So, rather go into the huge amount of detail that I'd like to go into, I'm going to give a VERY brief overview of the band's history so that I can cover the important stuff, rather than cover every little detail that I could cover. Now, I know most people would love me to give every detail that I could give about the band, but, partially because there's so much that I would need to cover (bear in mind, these guys have been around for about fifty three years now) and partially because you probably won't be interested in a lot of the details, I've opted for a skim read version of the band's history, otherwise I'll probably still be writing this in June...2015.
So, the band formed in 1961 (although they'd been vaguely making progress on stuff since 1958) with the line up of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson (all of whom were brothers), Mike Love (who was a cousin of the Wilsons) and Al Jardine, released their debut album (Surfin' Safari) in October 1962, which peaked at number 32 on the US charts, and pretty much continued a successful run of albums up until 1967's Smiley Smile (their TWELFTH album, if you're curious). During this period of time, the band's songwriting was mostly lead by Brian Wilson, who also produced their albums from 1963's Surfer Girl.
Their albums during this period of time (and the line up that played on each album: I'm not going to bother counting all of the session musicians, so I'm only going to count people identified as actually being members of the band) were:
Surfin' Safari (October 1962) (band members were Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, David Marks and Al Jardine)
Surfin' U.S.A. (March 1963) (same line up as Surfin' Safari, but without Al Jardine)
Surfer Girl (September 1963) (same line up as Surfin' Safari)
Little Deuce Coupe (October 1963) (same line up as Surfin' Safari)
Shut Down Volume 2 (March 1964) (same line up as Surfin' Safari, but without David Marks)
All Summer Long (July 1964) (same as Shut Down Volume 2)
The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (November 1964) (same line up as Shut Down Volume 2)
The Beach Boys Today! (March 1965) (same line up as Shut Down Volume 2)
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (July 1965) (same line up as Shut Down Volume 2, but with Bruce Johnston now a member of the band)
Beach Boys' Party! (November 1965) (a covers album, but you can thank this album for the band's cover of "Barbara Ann"!) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)...and also featured a guest appearance from Dean Torrence, who was half of Jay & Dean)
Pet Sounds (May 1966) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!))
Smiley Smile (September 1967) (technically qualifies as part of the next era of the band, but I prefer to put it here due to the fact that a lot of the material was from Smile and Brian Wilson wrote or co-wrote most of the material on the album.) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!))
This is the period of the band which you're most likely to be familiar with, as most of their most famous songs came from this era of the band.
After this, Brian Wilson (for various reasons, including his declining mental health and the failure to make Smile materialise) started to give up control of the band to create a more collaborative effort with the band's material.
Their albums during this period of time were:
Wild Honey (December 1967) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!))
Friends (June 1968) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!))
20/20 (February 1969) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!))
Sunflower (August 1970) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!))
Surf's Up (August 1971) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!))
Carl And The Passions - "So Tough" (May 1972) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), but with the addition of Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar)
Holland (January 1973) (same line up as Carl And The Passions - "So Tough", but without Bruce Johnston)
This period of the band's history, while not especially well known among the mainstream, is pretty universally considered to be great by the band's fans, so, if you want to dig into the band at the deep end (for some bizarre reason...), you should pick stuff from this era of the band.
After this, Brian Wilson pretty much got himself back to being the band's main creative spirit again for a tiny period of time.
Their albums during this period of time were:
15 Big Ones (July 1976) (technically a covers album, with a few originals) (same line up as Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), but without Bruce Johnston)
Love You (April 1977) (same line up as 15 Big Ones)
These two albums are basically between when the band are considered great and when the band were considered to have gone downhill, so mention these with care around fans of the band, as you might cause a flame war in the wrong circumstances.
After this, Mike Love took over the band and, up until the release of Stars And Stripes Vol. 1 and the death of Carl Wilson, the band pretty much kept going.
Their albums during this period of time were:
M.I.U. Album (October 1978) (same line up as 15 Big Ones)
L.A. (Light Album) (March 1979) (same line up as 15 Big Ones, but with Bruce Johnston)
Keepin' The Summer Alive (March 1980) (same line up as L.A. (Light Album))
The Beach Boys (June 1985) (first album released after the death of Dennis Wilson: the rest of the band's line up is still the same as on Keepin' The Summer Alive)
Still Cruisin' (August 1989) (same line up as on The Beach Boys)
Summer In Paradise (August 1992) (same line up as on The Beach Boys, but without Brian Wilson)
Stars And Stripes Vol. 1 (August 1996) (a collaboration album with a collection of country artists) (same line up as The Beach Boys)
This era of the band...well, let's put it this way: there's a reason a lot of fans of The Beach Boys don't like Mike Love. All of the albums from this period of time are generally held to be pretty poor at best and outright terrible at worst. If you have not listened to The Beach Boys before now, you are HIGHLY recommended to avoid these albums and only come to them if you are the kind of person who wants to own every studio album released by the band.
After Carl Wilson's death, the band splintered. The band did still tour (mostly with Mike Love and Bruce Johnson as the most recognisable members of the band), but the next studio album by The Beach Boys would not come until the release of That's Why God Made The Radio in June 2012, in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band's first album. It also is the first album by The Beach Boys to have David Marks in the band since Little Deuce Coupe, although only on rhythm guitar: the actual members of the band who sung on the album were Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine, Mike Love and Brian Wilson.
...And now you see why I had to go for a VERY bare bones history of the band. The sheer amount of stuff I would have had to cover would have taken a HUGE amount of time to write. I mean, everything I've just written? That's not including everyone's solo albums (Brian Wilson has 10, Mike Love has 4, Al Jardine has 1 (and a live album), Bruce Johnston has 3 (only one of which was released after he joined the band), David Marks has 3 albums he released with Surf City All Stars, Dennis Wilson has 1, Carl Wilson has 2, Ricky Fataar released 7 albums while a member of The Flames and performed on the two albums The Rutles released (among other things) and Blondie Chaplin has 2), everything connected to the sessions for Smile, all of the band's compilation albums, live albums and unreleased material, all of the behind the scenes stuff that happened among the members (one example that springs to mind is Dennis Wilson's...less that positive comments regarding M.I.U. Album, although Brian Wilson's troubles with Engene Landy are also worth a read into) AND various weird stories that most of you would have a hard time believing even if I told you them completely straight faced and in person (for example, one of the songs the band recorded and released was written by Charles Manson. Yes, THAT Charles Manson!). And I still think I'd be missing a few things with all of that! Basically, The Beach Boys have a LOT of history, and probably more than I could write down in a month even if I gave up sleep and focused purely on researching the band! So, if you have read this and want to learn more about The Beach Boys, you should definitely go do it, as what I've given you in this article is only scratching the surface of the band's history!
Anyway, now that you are all up to date on The Beach Boys, know what to put on your lists of albums to check out and what to avoid like the plague and have probably sat through enough text to have you wondering whether I've considered writing a book on the band before now (I haven't, but thanks for the idea!), let's turn our eyes to That's Why God Made The Radio. Is it a good album or not? Well, let's find out together!
First up, the cover of the album. I have to be honest, I really like this cover! It's just got that little touch to it that makes me think of summer, along with a rather nice colour palette that is rather varied. It also has a look to it that makes me think of hand done art, which is a really nice thing to see. You could probably argue that the band are aiming a bit too hard for the nostalgia feel with this cover art, but, considering the band had been around for over fifty years by the time this album came out, I think that might be a slightly unfair accusation to throw at the cover art. The way I see it, they can get away with artwork that appeals to nostalgia because, well, they technically ARE part of the nostalgia anyway. I mean, this isn't some new band who is deliberately trying to sound like The Beach Boys in an attempt to be retro: this IS The Beach Boys.
Anyway, now we've looked at the album artwork, let's move on to the music!
The general sound that you'll get from this album is...well, The Beach Boys' most well known works. I know this is a redundant statement (it's basically "The Beach Boys sound like The Beach Boys"), but, if you've heard a song by The Beach Boys, you'll know what to expect. For the benefit of those of you who have joined us from under the rocks, though, I'll give you a basic run down: brilliantly harmonised vocals, catchy pop hooks, fairly simple musicianship and a focus on being upbeat (well, at least for the first half of the album: the second half is surprisingly contemplative!) and fairly relaxing. Think an a cappella group singing on a bright sunny day with a few of the members laying down a beat with other instruments to support what the guys are singing and you're not too far from the mark. Or, for the metal fans who don't mind me making a (probably not especially amusing) joke, imagine Hansi Kursch singing a stripped down (and acoustic) Stratovarius song.
...That made more sense in my head, didn't it?
Anyway, the thing that will surprise you is that, if you can approach the album expecting just an enjoyable album, the band live up to that expectation (and, for the most part, exceeds it) wonderfully, which is very impressive for a bunch of guys who were about to enter their 70's! I'm probably going to piss off a HUGE number of metal fans when I say this, but, had Black Sabbath been able to release 13 in 2012 (as they'd apparently originally been aiming for), I'd have said that this would been the better album without any hesitation! Having not listened to anything by The Beach Boys that dates after 1967, I have to say that the only thing that really drags the album down is that the hooks aren't as strong as they were on the band's classic material (it takes a few listens for the songs to really stick in your head) and the noticeable use of auto tune on the album shows just how much older the guys have gotten since their heyday. Aside from that? I have to say that the band's material stands up rather nicely if you compare it to the band's heyday! Sure, none of it is going to become among your favourite songs by the band if you're already familiar with the band, but it's still a very enjoyable listening experience overall. Every song is worth a listen, although I will say that the songs that I return to the most are in the first half of the album (although the closing four tracks are definitely worth hearing at least once together, as they're brilliant for closing the album off!). The ending of "Summer's Gone" (the sound of falling rain) feels to be a very nice way to close off the album, ironically doing the same kind of thing that Black Sabbath did for 13 by closing the album off in a way that is meaningful for those of you aware of the history of both bands... (in Black Sabbath's case, as a call back to how their debut album opened and, in The Beach Boys' case, as an acknowledgement that this might well be the last time we get to hear The Beach Boys together on a record...although plans were in motion for another album by the band for a period of time after this was released, so maybe that's me reading too much into it with post-50th anniversary reunion knowledge!)
The production on the album, handled by Brian Wilson, is honestly really good! Not too loudly mastered (which, admittedly, might be because a loud master wouldn't suit the band's music), very nicely mixed...it's all just wonderful! Put this album on when you want to just lie back and relax and I'm confident that, when the album ends nearly 40 minutes later, you'll be more chilled than a cucumber salad that's just come out of the fridge!
...I know, odd metaphor. Point is, if you want to kick back and relax, this album is a wonderful musical accompaniment to that.
So, final thoughts on the album? If you give it some time to grow on you and don't mind the use of auto tune, you'll almost certainly enjoy this album. While I think the album suffers from a lack of a really brilliant and instantly catchy song to encourage repeated listens with, I'd rather take an album that I have to listen to a few times to really be hooked upon than an album with one great song and a bunch of unmemorable crap surrounding it. This album is definitely not the latter, that's for certain! If you haven't heard The Beach Boys before now, this probably isn't the best starting place with them, but it's certainly not the worst album they've released by any measure. Considering the age of the performers, it's honestly surprising that they had an album of this level of quality in them! This isn't a classic album by the band by any measure, but, if you avoided this album when it came out due to expecting it to be a fiasco, then consider your fears quelled: it's a very enjoyable album, although you will need to give it a few listens for the hooks to leave a real impression on you.
Final Rating: 7 Out Of 10
A very enjoyable album that suffers from a lack of instantly memorable songs (although they all grow on you) and an overuse of auto tune. If this turns out to be the last Beach Boys album, then at least they went out on a high note!
Personal Favourite Tracks: "Isn't It Time", "Daybreak Over The Ocean", "Strange World"
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