After the commercial success and critical failure of
15 Big Ones, the
Beach Boys went to the other end of the scale with an uncommercial album that many, including
Brian Wilson (and
Peter Buck of
R.E.M.) consider their best
Essentially a Brian Wilson solo album (it was provisionally titled Brian Loves You), this is one of only two Beach Boys albums to consist entirely of Brian Wilson songs (Mike Love, Al Jardine and Roger McGuinn all cowrite one song each, the rest are Brian's work entirely), the other being Smiley Smile.
The album continues 15 Big Ones' sparse, synth-heavy sound (Brian played almost everything on the majority of tracks, except the guitars, which were played by Carl Wilson), but in other respects the two are night and day - this is one of the most innovative albums ever made, and fans of Jonathan Richman in particular will love it.
Track listing:
- Let Us Go On This Way
- Roller Skating Child
- Mona
- Johnny Carson
- Good Time
- Honkin' Down The Highway
- Ding Dang
- Solar System
- The Night Was So Young
- I'll Bet He's Nice
- Let's Put Our Hearts Together
- I Wanna Pick You Up
- Airplane
- Love Is A Woman
The album is currently available on a Capitol records twofer with 15 Big Ones
Band line-up for the album - Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love
Produced by Brian Wilson, mixdown supervised by Carl Wilson
Previous album - 15 Big Ones
Next album - MIU Album