[Repo]

Finishing up Summer vacation with my girls. Should have the next Beach Boys post <re: All Summer Long> up Wednesday night.

[CA Dreamin]

I'll take the first stab. All Summer Long is an improvement over Little Deuce Coupe and Shut Down. It doesn't have any knockout tracks (well maybe the opener). I didn't find it pushed their music into any new territory. And they still haven't gotten over breaking the fourth wall for whatever reason (Track #11, Our Favorite Recording Sessions). But overall, this collection of songs has a better batting average than previous two albums, which showed signs of song-writing fatigue. All Summer Long also has a small, but noticeable increase in musical arrangements. It would have been cool if Brian was in the same headspace that created Don't Worry Baby. But hey, it was the summer of '64. It's totally fine for them to crank out another collection of upbeat tunes about love, beaches, and cars. We know Today! and Pet Sounds are right around the corner.

[albummaster]

Sneaked a vacation for the past couple of weeks, so squeezing two albums into rankings to catch up...

Preferred tempo of Little Deuce Coupe to Surfer Girl. Enjoyed quite a few tracks, but music felt a tiny bit repetitive and didn't quite reach the heights of some of their other albums. In terms of Shut Down Vol. 2, Don't Worry is obviously a gem but the rest of the album is fairly skippable.

I'd probably need to go back and revisit each album again and listen side by side to validate rankings (obviously missing something with Surfer Girl), but sticking with previous order until I do that:

1. Surfin’ Safari (1962)
2. Surfin' USA (1963)
3. Little Deuce Coupe (1963)
4. Surfer Girl (1963)
5. Shut Down Vol. 2 (1964)

[Repo]

F. All Summer Long (1964)
aka Same Recipe, Better Ingredients


All Summer Long by The Beach Boys

We needed to grow. Up to this point we had milked every idea dry. We milked it fucking dry. We had done every possible angle about surfing and then we did the car routine. But we needed to grow artistically. - Brian Wilson on 1964.

I had quite the journey with this one. For the first 3 listens or so, I didn’t think this was really any better than Shut Down, Vol. 2. I was even going to entitle this write-up “The Sequel No One Asked For!” I’ll be honest, part of that may have been some Beach Boys fatigue setting in. I'm a nomadic music listener by habit so delving principally into ONE artist for weeks at a time might have been taking its toll. What can I say? I've got commitment issues. BUT, it wasn’t all me. All Summer Long really does follow the same recipe as Shut Down, Vol 2. Let’s examine the ingredients and see for ourselves…

The "Shut Down, Vol. 2 - All Summer Long" Recipe
1) START with 2 unassailable Bangers < "Fun, Fun, Fun" & "Don't Worry Baby" c/w "I Get Around" & "All Summer Long">
2) ADD a Doo-Wop Cover from the 50s <"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" c/w "Hushabye">
3) Marinate with Instrumental Filler from a Brother Wilson < "Denny's Drums" c/w Carl's Big Chance">
4) Sprinkle a 4th Wall breaking Gag song that totally breaks up the flow < " 'Cassius' Love vs 'Sonny' Wilson" c/w "Our Favorite Recording Sessions"

The difference this time? Better ingredients. AND, as any baker could tell you, timing! Brian at least waited until almost the end of the album to sprinkle in the flow killing Gag Song.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

The Ranking: I largely agree with CADreamin. It’s an improvement but not a dramatic one. Same recipe, better ingredients. You can tell that Brian was able to take a bit more time with this one. As a result, it flows MUCH better than its predecessor. And the material was definitely an upgrade. With The Beatles breathing down his neck, Brian knew All Summer Long had to flow and sound better than Shut Down, and to his credit, it does.

The Rating: <Good/Recommended>

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Surfin' USA (1963)
2. Surfin’ Safari (1962)
3. Surfer Girl (1963)
4. All Summer Long (1964)
5. Little Deuce Coup (1963) 1/2
6. Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964)

Next up: NOT a Christmas album! It's still Summer!

[CA Dreamin]

I'm going on a mini-vacation next week, so I decided to jump ahead with this listening project...

[Repo]

[albummaster]

All Summer Long has really messed with my head. Loved the more complex arrangements and the flow of the album, but now have the problem of where to rank it. Keeping with previous sequence, I'm going to squeeze it into third (one more killer track might have seen it rank higher).

1. Surfin’ Safari (1962)
2. Surfin' USA (1963)
3. All Summer Long (1964)
4. Little Deuce Coupe (1963)
5. Surfer Girl (1963)
6. Shut Down Vol. 2 (1964)