All Summer Long

[drbeachboy]

The mono Don't Back Down on the US Singles Collection sounds clear and is far superior to the one found on the GV Box Set. As for We'll Run Away, I don't know of a mono mix on any CD. Can I assume that you ripped the track from the mono LP?

[JaredLekites]

The mono Don't Back Down on the US Singles Collection sounds clear and is far superior to the one found on the GV Box Set. As for We'll Run Away, I don't know of a mono mix on any CD. Can I assume that you ripped the track from the mono LP?

I do indeed have the mono LP (I have actually acquired all of Brian's mono mixes on decent quality vinyl). I also think that "Drive-In" has a better balance in mono but it's fun to hear the vocals in stereo (and if you re-eq it to add more emphasis on the bottom end then it's not that bad).

[drbeachboy]

Same thing with "Do You Remember", I love the little guitar licks on the stereo mix that are either lacking or dubbed way down on the mono mix. As with "Drive-In", the whole All Summer Long album is a fun listen. Though there may be filler, it is pretty good filler. I can listen straight through, though I do sometimes skip "Our Favorite Recoding Sessions". I always feel like I am listening to a time capsule of 1964 every time I play the album. One of the Boys very best albums!

[Don_Zabu]

Cabinessence.net seems to have this weird hard-on for "Don't Back Down". Check it out:

http://cabinessence.net/tracks/files/d/dont_back_down.shtml

[drbeachboy]

I didn't read anything there to come to your conclusion. It was rather short, though I concur about the coda. Mr. Britz cut short a lot of cool endings (the stereo "Fun, Fun, Fun" is another example). Could you please elaborate a little further on your comment?

[Don_Zabu]

I didn't read anything there to come to your conclusion. It was rather short, though I concur about the coda. Mr. Britz cut short a lot of cool endings (the stereo "Fun, Fun, Fun" is another example). Could you please elaborate a little further on your comment?

I dunno, the stuff like "Very brief, yet brilliant surf song." and "ten times more fascinating than 'Surf's Up"? Just seemed odd to me.

[drbeachboy]

Gotcha! Well, that was a quote from Rolling Stone's Dave Marsh.  He writes/wrote very bizarre reviews, IMHO. Nothing like a good back handed compliment.  Praise "Don't Back Down" while knocking "Surf's Up". Completely unrelated songs. Maybe Marsh believed "Surf's Up" was a surfing tune.

[Paulos]

Both great songs in different ways, vey strange to make any comparisons between them. I do love all three versions of Don't Back Down though, something strangely compelling about it.

[Alex]

Both great songs in different ways, vey strange to make any comparisons between them. I do love all three versions of Don't Back Down though, something strangely compelling about it.

Three versions? I've only heard 2.

[Paulos]

The version on the Good Vibrations box set is in mono and is slightly longer as its faded out slower than the album version so I regard this as an alternate version.

[hypehat]

Today, I dragged my turntable out to the garden, stuck this on, cracked open a beer.... bliss

[Surfing Moose]

I gave it a 4 with a fat extra point.

It's one of my favorite, I really love the titel track and Wendy

[Magic City Surfer]

All Summer Long is a great album.  Today might still edge it out as the best pre-PS album because of the increased sophistication Brian was bringing to the productions by that time, but I love ASL.

The earlier albums have some great songs but are also brought down by bad songs and blatant filler. With ASL, the filler really started going away. It's a complete album full of great songs.

Where earlier albums might give you 2 or 3 classics (although Surfer Girls comes in strong with the title cut, Little Deuce Coupe, In My Room and Catch A Wave), you get a whole bunch:

I Get Around, All Summer Long, Little Honda and Wendy all are All-Timers with Hushabye, We'll Run Away, Do You Remember and At The Drive-In all on my list of personal favorites.

I see Don't Back Down as kind of the odd track out because I feel like the band had moved past surfing songs by this point.  But the tune is still very catchy.  I love Brian's part in the chorus ("You gotta be a little nuts...")

For the Fun & Sun albums, you can't go wrong with ASL.

I'm not sure of the exact order, but ASL, Today and Pet Sounds are my top three BB albums.

A solid 5 from me.

[drbeachboy]

All Summer Long is great album. It is a real snapshot in time. It captures the summer of 1964 perfectly. I've always ranked it my No. 3 favorite behind Today and Sunflower.

[SMiLE Brian]

One of their best albums by far of pure pop heaven with songs like hushabye, we'll run away , and i get around.  The LP (strangely with the don't break down cover misprint) with the mono mix is worth way more than the 25 cents I bought it for at a yard sale.

[goldstar]

New to this wonderful board and thought this was a good place to start...

Love this record. Really not a bad track on it. I know it's not the most popular track, but I actually love the way "Favorite Sessions" works in the context of things... really brings the whole thing together... this is a concept album, without question!!  by lyric, by feel, by tone, and explicitly with the way "Sessions" recalls a few snippets you just heard.. brilliant!! the key is that it's not the closer (like "Big Daddy" is for Today).. it's merely a segue...

Of course, famously, Brian always hypes Rubber Soul up as the first true album he'd heard... but I think he forgot to notice that he'd already accomplished the whole album-as-an-artform thing with ASL.

 

[myonlysunshine]

I love All Summer Long. The first four songs featured on side one are fantastic - I Get Around, All Summer Long, Hushabye, and Little Honda all blew me away when I first listened to them on this album. We'll Run Away is probably one of the prettiest ballads Brian has ever done and I like Carl's Big Chance as a way to close the first side.

Side two is good, but for some reason I don't enjoy some of the songs as much. Wendy is nice, but a few of the other songs on side two don't really do it for me. I'm not a fan of Do You Remember?, or Drive In. Our Favorite Recording Sessions, while of course being blatant filler, is kind of amusing to listen to compared to some similar tracks that came out on other albums (Bull Sessions with Big Daddy).

I do like the alternate version of Don't Back Down that was featured on the Capitol twofers better than the one featured on the album. Go figure.

I'd give the album a 4. An excellent effort from Brian and the Boys, but the best was yet to come.

[MyGlove]

i wrote my first song after listening to this album for the first time. its dripping with inspiration as much as pet sounds is. i still don't think some of the tracks were necessary such as Our Favorite Recording Sessions. but the songs here make up for it. still gave it a 5.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Terrific album - 5 stars. Pure joy from start to finish. Great album cover also!

[southbay]

Not their best (although certainly close), but this album has always been my personal favorite.  Just absolutely reeks of a youthful summer.  For me, it was the summer of 1984. I was 16 and this was the first Beach Boys album I ever bought.  I was hooked.

[musicismylife101]

Brian's vocals on Hushabye and We'll Run Away =  Played We'll Run Away on repeat a lot because I couldn't get enough of it. That "anyhow" at the end of the song was just....

[bluesno1fann]

Easily the Beach Boys's most overrated album.

All Summer Long is a gem, We'll Run Away, Wendy and I Get Around are also great, although the latter has been flogged to death.

Other than that, the album isn't that good at all. In my opinion at least.

2.5/5

[RiC]

I really don't like that much of these pre-Today! albums. There's couple awesome songs here and there, like I Get Around here. I don't mind that much of Girls on the Beach or the title track or even Wendy. It's still listenable, so 3/5.

Oh and Do You Remember RULES!

[Mr. Wilson]

The best overall album to this point..5/5  Well lets see I was 12 yrs old + in 7th grade.. And I wore those striped shirts for a few yrs..

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

Picked up the original German pressing of this album today. What a treat! One of the boys finest no doubt - 4/5 - tempted to throw in an extra half point just for the cover and Als line about tranquilizers.