The punchy, mid-fi Carl and the Passions - “So Tough” is a sampler platter of eight diverse personalities. Containing both remastered albums and a litany of alternate takes and live tracks, Sail On Sailor - 1972 recontextualizes both Holland and Carl and the Passions not as creative drop-offs, but proof they maintained the flame longer than many thought. 2 provides just the portal to reexamine these albums - or hear them for the very first time. It's the Beach Boys at the top of their game.Ī new boxed set out Dec.
Because whether or not you dig these tunes as much as their early hits and mid-'60s masterworks, the songwriting, performances and production are at a high caliber that's borderline inarguable. Half a century on, it's difficult to listen to either in good faith and believe that to be true.
( The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave both two stars, which tracks with the rest.)
But here's the implication: the Beach Boys' downfall began with 1972's Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" and 1973's Holland. Some of them might be your bag some might not be.
(Their almost outsider-music-strange 1977 fluke The Beach Boys Love You and their polished 2012 reunion album That's Why God Made the Radio are the exceptions that prove the rule.)Ī full 10 post- Pet Sounds albums generally earned lukewarm to flat-out scathing reviews. If we're to take the critics at face value, 1971's Surf's Up is just about the final Beach Boys album worth hearing at all. Through the lens of the critical aggregate, the story of America's Band goes something like this: Their imperial phase crescendoed with 1966's Pet Sounds : that album earned five stars across the board, while satellite albums like 1965's Today! and 1967's Wild Honey hover around four. Hindsight might be 20/20, but still: the fact we ever let strangers from 50 years ago dictate our understanding of music history cost us dearly.
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