The Beach Boys - Then
I think the Beach Boys have been around about as long as I have seriously listened to music. Back in the '60s they were the ultimate carefree car and surf summer tune generator. The hits just kept coming. Then they started getting a bit more experimental. For me, that's when it got interesting. I thought their best work appeared around the time of the album, "Surf's Up". Most of the world thought the pinnacle was reached when they released "Pet Sounds". That's the one that the Beatles heard and knew they had to kick things up a notch to "compete", resulting in the sea change that was Sgt. Pepper.
The Beach Boys - Now
Pet Sounds was great stuff. Instrumentation was, to a degree, unconventional, straying from most bands' guitar/bass/drums. And Sloop John B is a personal favorite. This was followed by the incomparable "Good Vibrations", the song that brought the eerie sound of the theramin to the pop world.
One fascinating legend from way back when was the recording and subsequent non-release of the magnum opus known as "Smile". Brian Wilson was still at his creative peak, before his well-noted meltdown and retreat to the grand piano in the sandbox in his living room. "Smile" was creative and unconventional, melding songs and snippets and ideas together, with obscure lyrics offered up by Van Dyke Parks, but with the unmistakable signature sound of Mr. Brian Wilson.
A Brian Wilson version of Smile was released a few years ago and it carried the Beach Boy tradition forward with class. Finally, in the past year, the original Beach Boys version was released in a huge box set. I have the Brian Wilson version but have not yet heard the new release. However, bits and pieces of Smile have existed for decades on record, with tracks appearing in an album called "Smiley Smile" and on the title track of "Surf's Up", and elsewhere. But this recent release finally put it all together as intended.
This year marks fifty years of the Beach Boys. The surviving original (and nearly original) members are reuniting for a limited-engagement tour. There is a single release out there, and an album of new Brian-penned material will be in stores soon.
I count myself a fan; I have been a fan since Daddy Took the T-Bird Away. The nostalgic part of me is pretty stoked that the Boys are back and even adding to the oeuvre, as it were. The band is one of those American musical treasures, and in an era where pop and rock icons from my past are departing this world with unsettling frequency, it's great to have these guys back together, even if this proves to be a last hurrah.
3 comments:
Nice post, Ben. They are definitely one of our cultural icons. Their music kind of defined a whole lifestyle for some. I like their music too. I hope their tour goes well for them,
I would like to see them again. Saw them in '80 I think on the mall in front of the capitol in D.C. on july 4th.
The Beach Boys just appeared on "Good Morning America", live in Central Park. First they did the title song from their new album - well done but blatantly and formulaically nostalgic. Pleasant to hear, but expendable. Then they did "Good Vibrations", for which they deserve credit for doing their most complex and difficult hit ever, but with thanks to the young "ringer" band behind them on stage, which (for example) perfectly nailed its great theremin sound. The best part was just seeing old Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love and company, alive 'n' kickin'. Finally hearing the unique soul of the old "Smile" album after hearing the note-perfect remade version shows you can't go home, but you can treasure it from four decades of distance.
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