It's been a while since I said anything about a new album, but this one deserves a mention. The Beach Boys are celebrating 50 years of music. They haven't always been together during that time, but there's always been a Beach Boys keeping the name and the music alive. Now the remaining original members have recorded together for the first time in a lot of years, and I really do like the result.Being a geezer, I can remember the excitement generated when the group's first recordings came out of the tiny radio speakers. What great songs those were, especially if you were the right age. They were about what many great songs are about: cars and girls, the summer and the beach. And the group had a great sound. What's scary about this new album is that the sound is exactly the same. These guys are as old as I am, but it's as if they haven't aged a day. Their voices haven't aged, and the music hasn't aged, either. There's nostalgia, sure, but this is timeless stuff. The songs now are more self-aware the the early ones, and don't let that great summer sound fool you: some of them are pretty dark, especially "Summer's Gone" and "Pacific Coast Highway."
If you think the Beach Boys are something from the past, you should give this album a try. I don't know where they'll go from here, but if this is their last recording (and I hope it's not), it's a great one to go out on. Cowabunga!
5 comments:
Looking forward to hearing this. Who woulda thought Brian would outlive his Carl and Dennis?
Another recent "blast from the past" CD is "Let It Be Roberta" with Roberta Flack singing Beatle songs with her mellow, laid-back style. Great for background music while driving, reading, dinner party, etc.
His BROTHERS, Carl and Dennis.
Well, Carl, anyway. Dennis was clearly on his way to an early end from pretty early on. It probably didn't help he was the Cute One.
Didn't Dennis have a thing (lucky him) with Christine McVie? She had to break it off before he dragged her down with him.
Also:
At the time of his death, he was married to Shawn Marie Love (allegedly an illegitimate child of cousin and fellow Beach Boy Mike Love), with whom he had a son, Gage Dennis Wilson (born September 3, 1982). Shawn Wilson died after a 15-year battle with cancer shortly after Gage's 21st birthday. The relationship had caused a rift between the two Beach Boys.
Jeff
I wasn't going to get this, fearing it would disappoint, but you've swayed me, Bill.
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