I thought this one was a pretyy honest review, although not giving enough mention to the suite on the latter parts of the album.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Beach+Boys+Those+lazy+days+summer/6728030/story.htmlThe Beach Boys
That’s Why God Made the Radio
Capitol
three out of five
It’s hard not to feel a bit insulted as the reunited Beach Boys tip their hand about this whole 50th-anniversary venture four songs in on their first album in 20 years to feature new material.
“Summer weather / We’re back together / Easy money, ain’t life funny / Hey what’s it to ya / Hallelujah,” sing Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston, with early member David Marks on guitar, in Spring Vacation.
For the most part, this shallow-end disc takes the easy way out suggested by those nose-thumbing lines, wallowing in trite lyrics about carefree days on the beach, summer romances and general nostalgia. The music often follows suit, helped along by slick arrangements and sanded-down production. (Wilson is credited as producer, with Love as executive producer.)
The album’s title track has been around for over a month, and it’s quite the stunner, harmonically and melodically. Even though the song’s lyrics bizarrely use the present tense to evoke a world where the car radio provides life’s soundtrack, it’s a beautiful vision of what the whole album might have been.
But hope fades slightly with opening track Think About the Days, as fully intact voices wrap themselves around sweet, wordless harmony and then blemish the moment with Muzak piano tinkling.
The glory days are frequently brought up: Good Vibrations is cheaply alluded to in Spring Vacation, Darlin’ is lazily rewritten in the chorus of Shelter and Daybreak Over the Ocean seems, at points, reminiscent of Breakaway. Problem is, this album – which is not nearly as satisfying as Wilson’s 2008 solo disc That Lucky Old Sun – doesn’t belong in the company of classics. Isn’t it a mistake, then, to keep reminding us of the back catalogue?
And yet, let’s face it: those harmonies! It’s impossible not to get swept away when they launch the chorus of the otherwise pedestrian The Private Life of Bill and Sue straight to the stars or elevate the already-wonderful Strange World into pop heaven. The years seem to have done no damage to that incomparable vocal blend.
More redemption comes with From There to Back Again, an unusual Wilson suite that could have been a true contender with a riskier arrangement. But the general feeling here is that no one really wants to make waves.
More’s the pity.
Podworthy: That’s Why God Made the Radio
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