BOYS KEEP SINGING

It was a pleasure to see an article on the so-called wilderness years of The Beach Boys. As the article so succinctly informed us, there are gems to be unearthed from these latter years, many of which were mentioned by Rob Hughes. Standouts for me are Brian Wilson’s “’Til I Die”, the Spectorish “All I Wanna Do”, “Wild Honey” showcasing Carl’s stirring soul vocal and the Surf’s Up title track with Van Dyke Parks’ evocative lyrics. Kudos to Dennis Wilson’s efforts “Little Bird” and “Be With Me”, and if the

Holland album was a somewhat muted affair, it at least yielded “Sail On Sailor”. If you want to truly see the tangent The Beach Boys could take, check out Brian’s unreleased 1970 weirdo take on the Frankenstein myth, “My Solution”, barely recognisable as a Wilson number, though perfect for Halloween! Pete Moore, via email Thanks, Pete. I must admit, I’m not especially a fan of The Beach Boys – but I found a lot of Rob’s suggestions for album tracks and deep cuts really helpful making sense of this period in their career.