All Summer Long (album)

All Summer Long
Studio album by The Beach Boys
Released July 13, 1964 (1964-07-13)
Recorded
  • October 10, 1963
  • February 4 – May 19, 1964
Studio United Western Recorders, Hollywood
Length 25:10
Label Capitol
Producer Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys chronology
Shut Down Volume 2
(1964)
All Summer Long
(1964)
Four by the Beach Boys
(1964)
The Beach Boys UK chronology
Beach Boys Concert
(1965)
All Summer Long
(1965)
Surfin' U.S.A.
(1965)
Singles from All Summer Long
  1. "I Get Around"
    Released: May 11, 1964

All Summer Long is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on July 13, 1964. It rose to number 4 in the US during a 49-week chart stay, and was certified gold by the RIAA. Lead single "I Get Around" was issued in May and became the band's first number one hit in the US. The album also had a UK Top 10 debut with a number peak.

It was the first LP the group recorded since the British Invasion, and the last where their music reveled in California beach culture until the 1968 single "Do It Again". Only one track from the album explicitly references surfing, "Don't Back Down", while "Little Honda" is the only hot rod song.

Background

"Drive-In" was recorded shortly after the release of Little Deuce Coupe in October 1963.[1] Beginning in February 1964, Bandleader Brian Wilson engaged in a rigorous period of songwriting, emerging some weeks afterwards with songs including "I Get Around", "All Summer Long", "Wendy" and "Girls on the Beach".

That April, during the recording sessions of "I Get Around" and "Little Honda", Brian relieved his father Murry Wilson of his managerial duties after three years.[1] An attempt at reconciliation on Murry's part, much of it captured on the tapes for the 1965 recording sessions of "Help Me, Rhonda", cemented the break.[2] In an interview with Hit Parader, Brian later recalled, "We love the family thing – y'know: three brothers, a cousin and a friend is a really beautiful way to have a group – but the extra generation can become a hang-up."[3]

All Summer Long was to be the Beach Boys' final album which reveled in California beach culture.[4] Only one song explicitly references surfing: "Don't Back Down"; while "Little Honda" is the only hot rod song.[5]

Artwork

Photography was credited to both Kenneth Veeder and George Jerman (who had taken the photographs for the band's earlier albums) but it remains unclear as to who took the color pictures in the montage on the front of the sleeve, or the black and white studio shots on the reverse. The location for the shoot was once again Paradise Cove, north of Malibu, the same location used for the Surfin' Safari sleeve. However, whilst it appears that all five band members were present for the session only Love and the Wilson brothers were photographed on the sand (along with the two women, in various outfits); Jardine was unable to participate in the session due to illness, and his images were added later.

On first pressings of the LP, the song "Don't Back Down" is misprinted as "Don't Break Down" on the front cover. This version of the LP sleeve also has the song titles printed in the same mustard-colored ink as the album title. Subsequent printings with the typo corrected have the song titles printed in black.

Reception

Professional ratings
Retrospective reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Blender[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[7]
MusicHound3.5/5[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]

Biographer Jon Stebbins commented that "The Beach Boys were still a garage band playing most of the instruments, but the production and vocal arrangements were getting more sophisticated... The album represents Brian on the cusp of greatness, with all of the potential for greater things still ahead of him."[10]

The Girls on the Beach

The Beach Boys were later featured in the 1965 film The Girls on the Beach, performing "Girls on the Beach", "Lonely Sea", and "Little Honda". Their appearance was filmed in April 1964, a month before All Summer Long was completed.[11]

Track listing

All tracks written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLead vocal(s)Length
1."I Get Around"Brian Wilson with Mike Love2:14
2."All Summer Long"Love2:08
3."Hushabye" (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman)B. Wilson with Love2:41
4."Little Honda"Love1:52
5."We'll Run Away" (B. Wilson, Gary Usher)B. Wilson2:02
6."Carl's Big Chance" (B. Wilson, Carl Wilson)instrumental2:03
Side two
No.TitleLead vocal(s)Length
1."Wendy"B. Wilson with Love2:21
2."Do You Remember?"Love with B. Wilson1:40
3."Girls on the Beach"B. Wilson with Dennis Wilson2:28
4."Drive-In"Love1:49
5."Our Favorite Recording Sessions" (B. Wilson, Dennis Wilson, C. Wilson, Love, Al Jardine)spoken word2:00
6."Don't Back Down"Love with B. Wilson1:52
Total length:25:10

Personnel

The Beach Boys performing "I Get Around" on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964

Partial credits courtesy of session archivist Craig Slowinski. They are amalgamated from all tracks except "We'll Run Away", "Carl's Big Chance", "Do You Remember?", "Drive-In", and "Our Favorite Recording Sessions'.[13]

The Beach Boys

Session musicians and technical staff

Charts

Weekly charts

Year Chart Position
1964 US Billboard 200 Albums Chart 4[4]

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1964 "I Get Around" US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart 1
1964 "Little Honda" US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart 65
1964 "Wendy" US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart 44

References

  1. 1 2 Doe, Andrew Grayham. "GIGS64". Endless Summer Quarterly. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  2. White 1996, pp. 230–238.
  3. ""The Beach Boy Empire" Taylor, Derek. October 5, 1966. Hit Parader, p13". photobucket.com.
  4. 1 2 3 Richie Unterberger. "All Summer Long – The Beach Boys | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  5. Holmes, Chris (October 25, 2011). "The Popdose Guide to the Beach Boys". Popdose.
  6. Wolk, Douglas (October 2004). "The Beach Boys Little Deuce Coupe/All Summer Long". Blender. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  7. The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Concise (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002, ed. Larkin, Colin.
  8. Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 83. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  9. Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 46. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. Roberts, Jeremy (15 December 2017). "The Beach Boys expedition of word slinger Jon Stebbins". medium.com.
  11. Stebbins 2011.
  12. Doe, Andrew G. "Album Archiveq". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012.
  13. Boyd, Alan; Linette, Mark; Slowinski, Craig (2014). Keep an Eye On Summer 1964 (Digital Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records. Mirror

Sources

  • Stebbins, Jon (2011). The Beach Boys FAQ: All That's Left to Know About America's Band. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1-4584-2914-8.
  • White, Timothy (1996). The Nearest Far Away Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience. Henry Holt (P). ISBN 978-0-8050-4702-8.
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