All Summer Long

[Jonas]

Just had this on at work...agreed on all counts. Such a great album.

[matt-zeus]

Brilliant, my favourite of the early albums (before Today), the vocals in particular are lush and full sounding.

[thomasogg]

It's a good, not great, album. Some of the tracks aren't particuarly impressive (I'm not a fan of 'Do You Remember'), but the good ones are very, VERY good (I Get Around, All Summer Long, Wendy, Drive-In) and thus make it a solid 4. It's probably their best pre-Today album, but not my personal favourite (though it's far less coherent and considerably more flawed, Shut Down 2 has all my very favourite early BB tracks on it (Don't Worry Baby, Warmth of Sun, In Parkin' Lot) and so i'd pick that as my fave..) Oh, and they shoulda added 'Dressed Up For School' - a great track! - instead of 'Our Fave Recording Sessions'..

[lance]

Good record and the template for...what the Beach Boys are now. Some rockin' songs, some cool ballads. The only song I don't like is "Recording Sessiosn" but I made my own copy so I don't have to bother with skipping it. Oh, I don't get into Do You Remember, either. It seems more like an exercise to me than a song.

[Aegir]

"Do You Remember" is such a cookie-cutter Beach Boys song to me, not lyrics-wise, but just musically it's so "let's keep milking this damn formula until it's dry". If this was released on 15 Big Ones or MIU I would've been like, "Cool, they've still got it." But in 1964, they never lost it, and their potential was so much better.

[Ana-Lu]

The mono version of this album blows the stereo away.  It was really a rip off that they used the stereo mix for the CD.

[southbay]

If I could only have one album to listen to for the rest of my life, this would be it.  Not Pet Sounds, not Smile, Not Today. They may be "better" albums, but All SUmmer Long is my favorite. I love the feel I have when it plays.

[Wrightfan]

4 out of 5. Basically, I feel the same about this album as I do about Shut Down, Vol 2.

I Get Around
All Summer Long
Wendy
Little Honda
Hushabye
Don't Back Down
We'll Run Away
Girls on the Beach
Drive-In
Carl's Big Chance
Do You Remember?
Our Favorite Recording Sessions

[lance]

"Do You Remember" is such a cookie-cutter Beach Boys song to me, not lyrics-wise, but just musically it's so "let's keep milking this damn formula until it's dry". If this was released on 15 Big Ones or MIU I would've been like, "Cool, they've still got it." But in 1964, they never lost it, and their potential was so much better.

Just listened to it, though, and I kind of like the guitar on the right speaker--a lot, in fact. It's groovy.

[DonnaK]

A definite 5 from me. Has to be the all time BEST summer album. Especially love All Summer Long and the Girls on the Beach~~~~

I believe in the California Myth!

[The Heartical Don]

5. No question about it. It ranks up there where the air is rare, with, um, 'Looking Back With Love'.

[Alex]

The mono version of this album blows the stereo away.  It was really a rip off that they used the stereo mix for the CD.

Humans have 2 ears, why not utilize both of them? For some reason, I've never liked the Beach Boys in mono. Too muddy-sounding. A lot of the layers are lost in BB mono mixes. I prefer the stereo remix of "All Summer Long" from Warmth of the Sun. The only song on All Summer Long needing a stereo mix now is "I Get Around", and I'll be looking forward to it.

[lance]

wont happen the vocals are lost ala good vibrations.

[Alex]

wont happen the vocals are lost ala good vibrations.

At least a stereo instrumental track would be cool. I HATE mono!

[grillo]

wont happen the vocals are lost ala good vibrations.

At least a stereo instrumental track would be cool. I HATE mono!

You've got to pull it together man! Mono is part of what pulled me in deeper to the BB world. I remember being a kid and listening to my Mom's copy of Pet sounds and not understanding what instruments could be making those sounds. It made me listen over and over. The New stereo mixes are pretty great too. But mono, man, is where it's at.

[TdHabib]

wont happen the vocals are lost ala good vibrations.

At least a stereo instrumental track would be cool. I HATE mono!

Listening to some records in Mono/Stereo, PS and Sgt. Pepper just thinking of two, are completely different listening experiences to me anyway. It was earth-shattering. Do your ears a favor (if you haven't already) and listen to any PS track in mono and then in stereo. The clarity in stereo may be better, but I think that mono will be preferable. Oh well, to each is own.

[lance]

Pet Sounds does sound better in mono,i just have the mono/stereo version, I realize it's not the best versionin the world, blah, blah, but I like it. I think most of their early stuff better in mono except for Surfin' USA.

[Aegir]

Stereo is good if you're into the musical-recording-instrumental-production end of things, where you want to zero in on certain elements of the song in your mind. Mono is good if you just want the big picture.

[the captain]

I'd say stereo is good if you want a different kind of big picture.

[sockittome]

I prefer stereo because it sounds more real to me.  There's more depth and dimension.  I realize the early stereo is in no ways perfect, but then when was the last time you heard a live band in perfect stereo?  You got sounds coming at ya from all sides, but at least it isn't all coming straight at you all in one single burst!

[Alex]

Pet Sounds does sound better in mono,i just have the mono/stereo version, I realize it's not the best versionin the world, blah, blah, but I like it. I think most of their early stuff better in mono except for Surfin' USA.

Definitely sounds better in stereo! The mono version sounds muddy as hell.

[lance]

It's good in stereo, but I think I prefer the mono version. I'm no mono snob or anything, it's just that it moves me more, draws me in more, somehow. My emotional response is higher.

 In stereo PET SOUNDS I tend to get hung up on details, like the way the background vocals sound. I don't know why, because usually that doesn't happen to me, I listen to music for emotional reasons, not to analyze it, but it does with that. I get lost and can't see the forest for the trees on Pet Sounds stereo.

But everything prior to sixty five definitely sounds better in mono to me, I can't stand those Chuck Britz stereo mixes. The only good thing I can say is that they sound better than the Beatles' stereo mixes of the same time.

[LetHimRun]

4.5, but no rounding to 5. More consistent than SD Vol2, but still some tracks that keep it down.

5/5 I Get Around
5/5 ASL
4.5/5 Hushabye
4.5/5 Little Honda
4.5/5 We'll Run Away
3.5/5 Carl's Big Chance
4.5/5 Wendy
3.5/5 Do You Remember
5/5 Girl's on the Beach
4/5 Drive In
N/A Record Sessions
5/5 Don't Back Down

[Nicko]

Along with Surfer Girl, a contender for the best early BBs album. As always there is some filler, but the likes of I Get Around, Don't Back Down, Hushabye and the title track more than make up for it.

3 out of 5.

[JaredLekites]

For me, All Summer Long is possibly the most satisfying Beach Boys album made before Brian really went all out with his productions. Not to say the production of the album is unambitious; Brian had a lot of good tricks up his sleeve for a lot of the songs. I love the sequencing of the album but I could really do without "Our Favorite Recording Sessions".

In fact, if you remove "..Recording Sessions" and put "Carl's Big Chance" in it's spot, it would be a perfect summer album. Some may argue that you could lose "Carl's Big Chance" entirely but of the few beach rock instrumentals they recorded, it's easily the best. At least IMHO.

So there's my All Summer Long CD-R:

I Get Around [mono]

All Summer Long [mono]

Hushabye [stereo remix on SUMMER LOVE SONGS]

Little Honda [original stereo mix]

We'll Run Away [the mono mix has better balance between vocals and instruments]

Wendy [If you want coughing, the original stereo mix, if you don't there's a remix on THE WARMTH OF THE SUN CD]

Do You Remember? [stereo mix]

Girls On The Beach [stereo mix]

Drive-In [stereo mix]

Carl's Big Chance [stereo mix]

Don't Back Down [the mono mix is longer but most digital transfers of it suffer from a certain 'swishing' caused by playing the tape back on a stereo machine and then summing the output to mono]