So Many Songs

For many years, I was content with buying and listening to various compilations of The Beach Boys greatest hits. I was fascinated by the band's blend of Chuck Berry, Phil Spector and The Four Freshmen.

I thought that once I owned the Good Vibrations Box Set, it would be all I ever needed. And for a few years in the late 90s, I was content with that set. Sometime around 1997 I read “The Nearest Faraway Place” by Timothy White and realized my interest in The Beach Boys was officially more than casual.

By the time I sat in the crowd one summer night in 2000 and listened to Brian Wilson and his new band perform the Pet Sounds album in its entirety as merely the middle third of an amazing show, I knew I needed more.

I began really studying the history of the group (with an emphasis on Brian) and buying up the CD re-issues of the studio albums. I wanted to become familiar with the entire body of the band's work. Not just the greatest hits, not just the songs Mike Love and his touring band repeat every night, but all of it. The good, the bad and the ugly.

I was a self-proclaimed Beach Boy fan but I had never heard “Chug-A-Lug” or “Long Promised Road”.

So I began my education.

And this blog is one outlet for me to share what I've discovered and, hopefully, show others why The Beach Boys were great and Brian Wilson is a genius. On this blog I will assume the reader is already largely familiar with the band. I imagine most of my posts will speak more to the informed fan, not the casual fan that thinks “Surfin USA” is a nice oldie but has never heard of Blondie Chaplain or Van Dyke Parks.

These first few posts have been more autobiographical than I intend for this blog to be. It's not going to be about me, it's going to be about the music and the band members. But understand where I come from: I embrace all of the band's eras and styles. There are different aspects to their music and I can enjoy all of it.

I can (and will) gush at length over the quality and beauty of Brian's work as it matured during the Today and Summer Days (and Summer Nights) albums, bloomed with Pet Sounds and continued to flower on Friends, 20/20 and later works.

But I also enjoy the earlier, fun-in-the-sun songs that most of the public associates with the band. The surfing and drag racing songs with Mike Love's nasal lead delivering simple lyrics.

I love “Little Deuce Coupe” and “This Car of Mine” as much as I do “That's Not Me” or “Wake The World”.

We'll look at all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly. From “God Only Knows” to “Summer In Paradise”.

Next Up: The Perfect Beach Boys Song