The Beach Boys / Summer Shadows 1963 - 1973
1963 - 1966
01 Surfin’ USA / Single A Side March 1963
02 Lonely Sea / Surfin’USA April 1963
03 Surfer Girl / Single A Side July 1963
04 In My Room / Surfer Girl September 1963
05 Little Deuce Coupe / Little Deuce Coupe October 1963
06 Fun Fun Fun / Single A Side February 1964
07 Don’t Worry Baby / Shut Down Vol 2 April 1964
08 The Warmth Of The Sun / Shut Down Vol 2 April 1964
09 I Get Around / Single A Side May 1964
10 All Summer Long / All Summer Long July 1964
11 When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) / Today March 1965
12 Please Let Me Wonder / Today March 1965
13 Help Me Rhonda / Single A Side April 1965
14 California Girls / Single A Side July 1965
15 Girl Don’t Tell Me / Summer Days (And Summer Nights) July 1965
16 Let Him Run Wild / Summer Days (And Summer Nights) July 1965
17 You’re So Good To Me / Summer Days (And Summer Nights) July 1965
18 Barbara Ann / Beach Boys Party November 1965
19 Sloop John B / Single A Side March 1966
20 Wouldn’t It Be Nice / Pet Sounds May 1966
21 You Still Believe In Me / Pet Sounds May 1966
22 That’s Not Me / Pet Sounds May 1966
23 Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) / Pet Sounds May 1966
24 I’m Waiting For The Day / Pet Sounds May 1966
25 God Only Knows / Pet Sounds May 1966
26 I Know There’s An Answer / Pet Sounds May 1966
27 Here Today / Pet Sounds May 1966
28 I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times / Pet Sounds May 1966
29 Pet Sounds / Pet Sounds May 1966
30 Caroline No / Pet Sounds May 1966
1966 - 1973
01. Our Prayer / Smile Sessions Recorded October-December 1966
02. Do You Like Worms / Smile Sessions Recorded October-December 1966
03. Good Vibrations / Single A Side October 1966
04. Heroes And Villains / Single A Side July 1967
05. With Me Tonight / Smiley Smile September 1967
06. Wind Chimes / Smiley Smile September 1967
07. Wild Honey / Wild Honey December 1967
08. Darlin’ / Wild Honey December 1967
09. Let The Wind Blow /Wild Honey December 1967
10. Friends / Single A Side May 1968
11. Busy Doin’ Nothin’ / Friends June 1968
12. Do It Again / Single A Side July 1968
13. I Can Hear Music / Single A Side February 1969
14. Cabinessence / 20/20 February 1969
15. Break Away / Single A Side June 1969
16. Tears In The Morning / Sunflower September 1970
17. Forever / Sunflower September 1970
18. Cool Cool Water / Sunflower September 1970
19. Long Promised Road / Surfs Up August 1971
20. Disney Girls (1957) / Surfs Up August 1971
21. Feel Flows / Surfs Up August 1971
22. ‘Til I Die / Surfs Up August 1971
23. Surfs Up / Surfs Up August 1971
24. Marcella / Carl And The Passions May 1972
25. Sail On Sailor / Holland January 1973
When teenage Four Freshmen fan Brian Wilson heard the garage clamour of his brother Carl and Hawthorne, CA neighbour David Marks, an idea took hold: a meld of heavenly harmonies and rock’n’roll energy that would turn his family vocal group into legends. They started small screen, longing for cars, surf and teen romance, but became full on cinemascope thanks to Brian’s uncanny left ear, hymning the melancholy tides that tugged beneath California’s 60’s dream.
The musical personalities of ethereal Brian, soulful Carl, odious cousin Mike Love, loyal friends Bruce Johnstone and Al Jardine and wounded hunk (and middle Wilson brother) Dennis, informed music of increasing diversity and complexity, with added scholarly input from inspired outsiders Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks and open minded session stars. After the perfection of his 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds, Brian’s vision rapidly unravelled amidst bum trips and bad karma. Even though great music would still come, it arrived much less often, having to be gently coaxed out of him as if he was holding on to it until he had no choice but to let it go. That Brian Wilson was a unique one off is indisputable. If it wasn’t for him those square old Beach Boys, with their stupid shirts and their California teeth, would now be a side note in popular music culture.
Brian had realised early on that he possessed a true gift and that what he was doing with tone, vocals and arrangements were symphonic by definition. Added to the idealism of the times and the certainty of youth, all the elements of his future vision were already in place. What was amazing was that he could hear whole songs and all their constituent parts in his head, only needing the merest whisper of a tune, a chord, a melody to know exactly where instrumentation would fit and where to harmonise and layer in the studio.
What you hear in the greatest Beach Boys music is the crystallisation of other worldliness and a yearning, best encapsulated on songs like ‘In My Room’ and ‘Caroline No’. There’s also an innocence, at once very cerebral, vulnerable and emotional encapsulating Brian’s fragile, childlike persona, eyes wide open in wonder but dangerously sensitive to his demons and the emotional carnage inflicted by those around him. It’s all there in his songs, the sound of a man striving to create beauty in a cruel, corrupt brutal world.
April 2012
