| All Summer Long | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 13, 1964 (1964-07-13) | |||
| Recorded | April 2 – May 19, 1964 (except "Drive-In", October 18, 1963) | |||
| Studio | Western andRadio, Hollywood | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 25:10 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Brian Wilson | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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| The Beach Boys UK chronology | ||||
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| Singles from All Summer Long | ||||
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All Summer Long is the sixth album by the Americanrock bandthe Beach Boys, released July 13, 1964 onCapitol Records. Regarded as their first artistically unified collection of songs, as well as one of the first trueconcept albums, it marked the Beach Boys' first LP that was not focused on themes of cars or surfing. Instead, the songs are semi-autobiographical and relate to the experiences of a typicalSouthern Californian teenager, a theme encapsulated by the title track, "All Summer Long", and the often-imitated front cover, amodernist style photo collage depicting the band members fraternizing with young women on a beach.
The album was recorded between April and May 1964 during the height ofBeatlemania and theBritish Invasion. It was produced and largely written byBrian Wilson, who sought to raise the quality of his group's repertoire and sound following the disappointing results ofShut Down Volume 2. Also intended as a riposte tothe Beatles,All Summer Long contained the band's most complex arrangements and refined vocal performances on a record to date. Among the included songs are "Wendy", "Drive-In", "Don't Back Down", and a rendition ofthe Mystics' 1959 hit "Hushabye".
Heralding thealbum era,All Summer Long reached number 4 in the US during a 49-week chart stay and yielded one single, "I Get Around", the band's first number-one hit in the US, cementing the group's sustainability in a market then dominated by British acts. To support the album, the group embarked on their first extended tour, playing about 70 shows over the course of the summer. A version of "Little Honda" bythe Hondells became a top 10 hit, while "Girls on the Beach" later served as the theme for the1965 film of the same name. In the UK,All Summer Long was issued in June 1965 and failed to chart. By then, it had been certified gold by theRIAA, indicating 500,000 units sold.
Wilson later citedAll Summer Long as "a turning point" for the band, and his first LP that could compete againstPhil Spector and the Beatles. Subsequent to this album, the Beach Boys rarely recorded songs about cars or surfing, but continued to be stereotyped as a group who exclusively sang about such subject matter, even as their musical sophistication continued to grow with such releases asThe Beach Boys Today! (1965) andPet Sounds (1966).
When I hear really fabulous material by other groups, I feel as small as the dot over thei in "nit." Then I just have to create a new song to bring me up on top. [...] That's probably my most compelling motive for writing new songs—the urge to overcome an inferiority feeling.
Early in 1964, the Beach Boys completed their fifth album,Shut Down Volume 2, and embarked on their first tour of Australia and New Zealand, lasting from January 13 to February 2.[5] The tour was highly successful, but led to the dismissal of their manager,Murry Wilson, who had frustrated the group with his overbearing practices and his disruptive behavior at recording sessions.[6][7] Concurrently, the band were conscious of a new rival group,the Beatles, whose "I Want to Hold Your Hand" topped the U.S. charts on February 1.[8] The Beach Boys' latest single, "Fun, Fun, Fun", then stalled at number five, with the Beatles occupying the top three positions.[9][10] The fourth position was held bythe Four Seasons, the act that most closely rivaled the Beach Boys before this point.[11]
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By February 7, theBritish Invasion had officially commenced with the Beatles' arrival in New York City.[12]Mike Love recalled, "To varying degrees, all of us in the Beach Boys were rattled, but most of allBrian [Wilson], who saw the Beatles as a challenge to his emerging position as a leader in pop music."[13] Wilson said in a 1966 interview, "I knew we were good but it wasn't until the Beatles arrived that I knew we had to get going. [...] When we saw how everybody was screaming for the Beatles, it was like, 'Whooa!' We couldn't believe it. I was shook up as hell."[14] His 1991 memoir,Wouldn't It Be Nice, states that he had "suddenly felt unhip [...] as if we looked more likegolf caddies than rock and roll stars" and considered scrappingShut Down Volume 2.[15] After discussing the matter with Love, they concluded that competing with the Beatles in terms of public image was a pointless pursuit, leading them to concentrate their efforts on trying to outdo their rivals in the recording studio.[16]
Capitol Records, whose roster included both the Beach Boys and the Beatles, responded the next month by rush-releasingShut Down Volume 2, becoming the first Beach Boys LP to miss the top 10 since their second,Surfin' U.S.A. (1963).[17] Moreover, the record company had begun allocating much of their marketing resources to the Beatles. Band promoterFred Vail recalled, "The Beach Boys had been it for two years, but now people thought the Beatles were the future. And loyalties ran thin at Capitol. Now they didn't have to cater to Murry and the Beach Boys, and so they didn't."[18] In the meantime, Wilson continued working freelance, writing and producing several singles for other acts, none of which became hits.[19][20][nb 1]
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All Summer Long was largely recorded between April 2 and May 19, 1964, atUnited Western Recorders in Hollywood.[21][nb 2] According to music historian Keith Badman, Wilson had been disappointed by the simplicity, reliance onfiller, and overall rushed quality ofShut Down Volume 2, and endeavored forAll Summer Long to be a more refined and sophisticated effort.[23] The album marked the band's most complex arrangements on a record to date, as well as their first that was not focused on themes of cars or surfing.[24] Wilson remarked, "We needed to grow. Up to this point we had milked every idea dry. We milked it fucking dry. We had done every possible angle about surfing and then we did the car routine. But we needed to grow artistically."[25]
Academic Kier Keightley writes thatAll Summer Long consists of seven "up-tempo/dance numbers", four "ballads", and one "noveltysound collage", with subject matter ranging from "car and motorbike racing" and "teen romance" to "the consumption of mass media forms of entertainment" and "various other forms of summer fun".[26] None of the songs are about cars (although one track, "Little Honda", is about a motorcycle), and the only reference to surfing is in "Don't Back Down".[27]
Biographer Mark Dillon states that the album generally projects "a whole season of teenaged good times" with the exception of "a couple of numbers that threaten to kill the buzz", listing "We'll Run Away" and "Wendy".[28] He goes on to describe the lyrical content as "the entire scrapbook [...] of mid-'60sSoCal teenage life", a theme that is reinforced by the front cover.[29] BiographerDavid Leaf referred to the album as "more autobiographical" than previous records and "the first time the Beach Boys recorded a complete album about their own Southern California lifestyle."[2] He suggested that the album qualified as one of "the first realconcept albums".[30]
Production-wise, the album introduced exotic textures to the band's sound as exemplified by the use ofpiccolo andxylophone inthe title track.[31] The majority of the instrumentation was provided by the band members themselves, withCarl Wilson andAl Jardine on guitars, Brian on bass, andDennis Wilson on drums.[25]Studio musicians augmented their sound on select tracks.[32] At Brian's behest, the group also spent many more hours than usual refining their vocal performances.[33] BiographerJon Stebbins writes,
On archive tapes we hear an exhausted Dennis imploring Brian to call it a day. "Sleep is very important," he ventures, but he is ignored and the taping continues. On the vocal overdubs for "Wendy," Brian is heard chastising Dennis for not reading the lyric properly. As another attempt is made at the song, Dennis snaps, "My brother was a teenage faggot!"[33]
It was their last album for which Brian approved atrue stereo master mix untilFriends (1968).[34] "Let's Live (Before We Die)", a discarded track, was released on the 2014 compilationKeep an Eye on Summer – The Beach Boys Sessions 1964. The compilation also included many alternate versions and session highlights of other tracks, sourced from theAll Summer Long sessions.[32]
"I Get Around" is an autobiographical song that describes the group's reaction to their newfound fame and success.[35] Mike Love said that it was "really about our own experiences: how we had this instant fame, some fortune, had traveled all over the country, but did any of that bring us happiness? Maybe we needed to find a different kind of place."[36] BiographerPeter Ames Carlin distinguished the song for its "jarring rhythmic shifts, fuzz guitar, off-kilter organ riffs, and Brian's own wailingfalsetto",[20] while Leaf called it "a major, revolutionary step in Brian's use of dynamics".[2]
"All Summer Long" encapsulated the album's general theme, with the lyrics offering a list of activities, events, and feelings associated with summertime.[26] The line "Remember when you spilledCoke all over your blouse?" is a reference to Wilson's first meeting with singerMarilyn Rovell, his girlfriend at the time, although in real life, he had accidentally spilled hot chocolate on her.[38] The song later became popularly known for its use in the ending credits ofGeorge Lucas's 1973 filmAmerican Graffiti.[28]
"Hushabye", the album's onlycover song, is a rendition ofthe Mystics' 1959doo-wop standard, written byDoc Pomus andMort Shuman.[39]
"Little Honda" is aboutHonda-brand scooters, which are also mentioned in "All Summer Long" ("miniature golf and Hondas in the heat").[40] The song contains pioneering usage of guitarfuzz tone.[41] It was briefly considered for release as a Beach Boys single. After Capitol voiced objections, Wilson gave it to his collaborator,Gary Usher, who produced a version that became a hit forthe Hondells in late 1964.[42]
"We'll Run Away" portrays a young couple wishing to elope while their respective parents warn them against such an impulse.[28] It was the last song that Wilson co-wrote with Gary Usher for many years,[39] and had likely been written in 1962.[41] Leaf notes that the "church-like sound of the Hammond organ", heard prominently at the end, was an unorthodox application of the instrument on a rock record.[2]
"Carl's Big Chance", recorded to showcase Carl's guitar-playing, is the album's only instrumental track and the finalsurf instrumental released on any of their studio albums.[39] It serves as a companion piece to "Denny's Drums" fromShut Down Volume 2.[2] MusicologistPhilip Lambert speculates that the track was based on "Can I Get a Witness", a recent hit forMarvin Gaye.[43]
"Wendy" portrays a man's dejection after discovering that the woman who he thought was his girlfriend was actually romantically involved with somebody else.[28] Wilson, who later namedhis second-born child "Wendy", stated that the song was musically influenced by the Four Seasons.[44] Leaf suggests that the song has "one of the most unusual introductions of any record from the rock era", making it "one of the most distinctive Beach Boys tracks ever."[2]
"Do You Remember?" is a celebration of 1950srock 'n' roll performers such asLittle Richard,Chuck Berry, andElvis Presley.[45][nb 3] It is essentially a revision of "The Big Beat", a song that Wilson had written and produced forBob & Sheri in 1963.[47]
"Girls on the Beach" is a ballad in a similar vein to Wilson's 1963 song "Surfer Girl", but more musically complex[39] and sexualized.[48] Stebbins cited the line "the sun in her hair / the warmth of the air", sung by Dennis, as "[o]ne of the most perfect uses of [his] sexy voice", and the closingblock harmonies as "one of the group's finest moments".[33][nb 4] The song later served as the theme to the 1965Paramount Pictures filmThe Girls on the Beach, where the Beach Boys made a cameo appearance as themselves.[50] Although the plot centered on the Beatles, the film featured scenes in which the Beach Boyslip sync to this song, "Little Honda", and theSurfin' U.S.A. track "Lonely Sea".[16][51]
"Drive-In" was inspired by the group's outings at the Studio Drive-In inCulver City, California.[39] The song gives the listener advice on how to enter adrive-in theater without paying for admission, among other things, and climaxes with a line alluding tocontraception ("If you say you watched the movie, you're a couple of liars / And remember,only you can prevent forest fires").[52] During the filming of the 1995 documentaryBrian Wilson: I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, directorDon Was attempted to coax Wilson into discussing the unfinished albumSmile. To achieve this, he approached Wilson by asking him what he considered to be "the heaviest work" that he had ever done. Wilson suddenly became excited by the question and proceeded to give vivid recollections of the tracking date for "Drive-In", which he considered to be the best record he had ever made. The footage was not used in the documentary.[53]
"Our Favorite Recording Sessions" is a collage of outtakes and studio chatter culled from the album's recording sessions.[54] According to biographerTimothy White, it distinguished itself from the similarShut Down track "'Cassius' Love vs. 'Sonny' Wilson" by being "truly spontaneous. As such, it came closer than anything previously available to disclosing the Boys' tauttête-à-tête (Mike jesting edgily about throwing Brian across the room) as tensions in their relentless studio regime escalated."[39]
"Don't Back Down" is the last surfing-themed song that the Beach Boys recorded during this early era of the band's history.[28][55] Initial pressings mislabeled the title as "Don't Break Down".[56]
The front cover ofAll Summer Long is amodernist style photo collage that depicts the band members fraternizing with young women on a beach.[57][28][nb 5] The photo shoot, conducted by Capitol art directors and photographers George Jerman and Ken Veeder, was held at Paradise Cove inMalibu, California, the same setting used for the cover photo of the band's debut albumSurfin' Safari (1962).[56] Dillon wrote in 2012 that theAll Summer Long cover art remained "much imitated to this day",[28] although Kieghtley notes that the design was itself heavily indebted to the work of visual artistPiet Mondrian.[58] Music historian Luis Sanchez comments,
Unlike earlier album covers, Brian, Mike, Carl, Dennis, and Al look like a group of young men more at ease in their beach surroundings without the conspicuous surfboard or hot rod in the picture. They have fully grown into themselves as a group of individuals, appearing confident in the sort of way that makes you believe there is something about growing up in Southern California that defines a person's attitude toward the world.[57]
The back of the sleeve included written comments from each of the band members.[2] Dennis wrote: "They say I live a fast life. Maybe I just like a fast life. I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. It won't last forever, either. But the memories will."[59] Brian answered a frequently asked question about "how I come up with my ideas" by explaining that he drew inspiration from the "feelings" associated with common teenage experiences. He then remarked, “A sociologist might say I am trying to generate a feeling of social superiority."[60]
Lead single "I Get Around" was issued on May 11, 1964, and subsequently became the Beach Boys' first chart-topping U.S. hit, as well as America's first number-one hit by a native group since November 1963.[62][nb 6] In the UK, the single was released in June 1964 and reached number 7 on theRecord Retailer chart[64] – the band's first UK hit to breach the top ten.[63] The single represented both a successful response by Wilson to the British Invasion, and the launch of an unofficial rivalry between him and the Beatles.[65][42]
Released on July 13,All Summer Long debuted on the U.S.Billboard charts on August 1 and remained there for 49 weeks, peaking at number 4 on August 22.[66] On September 21, Capitol issued theextended play recordFour by the Beach Boys, a truncated version ofAll Summer Long that consisted of "Little Honda", "Hushabye", "Don't Back Down", and "Wendy". It sold at underwhelming volumes, charting at number 44.[61]
All Summer Long was certified gold by theRIAA in February 1965.[67] In the UK, the album was issued in June that year, accompanied in March by the single "All Summer Long", both of which failed to chart.[68]
From July 3 to August 8, 1964, the Beach Boys embarked on a 36-date "Summer Safari" tour of the U.S., followed by a 30-date regional tour that lasted from August 21 to September 30.[69] This was the band's first extensive tour, as their prior public appearances had been limited by the scholastic obligations of one or more members (Carl Wilson, the final hold-out in the group, graduated from high school that June).[70] The setlists at these concert dates included threeAll Summer Long selections: "I Get Around", "Wendy", and "Little Honda".[71] At least two concert reviewers referred to the Beach Boys as "America's answer to the Beatles".[72] Every date was sold out, earning the group approximately $20,000 per show (equivalent to $203,000 in 2024).[70] From the second summer tour alone, they grossed a total of $328,693 (equivalent to $3.33 million in 2024).[61]
On September 27, the band made their first appearance onThe Ed Sullivan Show, where they performed "I Get Around" and "Wendy".[61] Two days later, the band concluded their tour with a performance at the Memorial Auditorium inWorcester, Massachusetts, however, the show was cancelled after 15 minutes due to fan bedlam that had surrounded the venue.[61] Brian felt that audiences at Beach Boys concerts had become more uproarious as a result of the excitement that had been generated by the Beatles. He said, "[W]e'd do a concert and the kids would scream at us but we'd think, 'Hey, wait a minute. You're screaming for the Beatles through us.'"[14]
In October, recordings from the band's August 1 performance at the Civil Memorial Auditorium inSacramento, California were released as the live albumBeach Boys Concert – their first LP to top the national charts. The album included only oneAll Summer Long track: "I Get Around.[73] An expanded reissue,Live in Sacramento 1964 (2014), added performances of "Wendy" and "Little Honda".[74]
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A reviewer from the magazineRecord Mail wrote of the album, "With their surfing and high pitched harmony sounds they have become extremely distinctive along with some kooky lyrics".[76] In Britain,NME's reviewer stated, "The Beach Boys are an acquired taste which I don't have, but at least they produce some solid 'beatful' sounds."[76]
ActressPeggy Lipton toldTeen Set thatJohn Lennon andPaul McCartney had been "infatuated with the Beach Boy sound. [...] They playedAll Summer Long all night long and asked me many questions about them. Paul and John were fascinated by Brian’s style of composing and arranging."[75]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [77] |
| Blender | [78] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [79] |
| MusicHound | 3.5/5[80] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [81] |
| Sputnikmusic | 4.5/5[82] |
AllMusic reviewerRichie Unterberger wrote thatAll Summer Long was the band's best album of the early 1960s, though he lamented the inclusion of "disposable filler" in the form of "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" and "Do You Remember?".[77]
Icons of Rock co-editor Scott Schinder praisedAll Summer Long as an improvement over their previous LP and "the most consistent and satisfying Beach Boys album to date", affording highlights to the title track, "I Get Around", "Wendy", and "Don't Back Down".[31] Mike Segretto, author of33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute: A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, said that the album marked the point when the band "really entered the game" and delivered a "completely solid" album.[83]
Among biographers, Jon Stebbins citedAll Summer Long as one of the band's "strongest LPs ever".[84] Mark Dillon opined that Wilson "took a Beach Boys album to new heights" and successfully "held his own against the Beatles", with "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" being the only weak track.[28] InJohn Tobler's100 Great Albums of the Sixties (1994),All Summer Long is praised for its "fine harmonies".[85]
Luis Sanchez, author of the33⅓ book aboutSmile, wrote ofAll Summer Long, "None of the group's previous albums come close to the unity of vision and feeling they show here. [...] The brilliance ofAll Summer Long is in the way it enlarges the outlook of the group's brand of California pop to the point where genre labels seem unable to contain it."[57]
In the estimation of music historianLarry Starr, Wilson had entered "a period of aggressive experimentation" by mid-1964, and, by raising his creative ambitions with the Beach Boys, had established a successful career model that would itself be followed by the Beatles and other British Invasion acts throughout 1965 and 1966.[86] Starr additionally writes that "I Get Around" and theShut Down Volume 2 track "The Warmth of the Sun" reflected "the beginnings of a significant trend: namely, the increasing importance of album tracks, and eventually of albums themselves, in the development of adventurous popular music. Rock 'n' roll was on its way to becoming rock."[87]
Wilson's 1991 memoir states ofAll Summer Long, "I finally felt the Beach Boys had put out an LP that was competitive with[Phil] Spector and the Beatles. The vocals were tight, the production was sharper and more inventive than anything we'd done previously. We were in a higher harmonic place and generally more exciting musically."[88] His 2016 memoir,I Am Brian Wilson, calls it "a turning point for me and for the band—or maybe it makes more sense to say it's a turning point for how I understood how to write for the band."[89]
Subsequent to this album, the Beach Boys rarely recorded songs about cars or surfing, but continued to be stereotyped as a group who exclusively sang about such subject matter.[2][nb 7] Their 1965 releaseThe Beach Boys Today! was their first album that completely avoided those subjects, and likeAll Summer Long, represented another leap forward in the group's musical sophistication, later to culminate with the 1966 albumPet Sounds.[90]
All tracks are written byBrian Wilson andMike Love, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Get Around" | Mike Love withBrian Wilson | 2:14 | |
| 2. | "All Summer Long" | Love with group | 2:08 | |
| 3. | "Hushabye" | Doc Pomus,Mort Shuman | B. Wilson with Love | 2:41 |
| 4. | "Little Honda" | Love | 1:52 | |
| 5. | "We'll Run Away" | B. Wilson,Gary Usher | B. Wilson | 2:02 |
| 6. | "Carl's Big Chance" | B. Wilson,Carl Wilson | instrumental | 2:03 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wendy" | Love with group | 2:21 | |
| 2. | "Do You Remember?" | Love with B. Wilson | 1:40 | |
| 3. | "Girls on the Beach" | B. Wilson with D. Wilson | 2:28 | |
| 4. | "Drive-In" | Love | 1:49 | |
| 5. | "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" | B. Wilson,Dennis Wilson, C. Wilson, Love,Al Jardine | audio vérité | 2:00 |
| 6. | "Don't Back Down" | Love with B. Wilson | 1:52 | |
| Total length: | 25:10 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocal(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Be True to Your School" (single version) |
| Love | 2:10 |
| 14. | "All Dressed Up for School" | B. Wilson | Carl Wilson | 2:24 |
| 15. | "Little Honda" (alternate take) |
| Love | 2:13 |
| 16. | "Don't Back Down" (alternate take) |
| Love | 1:39 |
| Total length: | 33:51 | |||
Notes
Per Craig Slowinski. These credits are incomplete, having been amalgamated from all tracks except "Drive-In", "We'll Run Away", "Carl's Big Chance", "Do You Remember?", and "Our Favorite Recording Sessions'.[32]
The Beach Boys
Session musicians (later known as "the Wrecking Crew")
Technical staff
| Chart (1964) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| CanadianCHUM's Album Index[93] | 2 |
| U.S.Billboard Top LPs[71] | 4 |
| U.S.Cash Box Top 100 Albums[94] | 4 |
| U.S.Record World Top 100 LPs[95] | 3 |
