The Smiley Smile Message Board

I mean, I Get Around, All Summer Long, We'll Run Away, Wendy, and Don't Back Down are good or very good songs. I love We'll Run Away.

But the rest of the album? ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Do You Remember, Girls on the Beach, Drive-In, Our Favorite Recording Sessions - you can't get a worse span of four songs than that on any album by anyone ever.

except that Girls On The Beach is one of the greatest songs ever written.

I wouldn't go that far, but it certainly is beautiful.

All Summer Long (the album) is lightyears ahead of the first two albums. A little better or even with Surfer Girl, LDC, and Shut Down 2.

and Drive-In is one of Brian's favorite tunes. I rank All Summer Long second after Today as far as pre-Pet Sounds albums go, and probably rank it 5 or 6 overall. That album just encapsulates the Summer of 1964 perfectly.

Hushabye is excellent too. Our Favorite is stupid but the rest is a lot of fun. Drive In, Do You Remember, and Girls, aren't the top rank of the songs on there, but they work in context and  it's still an amazing album imho.

Girls On The Beach is so great that it's the only Vocaloid cover I've ever been able to find for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95duyvWIgvc

Along with Surfer Girl, it's the best of the pre-Today albums.

I think in terms of 'teenage coolness', ALL SUMMER LONG is second only to SUMMER DAYS (AND SUMMER NIGHTS!!) - and just because SDASN is more sophisticated in every way, while ASL is more like the raw deal. But it's great. So great. "Do You Remember?" is simple but fun, "Girls On The Beach" is as beautiful as any beach-themed ballad Brian ever wrote, "Drive-In" is a personal favourite of mine (it's so energetic) and "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" is.. well, "Our Favorite Recording Sessions". Obvious filler, but a child of its time nonetheless, and for some reason those early filler tracks with the boys in the recording studio always seemed fitting to me on these LPs.
Oh, and the obvious stand-out tracks you have already mentioned.  Add the stunning "Hushabye" and one of my earliest BBs favourites, "Little Honda", and you got a damn fine album.  :)

Bottom line: ALL SUMMER LONG kicks ass.

Girls on the beach would fit nicely on that "forced songs" thread, i always skip it.  I'm not big on the album either, minus the ones aegir posted.  I'm not even crazy for Wendy, but well run away is pure classic.

That's because she's a cheatin' bitch.

In many ways this is the quintessential Beach Boys album. Pet Sounds is more sophisticated, Sunflower is a greater team effort, Endless Summer sold more copies, but All Summer Long is the definition of what made the Beach Boys great. Released in the summer of 1964, it sparkles with harmonic magic, and it exudes an irresistible zest for fun. The songs offer a sweetly framed window into the lives and feelings of California boys and girls. The album captures its place and time so perfectly that with every listen you are transported there again.

All Summer Long shows a continuing maturation of the Beach Boys sound. An increased complexity in the arrangements is integrated. The Beach Boys themselves still play the majority of the instruments heard on the tracks, but saxophones, piccolo, marimba, and timbales are among the added seasoning. The album begins with the megahit single “I Get Around,” which reached the number-one position on the Billboard chart on July 4, 1964. “I Get Around” features one of the most progressive musical and vocal arrangements of its time. There was a shiny space-age quality to the song’s overall sound. Exciting sax and percussion flourishes accent the beat, and a killer Carl Wilson guitar solo propels the song forward like a rocket. The lyrics written by Mike Love have gained an iconic familiarity that perfectly communicates the somewhat hedonistic concerns of the teen cruising culture.

Following the sonic onslaught of “I Get Around,” the album continues with an unforgettable string of classic Brian Wilson songs. The wistful title track is somehow instantly nostalgic, and recounts the pure fun that filled those carefree days of summer. “Hushabye” is a cover of a doo-wop oldie that the Beach Boys completely make their own with one of the most beautiful and dramatic group harmony performances ever. “Little Honda” is joyous garage rock, with the Beach Boys, as a band, rocking out to one of Brian’s catchiest songs, and one of Mike’s best lead vocals. The melancholy “We’ll Run Away” could be Brian’s most underrated ballad, and his heartfelt lead vocal is one of his greatest. The hook-filled “Wendy” could have been a giant hit single. It is both progressive-sounding musically, and a throwback to the ’50s with its “we went together for so long” sentiment. “Girls on the Beach” shows off Brian’s incredible vocal-arranging skill, with complex group blends and multiple key changes. Dennis’s brief solo vocal in the middle section is one of the album’s most soulful moments. “Don’t Back Down” provides one last burst of bravado extolling the insane thrill of surfing giant waves.
All Summer Long was a hugely successful album, reaching #4 on the charts, but even more impressive was the fact that it remained in the U.S. Top Forty for over nine months. Another factor that solidified its classic status was the wonderful cover, which absolutely shimmers with the aura of summer and fun. To see the boys and their girls, enjoying the beach and each other, and actually having fun all summer long, somehow made the music better. There is an undeniable fleeting quality that is projected, and it’s a bittersweet sensation. As Dennis writes on the back cover, “It won’t last forever . . . but the memories will.” It didn’t, and they did.

All Summer Long = My Favorite Beach Boys LP.

Why create a post about your least favorite Beach Boys LP? Seems you could have given your opinion on the albums threads. It should have gone in the Album, Book and Video review area.

Shame, that has to be my favorite early album.

It always blows my mind when someone that posts here a ton says something that makes no sense. The Beach Boys themselves have several albums with a span of four songs much worse than the likes of GOTB or Drive In. Have you not heard MIU or BB 85? .............and you say by anyone ever? ANYONE?...........really? If I closed my eyes and walked into a used record shop the first random thing I picked would almost certainly suck in comparison to All Summer Long.

But then, I still think Smiley Smile is a train wreck overall and I know a lot of my brethren here think I'm nuts for that.

The only thing I could think in response to the first post is, "no".  I realize taste is subjective, but this is just wrong.







Also, Summer in Paradise.

you are missing out my friend!

there's a lushness there that you just don't find in all that many BBs tunes... heavenly.
and the entire song is worth it just for Denny's soulful lead on the bridge, as Jon pointed out above.

great review Jon!

Short (very) story.  In 1985 I was 17.  Driving in my car and heard Getcha Back on the radio.  I went to the record store and bought the then brand new 1985 album (my first Beach Boys album of any kind). The next day I went back and bought All Summer Long. It always reminds me of that first summer I discovered the Beach Boys, it was the perfect summer album for a teenager discovering their music, even 20 years after it was recorded. All Summer Long remains my favorite album to this day.

Wow, utterly and totally disagree!

Do You Remember? - Great rock n roll pastiche and love the name dropping, Elvis, Chuck Berry etc.
Girls On The Beach - The opening harmonies are majestic and as other people have mentioned, Dennis' 'the sun in her hair...' line gives me goosebumps.
Drive-In - Love the sleigh-bells, the backing vocals and the silences which foreshadowed The Little Girl I Once Knew
Our Favorite Recording Sessions - Ok, I'll concede that this is filler but it's the best of the 3 'in the studio tracks' and it's great how that piano note at the end is in the same key as the song that follows.

All Summer Long is so awesome some people do whole Master's theses on it:

http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=22458&local_base=GEN01-MCG02

There's even an interesting analysis in it of the album cover, which I agree is wonderful

I love that album What do you want to do? Punish me?

I must admit that Drive-In is one of the band's most underrated songs. It's total, utter nonsense but it's a fuckload of fun. When Brian started playing the song in concert, it was a real treat. Brian would ham it up in true Brian Wilson style, as well. It's a fucking classic. Deal with it.

Little Honda (alternate take) is one my favorite Beach Boys song right now. Brian's falsetto in that is awesome.

Oh my f*cking lord.

There's a reason George Lucas played All Summer Long at the end of American Graffiti (an American film).  It captured the innocence and happiness of summertime better than any song I can think of, it's pure Beach Boys magic.

That was my reaction, but with a much larger number of four-letter descriptive adjectives.

I can't believe that at least one of the following isn't worse than ASL: 15BOs, MIU, LA, KTSA, BB85, Still Cruisin', and SIP.

Only Surfin' USA (#2), Summer Days(#2), and TWGMTR (#3) charted higher than ASL (#4).

LA is about equal. The rest are either below (The Beach Boys), really below (15 Big Ones, MIU, Still Cruisin', Summer In Paradise), or compost (Keepin' the Summer Alive).

alright, I guess I wrote "you can't get a worse span of four songs than that on any album by anyone ever" and the extended "ughhh" just to be reactionary, but I stand by everything else.

But yes, I like MIU better than All Summer Long. I like Summer in Paradise better than All Summer Long. I like Country Love better than All Summer Long. None of those other albums I mentioned have four songs I don't care for. Girls on the Beach would be a decent song if it wasn't for the fact that Brian already wrote that song before, it's called Surfer Girl.

I love every Beach Boys album, so one of them has to be the worst. Some of the songs on Summer in Paradise are a little boring and they're all very uncool, but they're more hooky and less annoying than "Drive-In".

Same, but wow did that song amazed me first time i heard it!

My first Beach Boys record was Endless Summer, it was the first time i owned an Beach Boys vinyl and listened to a full lp (tho it's an compilation.. so it's not my 'first Beach Boys album", right)
and i will always remember my very FIRST listen of that record on my turntable, especially when Girls On The Beach came in, wow, those voices.. i thought the band was in my room! sucha  great vibe, totally love that song.

ban.



Girls on the Beach is actually a much more complicated song than Surfer Girl, despite having a similar verse melody.

lol.
This whole thread is lol. He must be trolling.

And yeah, who cannot love the amazing modulation in 'Girls on the Beach'.

That's like saying Brian already wrote Pet Sounds, it's called Today!.

I refuse to believe that All Summer Long could be any Beach Boys' fan's least favorite album.

Zig, Endless Summer was the first LP I ever bought. Beginning of a lifelong addiction.

I've always admired GOTB more than liked it, but would never skip a chance to hear it.

For me, Don't Back Down makes up for all the filler on All Summer Long. I remember hearing it for the first time on a friend or relative's Spirit of America and thinking, "Wow, it's a hit that wasn't a hit." I was stoked to hear it live this time 'round.

Of the early albums, I've always felt that Little Deuce Coupe was the strongest as a complete album. No filler.

Filler is a word that entirely misunderstands the context in which these albums were released. There is no filler. ALL Summer Long is a perfect, silly, beautiful, and complete statement. It comes as close to anything as a definition of what the essence of the Beach Boys is.

To dislike ASL, to me, is the same as saying you don't like the Beach Boys.

Any album that boasts "I Get Around", "All Summer Long", "Hushabye", "Little Honda", We'll Run Away", "Wendy", "Girls On The Beach" and "Don't Back Down" is already a candidate for one of the best albums of the early 60's.

The only real filler on this album, to me, is "Carl's Big Chance" and "Our Favorite Recording Sessions", the latter being more of a comedy sketch than a song. I don't find "Drive In" annoying at all. It's a fun song and now even somewhat poignant since that entire drive-in culture has vanished.

The worst of "All Summer Long" is at least endearing or humorous...which is more than can be said for Summer In Paradise with it's downright disgusting "Summer Of Love" and horrendous cover version of "Under The Boardwalk" and the band's open rape of "Forever". They even managed to make "Surfin' ", a song I enjoy more for it's historical value than it's own merit, into the equivalent of musical sh*t. Those four abortions alone are worse than anything on any other Beach Boy's record (that's not to say that I don't enjoy parts of Summer In Paradise...).    

Nope. It's filler. It's called trying to make too many albums too fast. Another symptom of that is putting several songs on multiple albums.

All Summer Long is a classic. My least favorite BB album would be anything to do with Christmas (sorry, I know there will be complaints about that too).

See, to me, dragging an album critique into the realm of rape and abortions seems a tiny bit more worthy of backlash than someone simply saying "ugggghhhhhh".

And I'm saying this as someone who basically agrees about those tracks!

No offence,
Jon Blum

The banter when they introduced it on the Opera House tour down here was priceless.

Jeff:  "This next number is one of Brian's faaaaaaavorite songs..."
Brian:  "It is NOT!"

Suddenly everyone on stage was about twelve years old...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

When he played it in Philadelphia in '06 on the tour with Al, he sang the second verse like this...

"A big buttered popcorn and an extra large Coke, a few chili dogs AND MAN I'M GOING BRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

At the drive-in...at the drive-in..."

I disagree. They're songs, not people. As such, I'm speaking in the abstract because it's impossible to actually "rape" or "abort" something that isn't alive or even tangible. Strong language to illustrate strong opinions on things that, at the end of the day, aren't even important.  Take it in the spirit it's given....I don't actively hate even the worst of the Beach Boys catalog.  :)

NEVERMINDFUCK FUCKFUCKFUCk

Also, I've tried and tried, but I cannot get into "Wendy". At all. The rest of the album is A-OK with me ^_^ "Girls On The Baech" is indeed very much like "Surfer Girl", but there's enough in there to make it a worthwhile composition by itself, most notably for Dennis' bridge section.

I disagree,  I think "girls on the beach" is to "surfer girl" as "our sweet love" is to "god only knows".  Slightly forced attempts to recapture a type of tune.  That said, i think girls on the beach pulls it off better than our sweet love did.  

This thread sucks really. The album helped build and shape Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys=END OF IT!!
Great Album!!!

I don't get the "Brian was obviously trying to cop an older song" accusations, especially in the case of "Our Sweet Love". Did anyone aside from bigger fans give a shit about "God Only Knows" until Jesus McCartney said it was his favorite song 20 or 30 years ago? I don't think it was a huge hit or anything, so why bother trying to "recapture" it?

If you're a songwriter, you know you're gonna write a song or two that's remarkably similar to another one at some point. Some choose to discard them, some choose to recognize that both songs have their merits and their place and release both. I'm a fan of folks who choose to do the latter.

it was number 2 in the UK right?  Well then i take back that it was attempts, but it still sounds like a lesser version to me.  This was one of my first thoughts when I heard it, just not a fan.

It hit the Top 40 as a frickin' B-side.  In countries where it was the A-side, it was huge (#2 in Britain).  So yeah, people cared about it.  Not that I think Brian writing a similar sort of song is a problem!

Cheers,
Jon Blum

I love that album, although I'll admit Do you Remember took a while to mark its territory. Its all about the guitars in that song, I mean, that's what finally sold me on it. The overal track just rocks. I LOVE Drive In, I think it's as iconic as All Summer Long in a way. And yeah, I love that album. I am also one who is not as sold on Wendy as much as others--I like it, but it migiht be my least favorite song on the album. The opening is great. If I imagine Peter Pan singing it, then I like it better.

what's to dislike aboout "Wendy"?


and I don't really see much similarity between "God Only Knows" and "Our Sweet Love" other than they are both gorgeous ballads

Just not my cup of tea, and I know it mostly comes down to personal preference over the song just being bad outright. I'll spare the strange, unrelated imagery it brings up for me personally, but yeah. I will say it's probably the only instance of a Brian vocal that I really dislike in the band's entire discography. Verse lyrics aren't too bright, either. Just me. The organ solo is so frigging cool, though, even if it grates the ears a bit.

That's one where Brian's chord changes are just out of this word. I mean, nobody but Brian comes up with changes, modulations like that. And then THOSE voices singing it....how could any BB's fan not love this?

weird ... you names like half the album being good, then said it's your least favorite! I mean, the Beach Boys have some really awful records, but this is nowhere near any of them.

I don't listen to pre-Today stuff that often, but I play All Summer Long all the time because there isn't a dud on there! Every song is pretty great as far as I'm concerned. I prefer the mono LP though -- the mono mix has balls.

Wendy: I don't dislike it, Im just not as gung ho about it as others seem to be. I like Drive-In a LOT more.

Some of you guys are weird. All Summer Long is pop masterpiece. Aside from the obvious (I Get Around, the title track, Wendy - yes, definately Wendy!), it's of a consistently high quality throughout and even the throwaway Our Favourite... is probably the best - or rather, the most enjoyable - of these 'BB's in the studio' out-take tracks that cropped up on their early records.

Have you heard The Descendants' cover of Wendy? I liked the song before, but that cover taught me how to love it.

I think 'Do You Remember' rocks and consider it to be the underrated gem on the album. I am too a big fan of the album, especially 'Wendy' and 'Hushabye'.

eh, they're just both kinda built around a steady piano chord progression, and similar pace.  The song just never hit me as anything special.  And that part in our sweet love where the guitar plays the melody, hum that melody to yourself, and then hum "i may not always love you" melody; they do have a similar rhythm. 

And also the ending of things, while yearning for it to continue (innocence, youth, a political era). Features perfectly at the end of American Graffiti, which basically is a story about all kinds of things ending.

It's my favourite movie "of all time", as they say.  :)

Just like the narrator after losing her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jv_XR6RMAI

^_^

lawl, my bad :'( still. I'd guess there were other, more successful songs to cop if he was gonna do it for the sake of having a hit. But hay, who knows.

Why the frickity frick was God Only Knows only a b-side in the US? Who made that genius move?  :-\

Again, I have to reiterate how amazing this Wendy cover is, ugh, I love it so much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srQhGvkW_JQ  :rock

Some stuff just isn't gonna sell with the general public regardless of how great it is, especially given how they weren't very far removed from "Barbara Ann" blowing up. It happens.

I think if Wouldn't it Be Nice had been pushed well enough it would've again quashed the general public's view that the band was a bunch of good for nothing but Barbara Ann-ers before it got too out of hand. After all, WIBN isn't too far removed from the commercial appeal of Rhonda which they managed to top the charts with. It's got all of the same bells and whistles coated in a finer finish, right down to the syn-co-pation of the vocals. Had that happened and the public latched on, I don't think it's too hard to imagine a God Only Knows A-side following up that single and being unsuccessful.

I will say that all summer long is my favorite cover  ;D

Sorry you feel that way, Aegir.  It's one of my essentials along with Little Deuce Coupe, Surfin' USA and Surfer Girl.

Girls on the Beach shoulda been a vocals only track on the ASL album...it's hard to hear the backing track...really, it's not needed, imo

The bass line descends by half steps while the chords change dramatically. That's the biggest similarity. Also it's not firmly in one key. It's not melodically similar or anything, it's just that it's a very similar songwriting approach to "God Only Knows."

And I love the All Summer Long album, so much.

Everything should be looked at for the context of that time. The Beach Boys made consistently good albums from '62 thru '72 without question; Surfin Safari was good, Surfin USA was great, Surfer Girl-great, Little Deuce Coupe-fantastic, Shut Down Vol2-decent, All Summer Long-great, Today-phenomenal, Summer Days-brilliant, Pet Sounds-stupendous, Smiley Smile-great, Wild Honey-great, Friends-good, 20/20-great, Sunflower-great, Surf's Up-good, Holland-good.... after that is where it starts to taper off- 15 Big Ones was a great album but half covers so some people felt a little ripped off I guess, Love You was great and like I said and I think most would agree after that it gets really hit&miss.

? ? ?

I'm with Jon in this regard: All Summer Long is really the ultimate, as in "last," Beach Boys album. Soon afterwards, Brian started wandering off the rez. It's the Beach Boys at their single-minded, focussed peak. By Today, Brian was already thinking outside the box, Summer Days was sort of a return to the formula after Brian had glimpsed wider musical horizons, Party was a stall, and Pet Sounds was Pet Sounds, my favorite. But on ASL, Brian hadn't yet started questioning things, and was there 100%, running the operation with total commitment and blossoming chops.
Also, "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" was typical for BB albums of the time. There was filler junk on every BB album of the period ("Bull Session with Big Daddy," anyone?). But Jeez, cut young Brian some slack; his output was nuts in these days. We can forgive a little filler, no?
Quintessential, indeed.

One of their best pre Pet Sounds thats for sure, But Im sure nobody can honestly say they like MIU, KTSA, SIP more than this.

I agree to a point where you cant say its a great album with songs like Drive In, Carls Big Chance, or the awful Do You Remember, where they just name check past rock and roll greats(Hey it sucked when the Ramones did it too, even with Phil Spector producing it)

But it did have some great songs on it, some of the best of their career to that date in my opinion.

I love the organ music, the bridge on Wendy.  That's a full blown song, all the voices are letting it out, on Wendy. Getting dumped by a girl named Wendy, oh the pain.

I concur
(http://hollywoodjesus.com/movie/catch_me_if/32.jpg)

I seriously can't fathom someone who calls themselves a Beach Boys fan passing on Girls On The Beach and Wendy.  I can understand preferring their later material...but those are great f***ing songs.

All Summer Long is the quintessential Beach Boys album, regardless of whether Today!, Pet Sounds and Smile are better and more complex lyrically/musically.  It is the album that defines who and what the group were at the zenith of their popularity and there's nothing particularly wrong with that.

WIIIEEEHHHNNNDDDEEEEE

That's alright, Aegir. Everyone has their own opinion. Even though in my opinion it's amazing. I personally can't stand to listen to much of 15 Big Ones. Yet a lot of people here really like it.

I must admit ASL is my least favorite BBs pre-PS album. Gosh, even Surfin' Safari and Party get my vote!!! Except IGA, the t/t and GOTB, there's nothing special on All Summer Long in my book.   

Personally, ASL is one of my favourite BB albums-Top 5 easily.

It has no. 1 hit and a handful of songs that sum up the time they were written in so excellently, I don't need to have lived in 1964. I can imagine 'putting my buddies in the boot' or dreading that it 'won't be long til summer time is through'

One question-does anyone know what recording sessions their favourites were? I know the note played on the piano at the end is the first note on Don't Back Down but I'm curious if it's been established where the others are from