Search - Beach Boys :: Party

Putting It All Into Perspective.......

ooscott | Manhasset, NY | 08/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's easy now to sit back with thirty plus years hindsight and dish-up raves reviews of Beach Boy classics like California Girls, Wouldn't It Be Nice and Good Vibrations. Truth is, the Beach Boys were pretty much a singles act all through the sixties. And no one, with the possible exception of the Beatles did it better. Pet Sounds changed all that, eleavating the BB's to superstar status. The pressures of record company executives to crank out more hits and the inner turmoil Brian Wison experienced, as he fought the demons of his manic depression have been exhustively documented. As they entered into the post-Pet Sounds, psycedellic era the BB's became increassingly challenged to keep pace with both their former success as well as new arrivals onto the music scene. Compitition, not only from the Beatles and the Stones, was fierce. They also squared-off against the likes of the Byrds, the Mamas & Papas, Simon & Garfunkle, etc.It's at this junction of their recording career that Brian made the unpopular decision to record an unrehearsed, acoustic set of Beatles cover songs, Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changing" and a smathering of oldies, (Alley Oop, Devoted To You, Hully Gully and Mountain of Love). This was a daring approach for a band known for it's air tight harmonies and impecable studio production. The Beach Boy's Party album, which preceeded the MTV "Unplugged" format by some thirty years, yielded one top 40 single, "Barbra Ann" and faired modestly well on the album charts.Clearly this is not representative of the early output of classic BB albums. However, more than just an oddity or curio, "Party" represents an interesting transition in the astonishing career of a legendary rock n' roll band and should not be overlooked or dismissed as contractual "filler" for the greedy execs at Capital Records."