I get a new turntable and dust off some old records. Vinyl Tap #19:
Since the confines of the 4th of July holiday this year are being stretched by many into a four-day weekend and neighbors have begun to set off fireworks, which in turn sets off my pooch, the traditional “The Playing Of Pet Sounds To Placate My Neurotic Dog” started a little early this year.
No, this isn’t some kind of weird “Son Of Uncle Sam” ritual in which I’m taking musical requests from Gus, but the Beach Boys seem to do the trick for him. This year, however, I thought I’d mix it up a bit, and start off with the 1974 compilation Endless Summer, which has endless resonance for me.
In 1964 I was ten-years-old and my musical world revolved around the Beatles and the Beach Boys, but since the surfing sensation pre-dated the British Invasion, it was All Beach Boys All The Time for a while. The first album I owned was Beach Boys Concert, recorded live in Santa Monica, my birthplace. I also was to find out later that the Wilson brothers, Brian, Dennis, and Carl, were raised just a few blocks from where I grew up in Hawthorne, on a street where they crudely but effectively recorded the squealing-wheels intro to "409," burning rubber and burning up the neighbors.
(Incidentally, the house they lived in, Hawthorne’s main claim to fame, was demolished a while back to make room for yet another freeway—so L.A. When I got a look at the de-construction scene, it seemed like the freeway could have been moved over about 80 feet to salvage the home; houses across the street were unaffected.)
Despite the Southern California connection, I think, like many, I would’ve still been a fan. After all, the Beach Boys, for a time, were more popular in Britain than the Beatles, who apparently were more popular than—well, let’s not get into that.
But, to take the road less gaffe-filled, I first heard the Beach Boys when a friend played his copy of Surfer Girl. I was immediately hooked by the alternately lively and gorgeous hooked-filled harmony-drenched songs of be-all and end-all teenage angst-land and extra-curricular elation, served up post-war suburbia-style. I couldn’t get enough of the melodically questing and dreamy title song, the coastline craze described in “Catch A Wave”; the bragging rights that apparently come with owning a “Little Deuce Coup,” (“one more thing, I got the pink slip, daddy”); and especially the melancholic and poignantly haunting “In My Room” where “Now its dark and I’m alone / But I won't be afraid.”
Indeed, the song, capped off by Brian’s heavenly falsetto, is not only somewhat prescient in foreshadowing Brian's increasing reclusiveness and urge to retreat to a world where “I lock out all my worries and my fears,” but perhaps reflected a little bit of my own head-in-the-clouds refuge-seeking as well—though I stopped short of putting a sandbox in my living room.
Such introspection would ultimately be harnessed to the 33-1/3 degree with 1966’s stunning Pet Sounds. While I love that classic work's eccentrically layered production and thematic maturity, I also cherished, in a more inconsistent way, many of the subsequent late-‘60s and early-‘70s commercially flat-lined albums such as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, Surf’s Up and Holland.
The older songs from the early-to-mid-’60s that Endless Summer showcased, however, were always within humming recall and turntable reach, regardless of the Beach Boys’ un-hip status or despite Jimi Hendrix’s contention that “there’ll never be surf music again.” Their three-minute fantasies in word and music, evolving as they did from surfin’ safaris and “this car of mine” to more pensive leitmotifs, were as much a quintessential encapsulation of American youth as Chuck Berry’s savvy pulse-of-America songs (and then some: the tune of “Surfin’ USA,” lifted from Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen,“ ultimately led to a songwriting credit for the rock legend).
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
The Beach Boys In Concert was also the very first album I ever owned (I was seven years old), so there is some resonance there with me.
But the first time I recall being hit HARD by a Beach Boys track was some ten years later.
The way the closing sequence in the film American Graffiti plays with Richard Dreyfuss looking out the plane window and seeing Suzanne Somers elusive VW bug symbolized more than the end of an "Endless Summer."
It symbolized a certain rite of passage as well as the loss of innocence. It meant you could never go home again.
That remains for me the single greatest use of music in a films closing sequence I've ever seen.
For whatever it's worth...
-Glen
2 - Glen Boyd
Oh and I almost forgot...the song itself was of course "All Summer Long." That was when I first started to see Brian Wilson whose songs were about far more than girls, cars, and waves. Brilliant.
-Glen
3 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, Glen, for the comments--I had forgotten about that scene in "American Graffiti." I seem to remember "Wouldn't It Be Nice" used in a few movies, too, although I can't remember any right now.
4 - MJT
"GIRL DON'T TELL ME" WAS NEVER RELEASED AS A SINGLE. "THE WARMTH OF THE SUN" WAS RELEASED AS A SINGLE, I.E., THE FLIP-SIDE OF "DANCE, DANCE, DANCE." IN THE MOVIE "AMERICAN GRAFITTI," MS. SOMERS DROVE A WHITE T-BIRD.
5 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
MJT: All Music Guide says I'm right:
"'The Warmth of the Sun'" one of the Beach Boys' finest and most moving ballads. It never became a single but has remained dear to the heart of Beach Boys fans over the years."
"'Girl Don't Tell Me'" was released as a single at the end of 1965: it failed to chart but became a fan favorite and later turned up on the popular compilation album Endless Summer."
I'll check into it more. You're right about the car in American Graffiti. And no need to shout: enough with the caps.
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
MJT: Both of us are half right, half wrong--
"Warmth of the Sun" indeed was the flipside of "Dance, Dance, Dance."
But "Girl Don't Tell Me" however, was indeed the flipside of "Barbara Ann"--Capitol 5561, released Dec. 20,1965.
Well, I'm more of a music fan than a record collector, but I'll never trust AMG again. Thanks for the info, MJT.
7 - Connie Phillips
When I was 14 I was actually paid for babysitting with a copy of this record. I had been told I could listen to their stereo and asked when the couple came home if they could make me a tape of it.
They gave me the LP instead. I still have it...now if I only had a working turntable.
It's a great collection of all their signature songs. Great review, Gordon.
8 - Jim Bohen
"Good Vibrations" was not on the original release of "Endless Summer." It was added some time later -- maybe in the CD era. At that time Brother/Reprise, not Capitol, had the rights to the music from "Pet Sounds" and later albums.
9 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks Connie--appreciate the comment. Good babysitting gig--hope you can get a turntable soon.
10 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Jim--thanks for solving a mystery for me. Since I have both the LP and CD, and my LP is currently with a chunk of my album collection in a barn on an old chicken farm in Petaluma, California (long story) I used the CD info. And for the life of me, I couldn't remember "Good Vibrations" being on it, and it didn't make sense. Until now. Thanks again.
11 - Glen Boyd
I also stand corrected on the car in American Graffiti. I was going strictly by memory and for some reason I saw a VW bug in my minds eye.
Still, that damn closing scene with "All Summer Long" is one of the best ever. It makes watching the credits roll an essential part of viewing the movie.
-Glen
12 - mpbj
The Beach Boys live in concert was recorded in Sacramento not Santa Monica.FYI
13 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks for the correction, mpbj.
14 - Steve
I have three questions about the movies that were made on the lives of the Beach Boys. One movie was "Endless Summer". Who can help me find the name of the other one?
My second question is this, Is it true that studio musicians were used in place of the original Beach Boy's recordings for that movie?
Third question, Was there ever a sound track CD released from the movie "Endless Summer"?
Steve
15 - philly smith
I have found 'endless harmony' and 'summer dreams' on amazon for around $2 a piece, however 'endless summer' remains an enigma, as far as I'm aware its was made for TV so not sure if it ever got an actual release and am presuming because of budget restraints they will have definately used session musicians, as opposed paying royalties or re-recording tracks but I could be wrong.
I have seen the movie and the music is pretty close to the beach boys but am erring towards the session musicians performing as opposed to the original recording artists (I'm not sure how often carole kaye, hal blaine and glen campbell get out nowadays!)
a side note check out 'grace of my heart' a scorcese production loosely about carole king (if she married brian wilson?!) a bit of an odd twist but a great movie with an awesome soundtrack!
16 - philly smith
actually scrub that, I found a clip on you tube titled 'endless summer' and its not the Tv movie I have seen, which is a biopic starring actors and the like charting the beach boys rise and fall early 60's onwards! so that makes 4 movies, someones just whispered 'the beach boys an american band' in my ear! so that makes 5!?
help anyone? I need clarification!