explosion in the voice of Carl Wilson and garage band fury.

To listen beyond:

Sunflower (1970)

Already adult men, the Beach Boys sound intensely emotional in Sunflower – Your most optimistic and edifying music, in a soft mood of golden soft rock. Dennis steals the scene with “Slip on Through” and “Forever”while Mike Love really shines in “Add Some Music To Your Day”which could have been a piegas sermon, but ends up being moving. And the Abbey Road from them.

To listen beyond:

Holland (1973)

Brian quota Holland Like one of your favorite albums – a surprising choice, as it is a record in which it takes on a secondary role. Holland It is a messy but rewarding experiment of democracy within the band, full of almost progressive touches. The new member BLONDIE CHAPLIN sample “Sail on, Sailor”the best hit of Beach Boys in the 1970s. The band was isolated in a Dutch village to record – hence the title – and this European exile helped to inspire the nostalgic beauty of “California Saga”composed of Mike and Al Jardine in three parts.

To listen beyond:

Love You (1977)

“I was in bed in the early 70’s,” he admitted Brian. He spent much of the reclusive decade in his mansion, immersed in a fog of drugs. But it resurfaced with Love Youan eccentricity worshiped by the most devoted fans of Brian. “I Wanna Pick You Up” It remains one of the most beautiful rock songs on paternity. The most unlikely high point is “Johnny Carson”a painfully sincere song about being a lonely guy in the room, watching TV late at night.

Exploring deeper:

Surfin ‘USA (1963)

The title track is the band’s teenage hymn, turbocharging the riff of “Sweet Little Sixteen”from Chuck Berry. Despite containing instruments of half disposable excessive surfing, the album shines in tracks like “Farmer’s Daughter” and in the beach-goth ballad “Lovely Sea”.

Exploring deeper:

Beach Boys’ Party! (1965)

Capitol wanted a quick LP in the time of Christmas, so the Beach Boys entered the studio with some friends, girlfriends and beers to hurry a lot of covers (mainly 50 classics, besides Beatles and Dylan), with guitars, palms, messy harmonies and a lot of bottles in the background. They still managed to get a hit with it: “Barbara Ann”.

Exploring deeper:

Smiley Smile (1967)

Like the Beach Boys Did the “Summer of Love” pass? Hidden in the studio, of course. Smiley Smile (conceived as a stripped version of Smile) is loose and eccentric, not far from the Basement tapes of Dylan with The band. One of the few guests: Paul McCartneywhich can be heard chewing celery in “Vegetables”.

Exploring deeper:

Surf’s up (1971)

Brian appeared on a TV special Leonard Bernstein In 1967, sitting alone at the piano at home, surprising viewers with their new song, “Surf’s Up”. The epic ballad (originally recorded for Smile) It took years until it was released, but was worth the wait. No one has ever really understood what Van Dyke Parks I meant with their obscure letters, but the Beach Boys they sing them as if every word were true. It is the climax of a melancholy album about facing adulthood.

This article was originally published by Rolling Stone USA by Rob Sheffield on August 25, 2018, and can be seen here.

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