The Beach Boys Albums (35)
What The Critics Say
The Beach Boys were the ultimate summer band, their songs full of sun, surfboards, and endless waves of good vibrations, but it is always interesting to remember how many of those bright productions featured sleigh bells as part of their rhythm tracks, as if Brian Wilson wanted to stick a little bit of winter in there. So it should come as no surprise that the Beach Boys recorded two Christmas albums, the first, The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, in 1964, and a second unreleased set, Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys, a decade later. This disc combines tracks from both projects, throwing in an alternate take of "Auld Lang Syne." If the Beach Boys favored sleigh bells in summer, then their bright and sunny vocals brought warmth into the dead of winter as well, particularly with their classic holiday single, "Little Saint Nick," which is included here. The alternate mix of "Auld Lang Syne" (this one without Dennis Wilson's spoken interjections) spotlights the gorgeous multi-tracked harmonies of the group, while the cluttered kitchen sink production of "Child of Winter (Christmas Song)" shows how complicated Beach Boys arrangements could get when left unchecked. These tracks have been repackaged and re-released countless times over the years, and there's really nothing particularly compelling about this particular package. You do get those gorgeous harmonies, though, and that's the bottom line. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
'Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1'
Release Date 8/20/1996
Tracks 12
Label River North
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The Beach Boys cashed in on the popular boom in country music in the early '90s with Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1, with a twist. Instead of recording a country album themselves, they hired a batch of country vocalists -- ranging from Toby Keith to Willie Nelson and Lorrie Morgan -- to perform the group's old hits. As for the Beach Boys themselves, they provide backing vocals. A handful of singers deliver good performances. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Capitol, which had already released ten Beach Boys albums in three years, was bugging the group for product that it could release in time for the 1965 Christmas season. To buy time while Brian Wilson began conceiving the Pet Sounds masterpiece, the group issued a set of covers, mostly of the '50s rock and R&B they had listened to as schoolboys. Packaged as if it had been recorded at an actual party, it was in fact recorded in the studio, with friends and romantic partners adding sounds and vocals to create an informal atmosphere. With the exception of a bass guitar, all the instruments were acoustic; the acoustic guitar-and-bongo arrangements, in fact, give this a hootenanny campfire feel. In recent years, this album has gone up a few notches in critical esteem, praised for its loose, casual feel and insight into the group's influences. Realistically, though, its present-day appeal lies mostly with dedicated fans of the group, as fun and engaging as it is. Others will find the material shopworn in places, and the presentation too corny. It does have the massive hit "Barbara Ann," which actually features Dean Torrence (of Jan & Dean) on much of the lead vocals; other highlights include "Mountain of Love," an unexpected version of "The Times They Are a-Changin'," and three Beatles covers. [Beach Boys' Party!/Stack-O-Tracks, a Capitol two-fer CD, combines this and Stack-o-Tracks onto one disc, adding three previously unreleased backing tracks to the Stack-O-Tracks half of the program.] ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Beach Boys' success with soundtracks, notably their number one 1988 hit with "Kokomo" from Cocktail, provides the rationale for this hodgepodge of oldies and one-off singles. Their new savior, producer Terry Melcher, helps them sound like a professional '60s cover band. Meanwhile, Brian Wilson has quietly disappeared. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Released when Cream and Jimi Hendrix were at their apex, the low-key pleasantries of Friends seemed downright irrelevant in mid-1968. Today it sounds better, but it's certainly one of the group's more minor efforts, as the members started to divide the songwriting more or less evenly among themselves, rather than letting Brian Wilson provide most of the material. The title track was a charming, if innocuous, minor hit. The bossa nova "Busy Doin' Nothin'" was a subtly subversive piece of rock Muzak, though hindsight reveals a rather worrisome indolence in the lyrics, as penned by Wilson, who was starting to withdraw into his own world. The production and harmonies remained pleasantly idiosyncratic, but there was little substance at the heart of most of the songs. The irony was that Smile had collapsed, in part, because some of the Beach Boys felt that Wilson's increasingly avant-garde leanings would lose their pop audience; yet by the time of Friends, the Beach Boys had done a pretty good job of losing most of their audience by retreating to a less experimental, more group-based approach. [Friends/20/20, a Capitol two-fer CD, combines this and the follow-up 20/20 onto one disc, adding five bonus tracks also cut in the late '60s, highlighted by the minor hit "Break Away," Dennis Wilson's oddly spacy "Celebrate the News," and a cover of "Walk On By."] ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'Keepin' the Summer Alive'
Release Date 1/1/1980
Tracks 10
Label Caribou
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
A low point. Bruce Johnston produces a Beach Boys soundalike album using the actual group, plus 22 other credited musicians, while Carl Wilson collaborates with Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Beach Boys went into their outtakes archive for this cobbled-together collection, which nevertheless features the lovely Brian and Carl Wilson collaboration "Good Timin'." Much of it is mediocre, however, and the nearly 11-minute disco version of "Here Comes the Night" is an embarrassment. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The group's last halfway-good album, sparked by pleasant singing, some unexpected rock cover versions, and funny wordplay by Brian Wilson. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This is a reissue of an album originally released in May 1970 in the U.K. only (as Capitol ST 21715) presenting a live performance by the Beach Boys at Finsbury Park, Astoria, London, on December 1, 1968. It's a reasonable enough portrait of late-'60s Beach Boys live work (the harmonies are wonderful) and an enormous improvement over the 1964 Beach Boys Concert album. At the time of this discount-priced reissue, the album had recently been released for the first time in the U.S. under the title Beach Boys '69. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
