Music Review: Beach Boys - Summer Days (And Summer Nights!)

I have always thought that the Beach Boys albums, Today and Summer Days (And Summer Nights!), should have been released in reverse order. Beach Boys Today! is a much more mature album and sets the foundation for Pet Sounds while Summer Days (And Summer Nights!) is in many ways a follow up to All Summer Long. Summer Days (And Summer Nights!) is Brain Wilson’s swan song to his early Beach Boy roots. While he continued to experiment and develop the Beach Boy sound the songs are simpler for the most part and the themes of love, having fun, and girls are elementary.

The foundations of Summer Days are two of the best loved Beach Boys hit singles. “California Girls,” with its almost classical introduction before it hits its stride as a mid-tempo pure pop song is two and a half minutes of pure joy. Mike Love’s lead vocal is not as nasal as usual and perfectly leads the listener along on this ode to girls everywhere. “California Girls” remains one of the quintessential Beach Boys songs.

“Help Me Rhonda” with a lead vocal by Al Jardine, is a simpler song but would give the Beach Boys the second number one single of their career. This song made its first appearance on Beach Boys Today! as “Help Me Ronda”. The transformation is remarkable as the sound is crisper and the songs vocals are now completely layered. It provides a good example of how a song could evolve when Brian Wilson concentrated on it.

“The Girl From New York City,” "Amusement Parks USA” and “Salt Lake City” are all similar up-tempo rockers with typical layered harmonies. While there is nothing extraordinary about any of them, they do provide a pleasant base upon which the album is built. “The Girl from New York City” is an answer song to the Ad-Libs hit “The Boy From New York City.” “Amusement Parks USA” takes an all American summer past time and turns it into a rousing tribute. “Salt Lake City” is just as the title implies. It is a song about a city.

Article Author: David Bowling

I have been collecting vinyl records for over forty years and my collection is approaching 50.000 records. My wife Susan and children, Stacey and Amy, have learned to humor my passion. I am now settled in beautiful Whispering Pines, North Carolina …

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