The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent themes, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound, and under Brian's direction, often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.
Pet Sounds is the 11th studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966 on Capitol Records. It initially met with a lukewarm critical and commercial response in the United States, peaking at number 10 on Billboard Top LPs chart, lower than the band's preceding albums. In the United Kingdom, the album was favorably received by critics and peaked at number 2 in the UK Top 40 Albums Chart, remaining in the top ten for six months. Promoted there as "the most progressive pop album ever", Pet Sounds attracted recognition for its ambitious production, sophisticated music, and personal lyrics. It is considered to be among the most influential albums in music history.
Alan Charles Jardine is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as "Help Me, Rhonda" (1965), "Then I Kissed Her" (1965), "Cotton Fields" (1970), and "Come Go with Me" (1978). His song "Lady Lynda" was also a UK top 10 hit for the group in 1978. Other Beach Boys songs that feature Jardine on lead include "I Know There's an Answer" (1966), "Vegetables" (1967), and "From There to Back Again" (2012).
Beach Boys' Party! is the tenth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, and their third in 1965, consisting mostly of cover songs played with acoustic instruments. It reached No. 6 in the US and No. 3 in the UK. The album spawned one single, a cover of the Regents' "Barbara Ann", which reached No. 2 in the US and No. 3 in the UK, and was their highest-charting British single to that point.
The Pet Sounds Sessions is a 4-CD box set by the American rock band the Beach Boys. Released on November 4, 1997 by Capitol Records, it compiles tracks from the group's 11th studio album Pet Sounds (1966) and its 1965–66 recording sessions. The entire album is included in its original mono mix, as well as a specially-created digital stereo mix. The set also contains instrumental tracks, vocals-only tracks, alternate mixes, and edited highlights from the recording sessions for many of the album's songs, along with several tracks not included on the album.
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys and the opening track from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Written by Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, and Mike Love, it is distinguished for its sophisticated Wall of Sound-style arrangement and refined vocal performances. The lyrics describe a young couple who fantasize about the romantic freedom they would earn as adults. With its juxtaposition of joyous-sounding music and melancholic lyrics, it is considered a formative work of the power pop genre. Its innovative quality also influenced the development of progressive pop.
"I Know There's an Answer" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Written by Brian Wilson, Terry Sachen, and Mike Love, the song was inspired by Wilson's experience with the drug LSD and his struggle with ego death. Musically, it is distinguished for its colorful arrangement, unorthodox structure, and bass harmonica solo. The instrumentation also includes guitars, tack piano, banjo, clarinets, flutes, electric keyboards, and timpani. Wilson, Love, and Al Jardine trade the lead vocal, for which the melody spans two octaves.
"You Still Believe in Me" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It was the first song that Brian Wilson and Tony Asher wrote together. The lyric discusses a narrator who, while acknowledging their irresponsible behavior and unfaithfulness, is impressed by the unwavering loyalty of their lover.
"Do It Again" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was released as a non-album single on July 8, 1968. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love as a self-conscious callback to the group's earlier surf image, which they had not embraced since 1964. Love and Wilson also share the lead vocal on the song.
"Here Today" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher for American rock band the Beach Boys, released on their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It is the tenth track on the album. The song's lyric is expressed from the perspective of a narrator who warns the listener of the inevitable heartbreak that will result from his newfound love. It was later included as the B-side to the 1967 single "Darlin'".
"Pet Sounds" is an instrumental composed and produced by Brian Wilson and is the 12th track on the 1966 album Pet Sounds by American rock band the Beach Boys. Originally called "Run James Run", Wilson intended it to be used as the theme of a James Bond film. It was then titled "Pet Sounds", later also becoming the title of the album on which it appears. It is the second instrumental to feature on Pet Sounds, the other being "Let's Go Away for Awhile".
"She Knows Me Too Well" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American rock band The Beach Boys, about a man who is engrossed and obsessed in his own jealousy and insecurity. It was released on the 1965 album The Beach Boys Today!, initially serving as the B-side of their "When I Grow Up " single in 1964. It was one of the first songs that Brian wrote while under the influence of marijuana.
"Lady" is a song written by Dennis Wilson, recorded by him with Daryl Dragon and released under the name "Dennis Wilson & Rumbo" in the United Kingdom on 4 December 1970, on Stateside Records. The song served as the B-side of the "Sound of Free" single. The single was not issued in the United States.
Psychedelic pop is pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Elements include "trippy" effects such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, sitars, backwards recording, and Beach Boys-style harmonies blended with pop, resulting in melodic songs with tight song structures. The style lasted into the early 1970s.
Summer Days is the ninth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on July 5, 1965, on Capitol. The band's previous album, The Beach Boys Today!, represented a departure for the group through its abandonment of themes related to surfing, cars, and teenage love, but it sold below Capitol's expectations. In response, the label pressured the group to produce bigger hits. Summer Days thus returned the band's music to simpler themes for one last album, with Brian combining Capitol's commercial demands with his artistic calling.
Live – The 50th Anniversary Tour is a live album by the Beach Boys released on May 21, 2013. The album was recorded during the band's 50th anniversary reunion tour.
"I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher, the lyrics describe the disillusionment of someone who struggles to fit into society. Musically, it is distinguished for its melodic bass guitar, layered vocals, and Electro-Theremin solo, marking the first time the instrument was used in popular music and the first time theremin-like sounds were used on a rock record.
Caroline Now!: The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys is a 2000 tribute album devoted to songs by the Beach Boys, consisting of cover versions recorded by independent artists. The chosen material focuses on rarities by the group, some of them available only as bootleg recordings such as Adult/Child and Sweet Insanity. The album took nearly three years to produce, with sunshine pop outfit the Free Design reuniting to contribute one track after a three-decade absence from recording.
The Beach Boys' bootleg recordings are recordings of performances by the Beach Boys that attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. Many albums by the band were fully assembled or near completion before being shelved, rejected, or revised as an entirely new project. In recent years, new rarities compilations and reissues of studio albums have been released with studio outtakes included as bonus tracks.
Do It Again: A Tribute to Pet Sounds is a tribute album released on November 14, 2006. It consists of various artists' cover versions of tracks from the Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds.
