Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 5, 1965 | |||
Recorded | February 24 – June 4, 1965 | |||
Studio | Western, Gold Star, and Columbia, Hollywood | |||
Genre | Pop [1] | |||
Length | 26:42 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | Brian Wilson | |||
The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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The Beach Boys UK chronology | ||||
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Singles from Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) | ||||
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Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) is the ninth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys,released on July 5,1965,by Capitol Records. [2] The band's previous album, The Beach Boys Today! (released March 1965),represented a departure for the group through its abandonment of themes related to surfing,cars,and teenage love, [3] but it sold below Capitol's expectations. In response,the label pressured the group to produce bigger hits. [4] Summer Days thus returned the band's music to simpler themes for one last album,with Brian Wilson combining Capitol's commercial demands with his artistic calling. [5]
Produced by Wilson,Summer Days reached number two on the US Billboard 200 and number four on the UK Albums Chart. Two singles were issued from the album:"Help Me,Rhonda",which became the group's second chart-topper in the US,and "California Girls",which peaked at number three.
Carl Wilson reflected of Summer Days,"There was a time when it was uncool to be into the Beach Boys,and when we did that album,it started to bother us,doing this same stuff,because we thought we were trapped into having to sing about a certain thing." [6]
One outtake from the album's sessions is known as "Sandy" or "Sherry She Needs Me", [7] and was written by Brian Wilson with Russ Titelman. [8] "Sherry She Needs Me" was revisited by the Beach Boys during 1976's The Beach Boys Love You sessions. The composition remained dormant until 1998,when it was finally finished by Wilson as "She Says That She Needs Me" for his 1998 Imagination solo album. The Beach Boys' version of "Sherry She Needs Me" was released in 2013 for the Made in California box set. [9]
The cover photo depicting the group on a sailboat shows Brian,Carl,and Dennis Wilson,and Mike Love. Al Jardine is missing from the photo,having missed the shoot due to illness.
Bruce Johnston is also not on the cover,although he did perform on the album. As Brian Wilson's stage replacement,he was not yet considered an official member,but Wilson appreciated Johnston's skills enough to have him contribute vocally and instrumentally on the album. Johnston would often accompany the group on photo shoots,but he was prohibited from having those pictures published on album covers due to a preexisting contract with Columbia Records. Johnston wouldn't appear at all on a Beach Boys album until he appeared in a photo collage on the back cover of Pet Sounds ,and not on an album front cover until 1968's Friends . [10]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [11] |
Blender | [12] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [13] |
MusicHound | 4/5 [14] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [15] |
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) proved to be another gold-selling success for the Beach Boys in the U.S.,where it hit number 2 behind The Rolling Stones's Out of Our Heads . Along with 1963's Surfin' U.S.A. it remains the group's highest-charting studio album in the U.S. The following year,the album would reach number 4 in the United Kingdom. The album's lead single,"Help Me,Rhonda",topped the US Billboard Hot 100. [16]
In a 2011 reappraisal,BBC Music observed that the track listing of Summer Days reads "like a Greatest Hits," and felt the album is unfairly disparaged for being "simply loaded with proud pop songs." Comparing to the Beach Boys' later work:"If Pet Sounds is the critics’favorite,Summer Days is perhaps the people's day at the beach." [1] That same year,the online journal Rocksucker praised the album,ranking it 4th in its list of "Ten Underappreciated Beach Boys LPs," but considers it "an inconsistent collection of which the high points are truly great and the low points ranging from merely good to just-about-passing-muster." [17]
In the early 1970s,as part of Capitol Records' repackage series of their Beach Boys albums,Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) was retitled California Girls and deleted two tracks:"Amusement Parks U.S.A." and "I'm Bugged at My Ol' Man".[ citation needed ] In 1990,the album was reissued paired with The Beach Boys Today!;this package featured extensive liner notes and bonus tracks from that period. [5] In its 2012 reissue,the album received its first true stereo mix.[ citation needed ]
All tracks are written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, except where noted
No. | Title | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Girl from New York City" | Mike Love | 1:54 |
2. | "Amusement Parks U.S.A." | Love and Brian Wilson | 2:29 |
3. | "Then I Kissed Her" (Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry) | Al Jardine | 2:15 |
4. | "Salt Lake City" | Love and B. Wilson | 2:00 |
5. | "Girl Don't Tell Me" (B. Wilson) | Carl Wilson | 2:19 |
6. | "Help Me, Rhonda" | Jardine | 2:46 |
No. | Title | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "California Girls" | Love and B. Wilson | 2:46 |
2. | "Let Him Run Wild" | B. Wilson | 2:20 |
3. | "You're So Good to Me" | B. Wilson | 2:14 |
4. | "Summer Means New Love" (B. Wilson) | instrumental | 1:59 |
5. | "I'm Bugged at My Ol' Man" (B. Wilson) | B. Wilson (credited as "Too Embarrassed" on back cover) | 2:17 |
6. | "And Your Dream Comes True" | The Beach Boys | 1:04 |
Total length: | 26:42 |
No. | Title | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
13. | "The Little Girl I Once Knew" (B. Wilson) | B. Wilson, Jardine with C. Wilson | 2:40 |
14. | "Dance, Dance, Dance" (alternate take) (B. Wilson, Carl Wilson, Love) | Love with B. Wilson | 2:02 |
15. | "I'm So Young" (alternate take) (William H. "Prez" Tyus, Jr.) | B. Wilson | 2:29 |
16. | "Let Him Run Wild" (alternate take) | B. Wilson | 2:18 |
17. | "Graduation Day" (Joe Sherman, Noel Sherman) | Love with B. Wilson | 2:18 |
Total length: | 38:29 |
Notes
Sourced from Musician's Union AFM contract sheets and surviving session audio, documented by Craig Slowinski. [19] [20]
The Beach Boys
Guests
Session musicians
Technical
Year | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|
1965 | US Billboard 200 | 2 [21] |
1966 | UK Top 40 Albums | 4 [22] |
Sunflower is the 16th studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on August 31, 1970 by Reprise Records, their first for the label. It received favorable reviews, but sold poorly, reaching number 151 on the US record charts during a four-week stay and becoming the lowest-charting Beach Boys album to that point. "Add Some Music to Your Day" was the only single that charted in the US, peaking at number 64. In the UK, the album peaked at number 29.
20/20 is the 15th studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released February 10, 1969 on Capitol Records. The LP was named for being their 20th overall release when factoring in live albums and compilations. Much of 20/20 consists of outtakes from earlier albums. It reached number 3 on UK record charts and number 68 in the U.S. Brian Wilson was absent during most of the album's recording after admitting himself into a psychiatric hospital, requiring brothers Carl and Dennis to retrieve several outtakes he had recorded years earlier. While Brian does not appear on the front cover, the inner gatefold of the original vinyl release features him alone, behind an eye examination chart.
Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" is the 18th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released May 15, 1972 on Brother/Reprise. The album is a significant musical departure for the band and is the first to feature the Flames' Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar as additions to their official line-up. It sold poorly and was met with lukewarm reviews, but later gained stature as a cult favorite among fans.
"Heroes and Villains" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson envisioned the song as an Old West-themed musical comedy that would surpass the recording and artistic achievements of "Good Vibrations". The single was Brother Records' first release. While it failed to meet critical and commercial expectations, it was nevertheless a hit record, peaking at number 12 in the U.S. and number 8 in the UK.
"You're So Good to Me" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on July 5, 1965, on their ninth studio album Summer Days . It was later included as the B-side of the group's single "Sloop John B", which was released on March 21, 1966. Mojo later wrote that the song was the closest the group had come to northern soul.
"Help Me, Rhonda" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys, appearing first on their 1965 album The Beach Boys Today! and subsequently in re-recorded form on the following 1965 album Summer Days . It was written by Brian Wilson, with additional lyrics by Mike Love. Unlike many other songs by the band from this period, "Help Me, Rhonda" features a lead vocal sung by Al Jardine.
"Kiss Me, Baby" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1965 album The Beach Boys Today!. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was issued as the B-side of the group's "Help Me, Rhonda" single on April 5.
"Do It Again" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was released as a standalone 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 by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher, the lyric warns the listener of inevitable heartbreak before the narrator reveals himself to be the ex-boyfriend of the listener's newfound love. Musically, the song features an uncommon formal structure, the use of electric bass guitar as a lead instrument, and a 20-bar length instrumental break.
"Add Some Music to Your Day" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys that was released in the US on February 23, 1970 as the lead single from their album Sunflower. It was written by Brian Wilson, Joe Knott, and Mike Love. Wilson later said that Knott "was a friend of mine who wasn't a songwriter but he contributed a couple of lines. But I can't remember which ones!"
"Deirdre" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written primarily by Bruce Johnston, it is a love song named after the sister of one of his ex-girlfriends, and is one of his two song contributions on the album, the other being "Tears in the Morning". Johnston has claimed that co-writer Brian Wilson's contributions were limited to a few lyrics, although music historians Andrew G. Doe and John Tobler wrote in 2004 that "Deirdre" had been "developed from a musical theme first used in 'We're Together Again,'" a 1968 composition credited to Brian Wilson and singer Ron Wilson.
"Tears in the Morning" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1970 album Sunflower. Written by Bruce Johnston, it was issued as a single, with the B-side "It's About Time". The single failed to chart in the U.S., but reached the top 5 in the Netherlands.
"Let Him Run Wild" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1965 album Summer Days . Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was issued as the B-side to "California Girls".
"The Girl from New York City" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American rock band The Beach Boys. It was released on their 1965 album Summer Days . It was written as an answer song to The Ad Libs' hit from earlier that year, "The Boy from New York City".
"Summer Means New Love" is an instrumental composed by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1965 album Summer Days . Composed by Brian Wilson, it was later released as the B-side to his first single, "Caroline, No", which subsequently appeared on Pet Sounds (1966).
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Bibliography