‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’
-Nick C., paddling unsuccessfully upstream.
I’m lazy.
So Fitzgerald’s last line does the metaphorical heavy lifting, from the significance of water to the inability to get out of one’s history’s way.
We’re deep into the decline.
Nobody’s asking for more from The Beach Boys, not this iteration.
The battle between art and commerce is long over. All is curdled and they finally steer Brian onstage in a wheelchair.
He nods and plays the keyboards.
Maybe he just pretends.
‘Good Vibrations,’ no matter how gamely performed, sounds funereal. The audience is queasy, uneasy, feels complicit. It’s sunny, a Beach Boys kind of day. Doesn’t matter. Here’s how they got there:
Love You
1977
Brian’s back, part 2.
Probably because this one started as a solo album. Plenty of, how should I put it? Unconventionality? Whimsy? Studio frippery? ‘Johnny Carson’ ups the oddity factor and is better for it, although a lyric like ‘the network makes him break his back’ while the titular host pulls in $4 mil per is fatuous at best.
M.I.U. Album
1978
Recorded to fulfill a record contract, a hallmark of this era.
Love’s in the midst of his TM era, which does nothing to curb his receding hairline or money-grubbing instincts. Still, an intoxicating wistfulness powers ‘Kona Coast’ and before you know it, you’re singing along with chorus. That counts for something, right?
L.A. (Light Album)
1979
If you know ’79, you know.
I can’t fault artists chasing a trend, and disco’s a forgiving style. Put a 4/4 beat behind it, and a song from 1967 becomes danceable (‘Here Comes the Night’), though if you try to foist the 11-minute version on me, I will strenuously object and request an 802 conference.
Keepin’ The Summer Alive
1980
‘Santa Ana Winds’ is hardly Didionesque.
In fact, it’s pleasant, even dreamy. I don’t know if a hymn to an ominous and potentially disastrous weather pattern works. Like surfing, it’s a SoCal phenomenon, sure, but so are traffic fatalities and police brutality, subjects the Boys never tried to tackle.
The Beach Boys
1985
A five-year hiatus, writing collabs with Randy Bachman and George O’Dowd (yes, that one) and that one good single can’t lift this release from the muck.
Neither do guest turns from Ringo and Stevie (W, not N). Meanwhile, the band plays on in front of huge crowds with John Stamos on skins. ‘It’s Gettin’ Late,’ a fine Carl composition, feels prescient.
Still Cruisin’
1989
– ‘Kokomo.’
– ‘Wipe Out’ with the Fat Boys.
Both speak for themselves.
Originally a collection of songs that featured in contemporary movies, Still Cruisin’’ became an unholy mélange of originals and standards. ‘Somewhere in Japan’ is the only track where they sound like they’re trying.
Summer in Paradise
1992
Along with the previous album, never rereleased by Columbia and unavailable for streaming.
Believe me, it makes sense. If you have a strong stomach, seek it out on YouTube.
Stars and Stripes Vol. 1
1996
Have I ever wanted to listen to The Beach Boys back up various country stars on remakes of some of their classics?
No.
Have I a morbid curiosity in wanting to hear Willie Nelson take the lead on ‘The Warmth of the Sun?’ Of course. Or Toby Keith- No, scratch that. Volumes 2, 3, ad infinitum, never see the light of day.
That’s Why God Made the Radio
2012
Pacific Coast Highway serves as a fitting capstone to The Boys’ career:
Rendering the last song on the album, ‘Summer’s Gone,’ a too-obvious closer. ‘The Private Life of Bill and Sue’ is a welcome bit of eccentricity. There’s no escaping the suffocating nostalgia, but at least it’s Brian’s hand on the tiller.
And that’s it.
If we grade on a curve that follows the unavoidable drop of relevance and creative vigor all performers inevitably suffer, the Beach Boys, through misfortune, infighting, questionable collaborators, and inertia, still don’t fare well.
The long shadow of Smile hangs over everything, the road leading away from the beach and hot rods and California girls not taken a tantalizing might-have-been.
There were nuggets among the weeds across the years, dropped at random, hinting at what could have been: art pop taken to its highest form, buttressed by one of the great vocal instruments of our time.
Even so:
The Wilson Brothers and Co. remain in the running as America’s greatest band.
Listening to one of their two dozen or so greatest hits compilations proves that.
The Playlist (continued):
Love You
- Let Us Go on This Way
- Johnny Carson
M.I.U.
- She’s Got Rhythm
- Kona Coast
- Match Point of Our Love
L.A. (Light Album)
- Here Comes the Night (single version)
Keepin’ The Summer Alive
- Santa Ana Winds
Still Cruisin’
- Somewhere in Japan
Summer in Paradise
- I just can’t… (not a song, a plea)
Stars and Stripes Vol. 1
- The Warmth of the Sun
That’s Why God Made the Radio
- The Private Life of Bill and Sue
- Pacific Coast Highway
Coming soon and next:
A quixotic meandering through late middle age and beyond with a restless soul…
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The Beach Boys are a great backing band. They backed Annette Funicello on one of her silliest singles and made it listenable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-LXN6Bj8qg
Annette’s voice is fingernails on the chalkboard quality and the lyrics seem to be promoting a very unholy union, but you are right, the Beach Boys made this song tolerable. I really wish this had gone to #1 and Tom had to review it.
You’re right. It needs the caustic Briehan treatment.
Up until a couple of years ago, my knowledge of this era of Beach Boys was the same as nearly everyone else- Kokomo is at best an annoying song, and Mike Love is a terrible person. Then I broke through the glass ceiling and listened to that last album. I didn’t listen to it again, because I don’t need additional Beach Boys in my life, but it’s a good album.
This was some good writing, stobgopper. I didn’t get all of your references, but the ones I did were clever. Thanks for taking me to a place I didn’t know I needed to go, but was glad to be there.
Thanks, rb! Should I cut down on the asides and tangents that I so unfortunately cannot avoid including? I tried before when I dipped my toe into journalism, but I couldn’t. I’m afraid I’m too enamored of off-topic subjects that wander into my mind. And adverbs.
As a fan of asides and tangents I say keep them in. All adds extra texture. Which reminds me of a podcast I was listening to earlier this week with Eric Idle reminiscing about George Harrison……
They’re fun!
Should I cut down on the asides and tangents…?
My vote is ‘no.”
I’m here for the witcraft.
Its a shame they descended into such slop in the 80s and 90s. Quality control very much not a major consideration in favour of keeping their name out there by any means necessary. I’m going to confess that I did like The Fat Boys (Wipeout and The Twist were #2 UK hits) but in my defence I was 11 and immature enough not to know better. The Beach Boys were way old enough to know better.
At least they managed one last hurrah with That’s Why God Made The Radio. Even if its not their greatest work it still sounds a whole lot better than the preceding decades output.
One more thing; that artwork for Keepin’ The Summer Alive is awful. For a start there’s a penguin and two polar bears present. I think they’re polar bears, they’re somewhere between that and a big cat. The shadows are wrong as well. The penguins’ is in a different direction to anything else, one of the front line of the band isn’t aligned with the other two and the topless ladies’ shadow doesn’t match either. The polar bear/big cat doesnt appear to have one at all. It looks tacky as hell as well. I do like though that Brian (I assume its him at the piano) is turned away from the piano as if to say I’m here in person but not in spirit.
I didn’t notice that, jj, although I suppose the care taken with the songs would bleed into the cover. So much wasted talent.
I know I should like The Beach Boys more than I do, but the latter half of their career was pretty dire. I don’t think this is a hot take but “Good Vibrations” > “Surfin’ U.S.A.” > “Sail On Sailor” > “Kokomo.”
I would flip the middle two, but that’s just me. “Surfin’ U.S.A.” is ripped off of Chuck Berry and “Sail on Sailor” is an underrated gem.
If “Johnny Carson” was an effort to get onto The Tonight Show, it failed miserably. Several sources say The Beach Boys did the show with Carson once in 1968 and didn’t return until 1984 when Joan Rivers was guest host (and she had a much wider musical taste than did Johnny and his staff–Joan said they didn’t want to book George Michael even after he had some hits).
They were actually on twice in 1968.
Johnny Carson did not have a reputation for breaking hip new music. The last musical guest he had on before the Beach Boys 1984 appearance was crooner Steve Lawrence and the first one after was clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Even for 1984 that was old folks music.
Yes. Johnny Carson booked Glenn Medeiros.
I saw Brian Wilson in 2017. His voice was shot. Initially, I was disappointed. But I settled in after a couple of songs. The concert was a celebration of his life and work. My attitude turned into how great that he’s still with us.
I missed his Waikiki Shell performance. He was accompanied by The Whiffenpoofs. Why did I skip that show? So stupid. [insert Chris Farley meme].
The Apples in Stereo’s Robert Schneider is such a fan, he named his recording studio Pet Sounds. I’ll always wonder what kind of album those two could’ve cooked up. I think everybody from the Elephant 6 collective were fans.
I overplayed Pet Sounds. I really got into Surf’s Up. I like “Feel Flows”.
What I remember most about the concert was that either Brian or one of the other band members expressed great joy about luring Blondie Chaplin away from The Beach Boys.
Back in the 40s/50s/60s there were groups famous for being backup vocalists. Like the Pied Pipers or the Skyliners or Mel Torme’s Mel-Tones or the Anita Kerr Singers or the Ron Hicklin Singers or the Mike Sammes Singers…or even the Jordanaires for Elvis and Ricky Nelson. I’m glad that the Beach Boys made their mark more prominently than just as a forgotten backup group, but as a backup group, they were darned good.
I am reminded of being a teen, standing in the bookstore thumbing through the Rolling Stone Album guide in the 80s and disappointedly reading the negative reviews of my beloved Chicago albums, but the reviewer mentioned that the one gem in the batch of mediocrity was 1974’s “Wishing You Were Here” featuring the Beach Boys on backing vocals.
Chicago and The Beach Boys toured together for a lot of years over the decades.
Thanks for your service, stobgopper!
You’re welcome, Link! The BB harmonies elevated everything they touched. I debate with myself on the (many) fine attributes of both ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’ versions, and despite the visceral thrill of Elton appearing onstage and duetting with George, the soaring background vocals of the original always win out.