[Today: The most important albums in the Beach Boys' canon not named Pet Sounds...]
In 1971 The Beach Boys were a band struggling for relevancy. Brian Wilson, the main architect of their classic sound, had been checked out of the group for 4 solid years, and most of the band’s audience left around the same time he did. In spite of that, the remaining Beach Boys soldiered on admirably, releasing a handful of good albums (Wild Honey, Friends, and Sunflower) that received successively less enthusiastic reviews. Surf’s Up, against all odds, is a classic – a dark, disjointed album constructed from the splintered pieces of what made the band so compelling in their heyday. Here their trademark honeyed harmonies and all-American naivety are overshadowed by a knowing acceptance that things haven’t turned out well. ‘Feel Flows’ sounds like melting hippies, while the title track is Brian Wilson’s last great moment on record with the group he made famous.
If Surf’s Up documents a band in the throes of an agonizing and prolonged spiral, Pacific Ocean Blue sounds like the re-birth of a musical spirit. Drummer Dennis Wilson was never considered to be more than a spare part in The Beach Boys, but his 1977 solo album is every bit as ambitious and orchestrally brilliant as Pet Sounds. ‘River Song’ and ‘Dreamer’ are moody pop/gospel/blues arrangements that jump out of the speakers and veer off in interesting musical angles. In a worn, weary voice, Wilson sings of cleansing himself in the blue waters of redemption. He would drown at the age of 39 before he had a chance to finish the follow-up to Pacific Ocean Blue, and with him went the final flicker of creative spark associated with The Beach Boys.
Listen: Surf’s Up [from Surf's Up]
Listen: River Song [from Pacific Ocean Blue]
Tags: Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue, Surf's Up, The Beach Boys
7 August 2008 at 7:58 pm |
in retrospect, there is much enjoyment to be had from listening to the LPs released by the beach boys on their own label — appropriately called Brother Records — of which, surf’s up was the 2nd.
sunflower was the first, and it is equally outstanding.
unfortunately, the music world had stereotyped the beach boys in such a way that the band could never be taken seriously after pet sounds…even if musical visionaries ranging from phil spector, steve miller to paul mccartney considered the band to be a formidable challenger/source-of-inspiration for years.
like SUNFLOWER before it, SURF’S UP was made when all of the bandmembers seemed to be writing good (if not great) songs. from the very first words you hear on this LP — “don’t go near the water” — you know you’re in for an entirely new concept of what the beach boys were all about in 1970/71. and brian’s few contributions remain some of his finest moments ever.
best of all, those 2 LPs are currently being offered on one CD at places like amazon, etc. DEFINITELY WORTH LOOKING FOR.
8 August 2008 at 1:51 am |
i heard surfs up at a friends house a few years ago. it was one of those records he put on that played for a good half an hour before i finally asked, “who IS this?”
great album.