Let's Party with the Beach Boys! ...or not

If you were a big Beach Boys fan in the mid 1960s, you were probably chomping at the bits to get a hold of their newest album, "Beach Boys Party!"

Luckily I wasn't around to lay down my hard-earned cash for what was a handful of mostly mediocre-to-bad covers. 

However, I'm again fortunate that I can hear it for free on youtube -- Beach Boys Party!

There are several things to say about this album. Probably the most pertinent one is that it's a lie.

The record company wanted something quick and easy with a hook. The group had just put out a live album and a Christmas album, so the idea itself was rather cool . . .the exectution not so much  The whole thing sounds like an impromptu jam session at a party filled with chicks and chips and soda pop and someone with a tape recorder, but it was nothing of the sort. The album was rehearsed and recorded in the studio over a three day period. There were no chicks, no chips, no soda pop and no portable tape recorder. In fact the background chatter and laughing was all over-dubbed later. A subsequent re-release of the album deleted that tract..  It must have been hard playing at being spontaneous.
The choice of songs is weird too - and many extra songs were recorded, but never used, to give the engineers some options as they tried to stitch it together to make it all sound like one continuous party jam.  

While the album is phony and overall not all that good, it has two saving features, one planned, the other  propitious. First, it's acoustical and probably a forerunner in the "unplugged" trend.
Second, it included "Barbara Ann," but only by chance.  It so happened that Dean Torrence, better known as Dean of Jan and Dean, showed up in the recording studio to watch.  They were still trying to decide on what songs to use (remember, this was a rush job).  Dean suggested a song Jan and Dean themselves had covered on their "Golden Hits" album in 1962 called "Barbara Ann," a song that had been put out as a single by the Regents, a doo-wop band and it was written by Fred Fassert, the brother of their lead singer Charles Fassert.   Convinced, Brian Wilson had  Dean sing falsetto lead with him on the song despite the fact that Dean's contract specified that he couldn't record on another label.  "Barbara Ann" was indeed the best song on the album, and, with a little more engineering, a major hit for the Beach Boys (which they desperately craved at that time).

The Regents 1961

Jan and Dean 1962

Beach Boys (from the Party! album) 1965

whoa lets dance and party put the music onnnnnnnnn

I’ve always enjoyed The Beach Boys, but on a superficial level. They are superficial. Given a choice, I choose  a different group. But, I do not dislike them.

I'll choose The Regents if for no other reason than that sax. I prefer the Beach Boys over Jan & Dean. A live performance doesn't have to be perfect. If it's a good song and the band is having fun then it's a good time.

I used to like the Beach Boys until Helter Skelter.

Unfortunately none of the songs were live, just faux live.
The Jan and Dean version had a sax too...in fact to me they sounded like the Beach Boys but with a sax.

Isn't that what Charles Manson said.?   

As I understand it, they were the considered the premier American band from maybe 1963-1967 -which would explain the Beach Boys-Beatles rivalry.  Their early mass-appeal surfing-car oriented music was mostly throw-away stuff, but in 1965 their music started to really mature and Pet Sounds in 1967 was not only solid, it was pretty much ground-breaking and highly influential.  The Beach Boys seemed to have three things going for them - vocal talent, determination and Brian Wilson.

More like "I Guess I Just Wasn't Made For These Times"

?

There was a lot of fluff, but that moment at 2:56 in "Good Vibrations" makes up for everything. Everything.

As kids in So. Cal we had three distinct music cultures. Either the Beatles, the Beach Boys or the Rolling Stones. Myself- I rocked to all three- but the different clicks were very real with fist fights at recess. The surf crowd ruled the streets.  Boss and groovy were the chosen terms. The parties were always the best and most remembered. The music was real - as seen by it’s longevity lasting till today. Can that be said of the current vibes- will the kids be listening to it 50+ years from now? I think not.