THE BEACH BOYS

At the heart of the Beach Boys' legacy lies what could be termed a massive contradiction. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the case of their sixth single, which backed the innocently cocky "Be True to Your School" with the meditative "In My Room." An obnoxious wall of sound -- replete with cheerleading, baseball stadium sound effects, and lyrics about school decals, pom-poms, and being jacked up on the football game -- paired with a gorgeous ode to alienation, simple in many ways but inordinately complex in others, describing the most private moments -- the sorrow, the joy, the ambivalence -- with hushed vocals resembling not so much the Four Freshmen as a Gregorian chant, painlessly and urgently begging to communicate with the listener, to engage someone and be understood.

The contradiction manifests itself throughout the band's catalog. On their earliest albums, the nasal voice of Mike Love is there in abundance, explaining, with the concise, worldly lyrical style of Chuck Berry, the pleasures of adolescence, from surfing to making out in the parking lot to seeing a movie at the drive-in. Never before was rock & roll, the music of danger, rebellion, and fucking, so universal, and in a sense never again did it come close, because the only music that strikes deeper into the heart and mind, particularly in America, is the other side of the Beach Boys' coin.

"In My Room" is an early example, but not the first. Indeed, Brian Wilson's crushing honesty and virtually flawless understanding of pain (teenage and otherwise) gave him the ability to create music that spoke with a kind of naked emotion generally impossible to acheive in a pop arena without the advent of Spector schlock. The majority of their forty years of work doesn't support the myths of sun, surf and the American dream so much as sing their pleasures while doubting their existence in some scarcely audible undercurrent. The key to their longevity is the understanding that both worlds coexist in even the brightest and darkest of these multifaceted recordings; never comes a sky with no dark cloud, and never does an appreciation for joy, true joy, disappear in this music.

Their personal lives are irrelevant. Indeed, the Beach Boys' chaotic career was such that their music did not create problems for them so much as the music existed in spite of their problems. In the midst of turmoil, not to mention faltering airplay and sales, they careened forward, time and time again, until it was finally deemed not worthwhile. In the end, the music is what matters, and the music is all that matters. Who punched who, who married who, and who stayed in bed for a year has no bearing on the work that has survived the ensuing decades.

The reviews and essays below were written mostly in 2003; while some of my opinions have inevitably changed since then, I have chosen for the most part not to accordingly modify the reviews, which I am pleased with, though I don't rule out the possibility of redoing them in the future. The "grades" next to the album titles below reflect my current opinions, not the reviews themselves. A general reaction, three years later, to the content of these reviews is here.

ANNOTATED DISCOGRAPHY

ALBUMS REVIEWED:
Surfin' Safari (1962) [B-]
Surfin' U.S.A. (1963) [B]
Surfer Girl (1963) [A-]
Little Deuce Coupe (1963) [B+]
Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964) [B+]
All Summer Long (1964) [A-]
Christmas Album (1964) [B-]
Today! (1965) [A]
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965) [A+]
Beach Boys' Party! (1965) [B]
Pet Sounds (1966) [A+]
Smiley Smile (1967) [A]
Wild Honey (1967) [A]
Friends (1968) [A+]
20/20 (1969) [A+]
Sunflower (1970) [A-]
Surf's Up (1971) [B+]
Carl & the Passions: So Tough (1972) [B+]
Holland (1973) [A-]
15 Big Ones (1976) [B-]
Love You (1977) [A+]
MIU Album (1978) [C]
L.A. (Light Album) (1979) [B-]
Keepin' the Summer Alive (1980) [D+]
The Beach Boys (1985) [B]
Still Cruisin' (1989) [D]
Summer in Paradise (1992) [D-]

LIVE ALBUMS
Concert (1964) [B]
In Concert (1973) [A]
'69 Live in London (1976) [A-]
Good Timin': Live at Knebworth 1980 (2003) [B]

COMPILATIONS
The Best of the Beach Boys (1966) [B-]
The Best of the Beach Boys Vol. 2 (1967) [C+]
The Best of the Beach Boys Vol. 3 (1968) [C]
Endless Summer (1974) [A+]
Spirit of America (1975) [A-]
Ten Years of Harmony (1982) [B]
Made in U.S.A. (1986) [B]
Greatest Hits Vol. 1: 20 Good Vibrations (1995) [B-]
Greatest Hits Vol. 2: 20 More Good Vibrations (1999) [A-]
Greatest Hits Vol. 3: The Best of the Brother Years (2000) [B]
Classics, Selected by Brian Wilson (2002) [B+]
Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys (2003) [A]
The Warmth of the Sun (2007) [A-]

RARITIES COLLECTIONS
Stack o' Tracks (1968) [B+]
Rarities (1983) [B-]
Lost & Found 1961-1962 (1991) [B]
Endless Harmony (1998) [A-]
Ultimate Christmas (1998) [B+]
Pet Sounds: Deluxe Edition (1999) [A]
Surfin' (2000) [B]
Hawthorne, California (2001) [B]

BOXED SETS
Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys (1993) [A]
The Pet Sounds Sessions (1997) [A-]

EP'S
4 by the Beach Boys (1964) [A-]
Mount Vernon and Fairway (1973) [A-]
Mona (1978) [B+]

SINGLES


OTHER WRITING
Another Look at My Beach Boys Reviews (2006)

ESSAYS:
Brian Wilson: Smile: A Lost Review in Three Parts (2006)
Eugene Landy dies (2006)
All Summer Long: That Horse?? (2006)
Brian's Back? (2004)

WEBBLOG ARCHIVE:
(Boldfaced links actually contain Beach Boys-related material; others are just passing mentions.)
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Wuzzon #9
Village Green Preservation Society
Love & Mercy
Police: Ghost in the Machine
WLR #13
Paul McCartney in New Yorker
Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
Sgt. Pepper anniversary
Phil Spector vs. Brian
Warmth of the Sun thoughts
The Shangri-Las: Myrmidons of Melodrama
Warmth of the Sun release announcement/analysis
Love: Story
Devil & Daniel Johnston review
LOTSI 7
anybody want a mix
worn out
Zombies / Love
1000th post
top ten of the week
Leonard Cohen review
US vs. John Lennon again
Yo La Tengo album review
US vs. John Lennon
Brian vs. Stevie
new releases
Wuzzon #8
when you need it
Somewhere Near Japan
site fixes/Leonard Cohen
Big Event: Photo Op Reunion at Capitol Building
Wuzzon #7
mention of Steven Gaines book
Brian ref in Stevie Wonder capsule
Wuzzon #6
current music
Pet Sounds Sessions comment
Steve Martin Pink Panther rant
Wuzzon #4
Radiohead review
Beck essay
Brian Wilson = Horace Ford?
Best of the Beach Boys
Teen Scream & Teen Dream
Some Great Reward
Playing the Angel
Get Fuzzy
Talking Heads Brick
The Haunting
David Leaf
solitude in rock & roll
War of the Worlds
Mr. Tambourine Man
Lady Willpower
BB apologist?
Beautiful Dreamer documentary
scholarly PHP
Smile
Wuzzon
usenet argument
WUZZON
early version of BW essay
Gettin' In Over My Head: my take
Brian Wilson: Gettin' In Over My Head
Ronald Reagan dossier
Paul Atkinson RIP
press stuff
Blender fifty worst songs
Phil Spector: Back to Mono review
best cd's I own
article about Smile & my feelings
dumb article
Vail Trail published my letter!
various articles
Vail Trail followup
Vail Trail incident
Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime box
djing and first crush and music associations
bands assessed
bands assessed
bands assessed
ant poison on vinyl
Smile announcement
complaining
silly awards rant
Charles Manson
"Lonely Days"