Pros: Rollicking, bright, light and summery in overall tone--flat-out makes ya feel good!
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Everybody should have this CD because it's a great "time machine" to the past--where everybody grooved to the Beach Boys, and could still believe that innocence would eventually triumph.
PianoGirl's Full Review: Endless Summer by The Beach Boys
When I saw "Endless Summer" on gold disc, I was thrilled. I still have my old "Endless Summer" LP, and actually--gasp, gasp!--still play it on the 'stereo' (that would be 'record player' to you younguns, lol) occasionally, but I figured it would be good to have it in a more portable form as well--thus the CD coming into my possession.
Other than the little "scrritch, scrritch" that the needle on my turntable makes when it plays my now-ancient LP, this CD sounds exactly the same, and when I hit "play" on the CD player, I'm instantly transported back to the lazy, long hot summer of 1974.
Once we bought the newest Beach Boys album, my friends and I would sit around each other's rooms and play "Endless Summer" over and over, ad infinitum--till our parents fled the premises in protest:). (Hey, it could have been a lot worse! It could have been Black Sabbath or something like that, right?) Living in a sleepy, heat-dazed little Texas town (where the biggest thing that happened was whose "wheels" won the traditional race down Main Street on a Saturday night) made "Endless Summer" the perfect ticket to Fantasyland for three teenage girls who longed to be "Surfer Girls" ourselves. None of us ever even came close, but thanks to the Beach Boys, we got a glimpse of that whole surfin' scene. And thanks to the genre of oldies CDs, even people who've never smelled salt in the air can now be surfer dudes or girls (in their dreams, if nothing else)--a most pleasant "mind mirage" for the length of the CD.
With "Endless Summer", then and now, it's possible to be taken to the beach (even if you've never seen one except in the movies) with the very first song on the album--"Surfin' USA": If everybody had an ocean/Across the USA/Then everybody'd be surfin'/Surfin' USA". Putting this song at the very beginning of the album sets the stage of your imagination with palm trees, the roar of the surf, and bright Hawaiian shirts (dare I say "colors-to-knock-you-instantly-BLIND" Hawaiian shirts?)--and the Beach Boys' mellow harmonies gliding through it all. The next tune, "Surfin' Safari" brings the ocean illusion into sharper focus: "Early in the mornin' we'll be startin' out/Some bunnies will be comin' along/We're loadin' up our woodie with our boards inside/And headin' out singin' our song/Come on baby, wait 'n' see/I'm gonna take you surfin' with me..."
(VERY delayed reaction to "some bunnies", the first time I played the CD: What?? "bunnies"?!? how sexist! how patronizing! What were Brian and Dennis and Mike, et al, THINKING? And yet, all the kids I knew, boys and girls, thought nothing of it either--we just sang it. The unthinking innocence of the 70's--it will never come again, more's the pity!)
"Be True to Your School" serves as a rallying cry to every red-blooded highschool kid--or adult--who has ANY good experiences tied to their school: "Be true to your school, now/Just like you would to your girl or guy/Be true to your schoo-oo-ool/And let your colors fly-yy-yyy..." The backbeat here is similar to the one your school band drummers played when they were coming up into the stands before the football game--you know, the one you clapped and stomped to, and yelled a ditty for your school with? Yeah, that one :).
It's infectious! I find myself replaying this one at least three times in a row when it comes on. The guys must have had bright memories of their own school band experiences, and they sure encapsulized them well with this tune. They were so good at instantly changing moods with their music/lyrics. BOOM! you want happy? you want sad? you want wistfulness? you want party-time? The Beach Boys delivered on all of these, and all--incredibly--on "Endless Summer".
Another thing I really like about this album is the way the Beach Boys switched back and forth on musical styles, as though it were a piece of cake--which, for them, it probably was. For example, have a listen to "Help Me, Rhonda". The blues and boogie-woogie are a strong recall to Buddy Holly's music--with a little Beatles thrown in for good measure. I always wondered what the unseen Rhonda thought when she heard these words: "You gotta/Help me, Rhonda, help, help me Rhonda/Help me, Rhonda, help, help me Rhonda/Help me get her outta my heart/...". I mean, did she keel over with the monotony of the plea? LOL. Yes, this is the only song on the record (oops, I mean, CD--old habits die hard!) that I come close to disliking, and it's due to the monotony of the lyric. The boogie-woogie barely saves it from the ignominy of the "skip" feature.
For a totally different musical/emotional mood, direct your ears to the beginning of "Don't Worry, Baby"--you hear "AAAAAAH, " and this segues into a balladic and mellow reflection: "Well, it's been buildin' up inside of me for oh, I don't know how long/I don't know why, but I keep thinkin' somethin's bound to go wrong/But she looks in my eyes/And makes me realize when she says/Don't worry, baby/don't worry, baby/Everything will turn out all right..." It's a little slower tempo, and the lyrics are tenderly directed toward this woman--which is rather unusual on this album. The general theme of "Endless Summer" seems to be "surfing, driving fun cars, and women--but if the women get in the way of either pursuit, drop 'em like a rock" :). Not so with this particular tune, which is why I'm so fond of it. There is a sense of gratitude towards this woman for loving a man who so often takes her for granted, instead of taking the time to love her with all he has. He recognizes that she loves him with her all, and seems to realize he needs to love her more fully than he does. There's a sense of reflection, maybe even introspection here.
I could rhapsodize about every single tune on this CD/record, but then that would spoil the fun for you first-timers--and maybe some of y'all who haven't listened to "Endless Summer" in a coon's age yourself--and I sure wouldn't want to be guilty of that!
"Endless Summer", to sum things up, captures perfectly the summertime mode, when you and everybody else were young and
free from care, and the only thing you were worried about was who was driving when you went to the beach (or in my case, the one movie drive-in at the edge of town!). If you have a case of the blues, listen to "Endless Summer" and you'll be cured instantaneously.
The Beach Boys were a style unto themselves, and made so many records--with that "beach uniqueness"--that should be experienced besides "Endless Summer". Here are a couple of my other favorites that they did, and which I recommend:
Made In USA--tunes like Getcha Back, Come Go With Me, Heroes and Villains, and Dance, Dance, Dance
Best of the Beach Boys--Little Honda, Kiss Me, Baby, and Louie, Louie
Branch out from here--you can't go wrong with any Beach Boys album, whether it's a vinyl or a CD.
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