Here are five more of my personal choices for forgotten Beach Boys songs. Once again, they range from the group’s prime in the mid 60s all the way to their reinvention in the 80s, so you can get a good sample of their different styles and eras. We start off with a couple of up-tempo songs, but then we slow things way down with some sentimental ballads.
The Little Girl I Once Knew (1965)
Despite being fairly successful at the time of its release, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, “The Little Girl I Once Knew” is not among The Beach Boys’ more recognized songs. The apparent reason for this is that the song includes two sections of complete silence, which made it unappealing to radio stations, both then and now.
The song was also never included on a proper Beach Boys album, originally being issued only as a single. According to Wikipedia, it was quickly overshadowed by Beach Boys crowd-pleaser “Barbara Ann.” It’s unfortunate, because it’s a great song that displays the complexity and experimentation of Brian Wilson’s writing and producing.
As a group, The Beach Boys are mostly known for either their upbeat party music, or their introspective ballads. But there’s a lot more to America’s Band beyond their well-known hits. Previously, I had written a series of articles highlighting a rather obscure era of their career (the early 70s), but there are so many other great forgotten gems in their catalog that I’ve decided to expand to covering some songs from throughout their career.
I’ve chosen these songs not only because I enjoy them personally, but also because they don’t seem to get a lot of attention, and in some cases are overlooked even by fans.
I hope you enjoy exploring these different sounds from The Beach Boys. There will be more in the coming weeks!
Hushabye (1964)
Originally a 50’s doo-wop song by The Mystics, The Beach Boys covered “Hushabye” for their album All Summer Long in 1964. This terrific version of the song highlights the group’s tight vocal harmonies. Brian Wilson’s terrific production also sounds great even today. It was never released as a single, but was included on an EP with three other songs, which only managed to chat at number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Nearest Faraway Place (1969)
Being known for their complex vocal harmonies, it’s not often acknowledged that the group actually released several instrumental compositions throughout the 60s, with the most notable being the two included on the Pet Sounds album. However, Bruce Johnston’s “The Nearest Faraway Place” certainly took its inspiration from those tracks, and is a gorgeous song in its own right.
It’s also the last instrumental The Beach Boys ever released, and was included on their album 20/20. It was also the B-side of the “Cotton Fields” single, which unfortunately flopped in the US.
The Beach Boys were considered quite an impressive live band during the 60’s and 70’s, so perhaps it’s fitting that they would cap off this era by releasing a live concert album. Released in November 1973, The Beach Boys In Concert was compiled from various stage performances in 1972 and ’73, and it was their second live album (unless you count the faux-live Beach Boys Party!). It truly acts as a curtain call to the unique and interesting music they produced during this period.
Spanning two LP’s, the album contains a mix of their then-recent songs, their classic 60’s hits, and a few obscurities just to spice things up. There’s energy and creativity in their performances. They reinterpret some of their classics, infusing them with a little of the flavor from their recent endeavors. For others, they stay faithful to the originals, demonstrating that when it comes to vocal harmonies, they’re still a force to behold.
One notable track on the album is “We Got Love”, which was originally written and recorded for the Holland album, but got replaced at the last moment with “Sail On, Sailor”. It finally makes its official debut here as a live track. It’s also notable for being the only Beach Boys song to feature Ricky Fataar on lead vocal.
The Beach Boys In Concert was their most commercially successful release of the early 70’s, achieving gold record status. Despite the success, they would not release another original album for over three years. During that time, the group toured extensively. This led to the quick departures of Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar who were more interested in studio work.
In 1974, a compilation album called Endless Summer, featuring The Beach Boys’ classic 60’s hits, was released. It became an enormous hit, quickly going triple platinum. A follow-up album, Spirit of America, was released the following year to similar success. Perhaps this sent a message to the group that no one really cared for their contemporary musical direction, and thus their old surfing style was the way to go.
Following this, they released 15 Big Ones in 1976. Half the album consisted of covers of classic songs from the 50’s and 60’s, and the other half was original material. This album was also very successful, and contained their only US Top 10 single of the 70’s (a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music”). Today, however, it’s considered one of their worst albums. The Beach Boys would spend the rest of the decade attempting to recapture their own classic sound, and they firmly established a reputation as an oldies act.
In 1977, Dennis Wilson would become the first original member of The Beach Boys to release a solo album. Pacific Ocean Blue was critically acclaimed, modestly selling, and was perhaps a more faithful follow-up to the creative, gritty sound of the group’s early 70’s output. Unfortunately, due to substance abuse, a planned second solo album was never completed.
So, that wraps up this feature on The Beach Boys’ overlooked era of the early 70’s. Thank you very much for reading! If you’re a casual Beach Boys fan who is unfamiliar with the more uncharacteristic music that I’ve been covering, I appreciate your indulgence, and I hope your curiosity has been piqued. I feel that this music deserves to be heard and recognized.
All of the music I have covered is currently available for purchase, both as digital downloads and on CD. Many of the albums are available as two-for-one packages, so they’re a great deal. Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue is also available as a special two-disc “Legacy Edition” that also includes outtakes from his second unfinished album.
The Beach Boys In Concert tracklist:
Sail On, Sailor
Sloop John B.
The Trader
You Still Believe in Me
California Girls
Darlin’
Marcella
Caroline, No
Leaving This Town
Heroes and Villains
Funky Pretty
Let the Wind Blow
Help Me, Rhonda
Surfer Girl
Wouldn’t It Be Nice
We Got Love
Don’t Worry, Baby
Surfin’ USA
Good Vibrations
Fun, Fun, Fun
Part 1: Sunflower
Part 2: Surf’s Up
Part 3: Carl and the Passions – “So Tough”
Part 4: Holland
The Beach Boys were considered quite an impressive live band during the 60’s and 70’s, so perhaps it’s fitting that they would cap off this era by releasing a live concert album. Released in November 1973, The Beach Boys In Concert was compiled from various stage performances in 1972 and ’73, and it was their second live album (unless you count the faux-live Beach Boys Party!). It truly acts as a curtain call to the unique and interesting music they produced during this period.
Spanning two LP’s, the album contains a mix of their then-recent songs, their classic 60’s hits, and a few obscurities just to spice things up. There’s energy and creativity in their performances. They reinterpret some of their classics, infusing them with a little of the flavor from their recent endeavors. For others, they stay faithful to the originals, demonstrating that when it comes to vocal harmonies, they’re still a force to behold.
One notable track on the album is “We Got Love”, which was originally written and recorded for the Holland album, but got replaced at the last moment with “Sail On, Sailor”. It finally makes its official debut here as a live track. It’s also notable for being the only Beach Boys song to feature Ricky Fataar on lead vocal.
The Beach Boys In Concert was their most commercially successful release of the early 70’s, achieving gold record status. Despite the success, they would not release another original album for over three years. During that time, the group toured extensively. This led to the quick departures of Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar who were more interested in studio work.
In 1974, a compilation album called Endless Summer, featuring The Beach Boys’ classic 60’s hits, was released. It became an enormous hit, quickly going triple platinum. A follow-up album, Spirit of America, was released the following year to similar success. Perhaps this sent a message to the group that no one really cared for their contemporary musical direction, and thus their old surfing style was the way to go.
Following this, they released 15 Big Ones in 1976. Half the album consisted of covers of classic songs from the 50’s and 60’s, and the other half was original material. This album was also very successful, and contained their only US Top 10 single of the 70’s (a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music”). Today, however, it’s considered one of their worst albums. The Beach Boys would spend the rest of the decade attempting to recapture their own classic sound, and they firmly established a reputation as an oldies act.
In 1977, Dennis Wilson would become the first original member of The Beach Boys to release a solo album. Pacific Ocean Blue was critically acclaimed, modestly selling, and was perhaps a more faithful follow-up to the creative, gritty sound of the group’s early 70’s output. Unfortunately, due to substance abuse, a planned second solo album was never completed.
So, that wraps up this feature on The Beach Boys’ overlooked era of the early 70’s. Thank you very much for reading! If you’re a casual Beach Boys fan who is unfamiliar with the more uncharacteristic music that I’ve been covering, I appreciate your indulgence, and I hope your curiosity has been piqued. I feel that this music deserves to be heard and recognized.
All of the music I have covered is currently available for purchase, both as digital downloads and on CD. Many of the albums are available as two-for-one packages, so they’re a great deal. Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue is also available as a special two-disc “Legacy Edition” that also includes outtakes from his second unfinished album.
After finishing up their previous album, The Beach Boys’ manager, Jack Rieley, decided that the band needed a change of scenery to stir their creative juices. He recommended that they write and record their next album in The Netherlands. And so, at enormous expense to themselves, The Beach Boys packed up and left for Holland, hence the name of their next album, Holland, released in January 1973.
Holland is one of those albums that tend to divide Beach Boys fans. There are those who consider it a highlight of the era, and others who find it too dark, rough and unpolished. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this era of the band’s music, you’ll likely find it just as foreign and jarring as the other albums we have covered in this series so far. However, unlike the previous album, Holland has a much more consistent sound and style, and is a much more refined experience overall.
It’s also a very ambitious album, not only because of the circumstances in which it was recorded, but also in its musical concepts. With its darker themes, songs that segue into each other, and an unusual musical fairy tale included with it, the word “epic” is quite fitting to describe it.
However, the initial submission of the final album to the record company was rejected on the grounds that it didn’t contain a potential hit single. Thus, one more song was added to the album as the opening track. “Sail On, Sailor”, with its bluesy style complemented by Blondie Chaplin’s soulful lead vocal, is considered the best track on the album. Although it wasn’t exactly a hit, per se, it did manage to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 on two separate occasions (once when the album was released, and again three years later in 1976). It was also included on the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s 2006 film The Departed.
A very prominent part of the album is a three-song cycle known collectively as the “California Saga”. Written out of homesickness by Al Jardine and Mike Love, it consists of three songs that flow into each other, somewhat forming one long 10-minute composition. The first part, “Big Sur”, uses a folksy waltz style. The second part, “The Beaks of Eagles”, was based on a poem of the same name by Robinson Jeffers, and includes spoken interludes. The final part, known simply as “California”, has a more traditional Beach Boys sound with full vocal harmonies. It’s probably the brightest, most upbeat song on the album.
Brian Wilson had been on a long slide into mental illness at this point, and his main contribution to the album is a very clear reflection of his fragile psychological state. It’s basically a spoken fairy tale (narrated by Jack Rieley) with musical accompaniment, inspired by his own childhood storytelling. The oddity of it was met with apprehension from the rest of the band, but in reaction to hurt feelings, it was included anyway. However, it was bundled on a separate EP, and it’s sometimes referred to as the “third side” of the album.
The story, itself, isn’t that interesting, and it’s rather awkward to listen to. In fact, it sounds like a read-a-long storybook, if you’ve ever happened to listen to those as a kid. But it’s an interesting experiment, to say the least.
You may have figured out that I’m among the fans that love this album. In fact, it was actually fairly well received upon its release, as well. It was critically praised, and its sales were relatively good. However, it was the last original studio album The Beach Boys would release for over three years, and during that time, there would be further changes to the band and its musical direction. And thus, Holland closes out this unique and experimental era of The Beach Boys career. However, there is one last “encore” left to cover, and that will be discussed in the fifth and final part of this feature series.
Holland tracklist:
Sail On, Sailor
Steamboat
California Saga/Big Sur
California Saga/The Beaks of Eagles
California Saga/California
The Trader
Leaving This Town
Only With You
Funky Pretty
Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale) tracklist:
Carl and the Passions - "So Tough", by The Beach Boys. Confusing, isn't it?
The Beach Boys’ music in the early 70’s stands in stark contrast to their classic surf music that most people are familiar with. Yet, Carl and the Passions – “So Tough”, released in May of 1972, is an odd duck even for the era in which it was released.
First, there’s the awkward title. Although it’s actually an obscure in-joke, it almost sounds as if The Beach Boys were trying to be a different band. However, it also indicates the prominence of Carl Wilson as the group’s new leader. Then there’s the jarring clashing of styles, including influences of R&B, gospel, orchestral, country, and even a little of the classic Beach Boys sound. A number of the songs don’t seem like they belong on the same album together.
There were also changes in the band’s line-up. Bruce Johnston departed the group, and he went on to release one solo album, as well as win a Grammy award for writing Barry Manilow’s number one hit “I Write the Songs”. In his place, two new members joined the group, although they came from an unlikely source. Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar were originally part of a South African band called The Flame, and with them, they brought a more soulful, raw sound.
Carl, who was an R&B fan, took this new sound and ran with it. As if to drive the point home right from the get go, the album starts off rough and loose with “You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone”. If you need any more indication that this is not the Beach Boys you’re used to, then this is it.
Midway through the album, we finally get something that sounds slightly more familiar. “Marcella” combines classic Beach Boys harmonies with a 70’s rock sound, and although it’s still a little rough, it’s generally considered the highlight of the album. Although it was released as a single, it didn’t even crack the top 100.
Dennis Wilson had begun work on a solo project that didn’t come together. However, two songs from those sessions made it on to Carl and the Passions. As if the rest of the album wasn’t uncohesive enough, “Make it Good” and “Cuddle Up” stuck out like sore thumbs. However, the lavish orchestration and choral arrangement of “Cuddle Up” make for one heck of a way to end the album.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “How can this possibly be The Beach Boys? It sounds nothing like them!” People were probably thinking the same thing back in 1972. In fact, Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” wasn’t even released as a standalone album. Reprise Records originally bundled it with a re-release of the group’s classic 1966 album Pet Sounds, and the juxtaposition didn’t do it any favors.
In more recent years, however, it’s been looked upon a little more favorably. In some ways, it could even be seen as a warm up for their next album, but we’ll take that journey in part 4.
After their previous effort, Sunflower, failed to catch on with the general public, The Beach Boys hired a manager, Jack Rieley, to help improve their image. The move paid off, as when their next album, Surf’s Up, was released in August 1971, it sold much better.
Aside from spinning positive news stories about the band, Rieley encouraged them to write more socially conscious material. As a result, half the tracks on Surf’s Up consist of awkward songs about the environment, unemployment, a school protest, and the importance of foot care (?). The other half, thankfully, is a more faithful continuation of the quality of their previous album.
Conspicuously absent are any songs from Dennis Wilson, who contributed so strongly to Sunflower. However, in a similar way, Surf’s Up was an emergence for the third Wilson brother, Carl, who was beginning to fill big brother Brian’s shoes as bandleader. He contributes two good songs here: the ballad/rock hybrid “Long Promised Road” and the psychedelic “Feel Flows”, which was used as the credits theme for Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous.
Bruce Johnston, who had originally joined the band in 1965 as a stage replacement for Brian, wrote and sang “Disney Girls (1957)”, which is often considered his best contribution to the group. It’s a charming nostalgic ballad that might have sounded perfectly natural coming from the likes of Elton John or James Taylor …or Barry Manilow.
Brian, meanwhile, still contributed two new tracks to the album. “A Day in the Life of a Tree” is one of those strange environmental songs mentioned earlier, and for some odd reason features Jack Rieley singing the lead. Also, reflecting his own decaying state of mind is the melancholic “‘Til I Die”. It’s a very striking bit of song and lyric writing, and it’s probably the saddest Beach Boys song you will ever hear.
And that brings us to the final track and the album’s namesake, “Surf’s Up”. Despite the title, it’s about as far away as you can get from The Beach Boys’ classic surfing music. An artsy ballad with nonsensical lyrics, “Surf’s Up” was actually written five years earlier for an ambitious experimental album called Smile that was abandoned in 1967. Although the story of the Smile album is way beyond the scope of this article, it had reached mythical status by 1971. The inclusion of its centerpiece song likely helped with the increased popularity of the Surf’s Up album.
With the Surf’s Up album achieving very respectable sales, momentum was in The Beach Boys’ favor. However, changes in the band’s lineup would cause their music to take yet another sharp turn. But that story shall be saved for part 3.
If you’re a casual fan of The Beach Boys, then you’re probably familiar with their classic songs that still get played on the radio, from popular hits like “I Get Around” and “California Girls” to the more adventurous material of “Good Vibrations” and the Pet Sounds album. However, aside from a couple of brief comebacks in the proceeding decades, most of their well-known music came from the early years of their career, 1962-66. But there were many other chapters in The Beach Boys’ story, during which they continued to released new material for about 30 years.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight one of my favorite eras of The Beach Boys: the early 70’s. It’s one of the most interesting, but least recognized parts of their history. And if you’re only familiar with the classic Beach Boys sound, then you’re in for a strikingly different, even jarring, listening experience. But I urge you to keep an open mind, as there is a lot of rich music to be discovered.
By the end of the 60’s, The Beach Boys faced numerous challenges. The changing musical landscape rendered the band “uncool.” They were also involved in a messy departure from their previous record label, Capitol Records. Underlining it all was the gradual withdrawal of their original leader and creative force, Brian Wilson, who was being tragically consumed by substance abuse and mental illness. The burden was left up to the rest of the band to pick up the slack.
But pick it up, they did. Under a new record label, Reprise, they set out to regain relevancy with a new sound. The result was one of the best albums in the group’s catalog. It displayed creativity, complexity, sophistication, and maturity. In short, the “boys” had grown up.
Sunflower, released in August of 1970, was the first true collaborative effort by the band, with meaningful contributions from every member. Despite Brian’s deterioration, he still managed to provide two excellent songs: the laidback “Add Some Music To Your Day”, and the more traditional sounding “This Whole World”. Yet, perhaps the real revelation of the album was the emergence of younger brother Dennis as a songwriting and producing force in his own right.
Dennis contributed four strong songs; including two contemporary 70’s rockers, “Slip On Through” and “It’s About Time”, as well as the funk-inspired “Got To Know the Woman” (an apt title for the womanizing Dennis). Then there’s the most well known track from the album: “Forever”. Anyone who has seen enough reruns of the sitcom Full House is likely to have heard John Stamos (who still occasionally moonlights with The Beach Boys) perform “Forever” on at least a couple of episodes. Even without this exposure, however, the song has long been a fan favorite.
Sadly, the quality of the album and its contemporary rock sound did not translate into commercial success. Sunflower was the band’s lowest charting album in the US up to that time (although it was considerably more successful in the UK). The Beach Boys would fare better with their next project, but that will be saved for part 2.
There were two other songs released during this time that were not included on Sunflower, but are worth mentioning nonetheless. One is “Susie Cincinnati”, an energetic rock number with some classic Beach Boys harmonies. It was included as the b-side to the “Add Some Music” single. It would also be the b-side for two other singles later in the decade, but it wouldn’t be included on an album proper until 1976.
The other song is the country-rock-style “Cottenfields”. Although a version of it had been included on the band’s previous album, 20/20, this version was completely remade and re-released as a single. It flopped in the US (get used to reading that), but was a major top 10 hit in many other countries around the world, including the UK, Australia, and Japan. It was so popular, in fact, that it was added to the international release of Sunflower as the lead song.
