The BEACH BOYS History Part Two |  

Al Jardine was sick when they took the Summer Days and Summer Nights cover, which is why he was absent! That's one of my favorite albums they ever did, I'd put it in my personal top 5 Beach Boys LPs easily

When The Beatles released Rubber Soul, they dropped the gauntlet at the feet a lot of bands. I look forward to part 3!

Matt, you really need to be commended for the way you structure these videos. You always nail it with the depth, historical context, imagery, bits of music, and personal experience. Pretty much everything you’d want all within a very concise length. I’m always left excited for the next one. Keep up the great work!

The Beach Boys' output from Wild Honey through Holland (especially Surf's Up and Sunflower) contains many remarkable, seriously underrated songs.

My mom had "Beach Boys Today!" in her collection and I played the grooves off of it... just a terrific album

The genius of Brian is now starting to show through. But leading to a split personality balancing between the studio work with studio musicians and how the live shows had to keep up.

I'm with you in that I felt "Girl Don't Tell Me" was one of their finest songs during this period, and possibly could have charted on its own, rather than as a B-side.

How remarkable that Glenn Campbell was, for a short time, a member of The Beach Boys. He was an accomplished artist with a wonderful voice and instument player. When I think about it, he was the perfect stand-in for Brian Wilson. Like them, GC is a much loved musician around the world. The Beatles absolutly loved The Beach Boys. The trouble is, that they both wanted to be the best in the world, but both of them were. The dummer for the BB's was from the Cowsills.

I have grown up with most of the bands you have covered. Some have come, some have gone, but the Beach Boys have always been a major part of the soundtrack of my life. My wife's too. We look forward to the next installment. We also appreciate the academic overviews given on occasion. Please keep it up.

I think The Little Girl I Once Knew is incredibly sophisticated and catchy at the same time. I agree with John Lennon.

I was reading somewhere that Brian Wilson was hanging out at the Gold studios listening to Phil Spector create the “Wall of Sound”. So “I’m So Young” and all the other ballads on side two of Beach Boys Today and the single “She’s Not the Little Girl I Once Knew” had that “Wall of Sound” that continued with the Pet Sounds album.

Extremely well presented, as always. 1965 was such an incredible year for them. I agree with you on 'Girl Don't Tell Me' being a major fave.

The first time I realized The Beach Boys were more than a surf band was when I figured out the intro to California Girls on the piano. Still one of the all time great intros. Also She Knows Me too Well is another beautiful song in the catalogue. I love this early stuff. Just saying . Cause when we get to Pet Sounds , hopefully I'm not bashed too harshly for what I think of it.

My uncle bought me The little girl I once knew when I was 7 and it blew my mind. It was so different for 1965. I would play the inro over and over it was just mesmerizing. Brian once said it was the best into he had ever done and it gets him every time. Perhaps he and I are the only one's who think that 🤔

Can’t wait for part 11!!!🤣 So much to cover!

This series is great. Really enjoying it. Makes me think you could also do a great video on the Wrecking Crew.

Desi Arnaz Junior and Ricci Martin (Dean’s son) covered “She’s Not the Little Girl I Once Knew” at a tribute concerts after Carl’s untimely passing in 1998 there was a musical event at The Roxy. Billy Hinsche was a very dear friend to my husband,my children and me for 20 years prior to his (Billy’s passing). Our friendship was mostly based on our love and loss of Dennis. I met Billy the night I met ALL of the boys in 1977 yet we did not become close until years after Dennis passed. In another destined twist my husband of 33 years opened for The Beach Boys in 1973 and for Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk Tour in 1979. We also bonded over having known Dennis. The Beach Boys shaped most of my life including my son being a world class sailor. Thank you the Beach Boys and Dennis for inspiring most of my life.

Keith Moon loved the song 'Barbara Ann', the group would play that whenever he felt down. Their cover was recorded in August of 1966 and released on their 1st EP 'Ready Steady Who' in November. It's a bonus track on their album "A Quick One".

Matt generally, as always, does a great job on these episodes. But for this I have two caveats. First I agree with others that The Little Girl I Once Knew is a great, great song and likely did not do as well as it should because dj’s did not like the silent moments. The second is I would have focused more on She Knows Me Too Well. That is not only a great deep album track but one of their best songs ever. The subject matter, the arrangement, the interplay between the lead vocal and the harmonies, are all above what anybody else was doing at the time.

Releasing 3 albums in 1965 was INSANE!

Just finished the first 2 parts and looking forward to part 3! 🙂

Great stuff! Can't wait for part three! The rise of the Byrds, Lovin' Spoonful and others stateside must have just added to the artistic imperative. Cannot wait for the next period, because it's really the one that made a place for them in pop history. Great job on these videos!

Great job again Matt. Interestingly, as far as I know "The Little Girl I Once Knew" was the only BB single that was not released on a current album. A shame because it would have strengthened either Today or Summer Days, but presumably was recorded too late and then didn't fit with the Party vibe nor the subsequent groundbreaking release. It is actually up there with my favourite BB tracks.

Great stuff as usual, Matt. And I completely agree on Girl Don't Tell Me (great story about giving it to the girl you had a crush on). That's a really superior track, and Carl's lead vocal is excellent. Looking forward to Part 3!!!!

Absolutely impressed (and enjoying) how you are weaving through this great band's career. As always Matt, thanks for your great work, take care, Terry, Australia.

Thanks Matt! Brian plotting his next move...as are you! Looking forward to it!

Excellent! Cannot wait until the next segment.

So it looks like Campbell played bass on those first tours without Brian, which I suppose is natural as that's the instrument Brian also played on tour. Still, what a weird thing to have Campbell's guitar sit in its case during concerts! Loving this series!

I've been waiting for this. Beach Boys Today side 2 was a real surprise. Took a while to get into but was so different and so good. There's something about the intro to California Girls that is some kind of perfection. what that is I can't say. One night, late in its run, around September of 1965 it came on the radio and though I'd heard it all summer, that intro kind of grabbed my total attention and was simply perfect in some way. Looking forward to the next one.

Now I know where the Beatles got the idea not to travel and just be a studio band.

I truly hope Ingrid catches this episode! Excellent part two here, learned a ton and look forward to the next installment!

Another very interesting series. Keep up the great work.

I Love These!

Fantastic episode Matt, I've read a fair bit about the Beach Boys but this had stuff I didn't know and it was super entertaining. It also ends with another cliff hanger, a good place to end the episode.

According to the note from Al on the back cover of the Summer Days (And Summer Nights), Al said he was sick the day of the photo shoot.

Hey Matt, once again, consistently concise, informing & entertaining! Breaking them up in parts is nice because I think it allows fans to go back and review the tracks that you cover. Looking forward to your comments and history in part three, especially the abandoned Smile album.

CAN'T wait for the next installment because we know what's coming up...simply one of the greatest recordings of all time.

Another engaging video on the Beach Boys, Matt, and I am looking forward to watching Part 3 too!👍

I think a lot of people first encountered the Beach Boys via "Barbara Ann". When I was 6/7('70-71) we had a BBC programme here in the UK called "Junior Choice" on which that song was played regularly. Def my first encounter with a truly great band, and millions of others I'm sure would agree. Other songs I remember from that programme; "Right Said Fred" by Bernard Cribbins. I rest my case...

I didn't know Beach Boys had a version of "hide your love away" kind of sounds like a drunken mess but that's what makes it great. Thanks for turning me on.

Great episode! Gee whizz, Carl had some beautiful guitars. Thanks for the full frontal photo with his Olympic white Fender 12-string. Caught a glimpse of it at the end of the last episode. Gorgeous!

I love your show! Thank you for what you do 👍🏻

Omg, Matt, you just leave me wanting more! I can remember, as a little kid, seeing the Record of the Month Club ads in the newspapers my dad used to get. The initial purchase was 10 or 20 albums (I don't recall which) for a penny, then being committed to buying an album of every month for a period of time. Of the initial albums offered were several Beach Boys records and I do recall laughing at the odd striped shirts and the strange name. My next exposure to the Beach Boys was seeing American Graffiti in the theatre, then buying the soundtrack afterwards. Just from the inclusion of All Summer Long, I was hooked on the group's harmonies and that excellent song. I started working at an early age (a long story to that but I worked in a night club at 12, where we had live bands on weekends and strippers during the week), which gave me a little pocket money, and my first album was Summer Days as I had recognised the group's name by this time and had grown up on a beach in western Canada so sailing was nothing new to me. There's not a bad track on the entire album and I knew I needed more. Even the goofy I'm Bugged At My Old Man appealed to me for the fun of it and because my father was also a VERY strict disciplinarian. After my Beatles collection was nearing completion, I focused on Beach Boys and discovered so much great music that I had missed, being a decade too late (born in '61). Between my job and my growing record collection, I just couldn't relate to the wet noodle schmaltz that my friends at school were listening to. Exploring The Beach Boys was as much joy as it had been with my Beatles dive. I even found a sealed copy of Stack O' Tracks, which became a wonderful exposure into studio mixing as well as a lot of fun to sing the different harmony parts to, even creating my own. What I really began to appreciate was Brian Wilson's gift for sharing his soul and feelings in his songs. I felt him and understood so much of what he was saying. Al Jardine was missing on the Summer Days album cover because he was sick the day of the photo shoot. If I recall correctly, it even says so on the back of the album. Finally, a quick bit about the Barbara Ann recording. Jan and Dean were recording down the hall and had just had a big argument. Dean Torrance walked out and eventually stepped into The Beach Boys' session. They were already friends so he was welcomed, and Dean was asked what he wanted to sing. It was his suggestion to do Barbara Ann as he always had a soft spot for Doo Wop (he and Jan had started by performing it). The high harmony on the recording is Dean, not Brian Wilson. Thanks, Matt, as always. Love your channel and I always look forward to the next video. From up the I-5 and across the border, rock on!

Back in the mid-60s, I was one of those young AM radio listeners who thought of the Beach Boys as an above-average surf/pop band. Then, "Good Vibrations", "God Only Knows", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", etc. hit the charts in late 1966. It quickly became obvious that I had underestimated how exceptional their songwriting, arrangements, and vocal harmonies were. In retrospect, their music has held up better than most bands of the era. I got to see the Beach Boys play live for the opening of a local bar/restaurant, here in Santa Barbara, CA, back in the late 1980s. (MIke Love was a neighbor back then.) It was good fun, but more of a nostalgia act at that point. In any case, I never knew that much about the band's story, so I'm finding this history quite fascinating. Thanks, Matt. I can't wait for part three...!

Useless trivia: you mentioned you were six when you discovered the Barbara Ann 45. One of my older siblings had that 45 when it was a hit and I loved that song. It's the first 45 I can remember liking and listening to. I was 5 1/2 at the time, in Kindergarten. My older siblings never had too many 45s , they were buying lots of albums. Later in 1966 one of them bought the Sloop John B. 45, I would have been six by then, that was a huge favorite of mine back then. Still love that song, for me it's one of their very best. I imagine that will be in part 3, looking forward to that.

Great part 2 Matt! I love the trilogy of albums for All Summer Long, Today and Summer Days (and Nights) and while each has its low moments I think the overall quality is exceptional. I have really grown to love the Party album and I love the 2015 version with all of the studio chatter removed and it’s just the music. Looking forward to seeing your videos on Pet Sounds and Smile. Thanks!

Thanks for showing the interesting inside cover of 'Party' which I hadn't seen before. 'There's no other' is my favorite track on that album...beautifully done.

For a very brief (18m) history of those mid 60s years, you still manage to cover all the important events/changes. Excellent work Matt!

As always, fantastic job. Thank you.

I do agree with that they should have done Guess I’m Dumb instead of adding filler that honestly had no business being on the album you can tell that Brian really respected his family and friends and he didn’t want to upset anyone I still wish I could hear a Beach Boys version of Guess I’m Dumb it’s one of Brian’s best tracks.

Another great job , Matt. I never knew about Brian's jealousy of Dennis. Just another issue to clutter Brian's troubled mind.

The deep cuts on the three albums you mentioned have among my favorite songs by them for decades. But I'm the type of Beach Boys fan who goes all the way from the simple surf garage rock all the way to the late 1970s when "Brian's Back" was all we heard. You could make videos just on Pet Sounds and also just on Smile and it would be alright with me! Columnated Ruins Domino!

Thank you so much for doing a "deep dive" on 1965. That is one of my personal favourite years of the Beach Boys (number one, of course, being 1966), and a sadly much overlooked year as that year alone, I feel, Brian was at his creative apex and the "trilogy" that began with "All Summer Long", Today", and "Summer Days"--three of my favourite BB albums, by the way---are just as competitive with anything the Beatles were creating at the time

Glad you didn't rush your Bio of The Beach Boys and that you'll have at least one more volume ~ Right about the time JFK was murdered I was 13 and living on Mount Vernon and Fairway where the Love family lived 4 houses down the block ~ I use to see the Wilsons stopping by and for me and the other kids on the block it was always neighborhood gossip ~ Big fan of them and of you as well ~ I've always like the way you do your reviews ~

Loving these videos Matt!!...and sorry to hear about your unrequited love for Ingrid!!....And she took your single too!!

It's so neat to hear some of the album tracks and about the singles that didn't barely chart. So sorry to hear about Ingrid.

I'm mainly a singles guy, so I'm not familiar with most of these deep cuts. I appreciate the effort you spend to introduce us to these songs, Matt. There was much more going on musically with the Beach Boys than the songs we heard on the radio. Also, this video spans about a year. Leave it to you to make an engaging, substantive video that says so much about such a small period of time.

In my opinion the great songwriters by stock of great tunes (not just songs in volume) ...it is The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees and Elton John. All best thoughts for your wife and thanks so much as always for the best stuff on YT!

Wow, Matt, an excellent "Part 2"! Your insights are as strong as ever, and your personal story about Ingrid is very cute and relatable! Looking forward a lot to Part 3!

The LP version of "Help Me Ronda(sic)" featured Harmonica player BIlly Lee Riley who at that time was playing gigs at the Whisky A Go Go and even cut a Johnny rivers type LP there. Riley was best known for his 50s SUN records "Flying Saucers Rock and Roll" and "Red Hot".

Hal Blaine was the primer drummer on that Lp Please Dont Hurt and Please Let Me Wonder will always be my two fav song This beautiful image I have of you are the lyrics I know about would love to tell Brian thanks for them

I read an interview with Brian Wilson saying her heard Ticket to Ride on the radio whilst on vacation and wanted to write a song like that. Girl don't tell me is very similar with the extended syllables "I'm the Guy-hi-hi who left you......" like "She's got a ticket to Ride-hi-hide" also the middle riff is very reminiscent of the opening riff of Ticket to ride and no five part harmony.

Long live the memories of Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson & Glen Campbell. xoxo The Clarences

Met you at BVB today, was great to chat with you briefly! You're doing an awesome job, so many great photos too! Lol at your comment about Bull Sessions, there's a unsurpassed masters 20 minute version of that "interview" and the very last 30 seconds are disturbing. I'm excited to see what you say about the lofi trilogy. Love your story about Barbara Ann /Girl Don't Tell Me

If the first phase was the band's childhood, the second phase was their awkward adolescence. The standout tracks of this period were I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda and Califonia Girls its great into. You left us hanging on their regressive party album, so I'm looking forward to greatness in the next episode!

Prost Matt, you keep rocking the house with these. Did you ever hang out with a great professor Phillip Naylor at Marquette? You have the same ability to talk to an audience with such sincerity and ease!

Really a great episode Matt. Excellent overview sprinkled with pertinent details. As an aside, I like that you mentioned Bruce Johnston's background and that he had worked with the drummer Sandy Nelson. Sandy had an outstanding beat and style. He and Bruce joined forces on Teen Beat--an instrumental that still is worth the listen. In fact, you can hear Sandy's influence in many a sixties drummer.

Really enjoying this series, Matt. Looking forward to the next part. :- )

Loved Barbara Ann as a kid as well…my brother had a live version that I played over and over again!

Great video Matt. Some fantastic music there and next Pet Sounds. Can’t wait.

Thanks again Matt. I only knew The Beach Boys as a singles band. It’s interesting to me that I bought The Four Seasons, Paul Revere and other American group LPs but never the BB. I loved all their singles. Just one of those things I guess.

Did you hear that Brian Wilson had already done some work on what would become Pet Sounds but couldn't get it done in time for Christmas 1965, so the result of the record company's request for new album was Party! Then, Brian Wilson came across Rubber Soul. I had to ask in other forums whether he had US or UK version of Rubber Soul, because they don't have quite the same songs. Consensus: he had US versionl. Little Girl I Once Knew was last original song released by Beach Boys before Pet Sounds.

Great video Matt!

The little girl I once knew didn't chart higher because of the long pause. Radio stations didn't want to play it due to people changing the station thinking it was dead air

Very good. Keep it up!

Brilliant work Matt 👍 So looking forward to Pt.3

Another great episode, Matt! Love the "Ingrid" anecdote as well. "Girl Don't Tell Me" is one of my favourite deep tracks from the Beach Boys: chiming guitars, surprising chord changes and soulful singing. Plotted as deep as a short story. I was introduced to the song from a cover version by The Smithereens. Fun fact: Brian used the melody from "Ticket to Ride" for "Girl Don't Tell Me". I agree that this period of more introspective singles and solid albums is often under-rated. It's obviously presaging the more consistent PET SOUNDS project but the 'trilogy' is, in many ways, my favourite era of the band. It marks Brian's transition from adolescence to adult concerns and expands the sound palette he was creating in the studio. Though the band was still successfully touring off of their surf-car catalogue, Brian's quest to match the new competition would certainly result in some timeless music.

I hope you mention the stereo mixes of some of the earlier albums that have come out in the last I don't know how may years. The last time I was obsessed with the Beach Boys I got the stereo mix of Pet Sounds and thought "I wish they would do the same with all of them" and forgot about it. I'm listening to the stereo mix of Smiley Smile right now and it's a revelation. I guess I got busy with life and missed when they came out. RU-vid Music has a ton of re-issue/remix/remasters by a lot of bands that are honestly hard to get physical copies for.

Another magnificent program. People will be enjoying your program a 100 years from now. Imagine videos analyzing Mozart after his death by those that lived during his time or just after 1791…..if YT is still around, Pop Goes the 60s will be …

Another great slice of the magical music decade known as the '60s. Thanks, Matt. Btw, the Premiers, also from So Cal, released an album akin to Beach Boys' Party a year earlier, called Farmer John Live, with added crowd noise to make it sound like a live performance before an audience, which it was not. Johnny Rivers also had a 1964 album with the sound of an intimate live performance, Live at the Whisky A Go Go, which actually was recorded live at that venue. I always found the audience sounds on such albums (individuals talking and yelling) a bit obnoxious and intrusive. Nothing against live albums, which comprise some of my all-time favorites. (Shows from Springsteen's 1978 tour are as good as it gets.) I just resist these earlier records' noisily intimate approach, which also seemed gimmicky, like it was propping up the music with crowd hype. Anyway, thanks again.

I really enjoy your 2 and 3 part in depth videos of many of the classic 60's bands. I always learn something new even for bands I already knew quite a bit about. Happy Oktoberfest!

Wow! Me too “ your hair is getting longer those shorts mmm they sure fit you fine”… from girl don’t tell me. Mine was fifth grade… And her name was Cathy. Was about a year after this song was released… The fad of mini skirts and hot pants was just starting to happen. Thanks for keeping the 60s alive Matt… I grew up during this era. In California

Matt, Back in '65 my copy of Beach Boys' Party! album came with fifteen 2 x 3 1/2" photos that were taken during the recording. I still have the album and the photos. Looking forward to part 3!

Brilliant as ever Matt! As usual you cut through accepted narrative/myth and check the facts or give your own analysis, bravo. Really enjoying hearing the pre-Pet Sounds tracks such as 'Please Let Me Wonder', such a song. Side note: there's an awesome live version of 'Be True to your School' that came out (perhaps as a CD bonus track in the 90s I can't remember), but my band even covered that live version as our encore for a time as it was so raucous! - worth checking out

Oh, you dog! Just when it was getting interesting, it's continued to the next installment. ....I'm really digging this series. Thanks.

Although, I like the early material I can't wait for part three or four because my favourite album is 20/20.

I didn't realize I was waiting on episode 3 till the end of episode 2. But I'm ready for pet sounds.

Great work Matt. I love your channel. ❤❤❤

Thanks Matt, I liked the cliffhanger at the end. Their recordings were becoming really sophisticated. The party record is a bit like the off speed pitch before the fast ball. It can still get you though. Looking forward to the next episode, Cheers.

I think Sunflower is their best album...

Nice subtle dig on the Beach Boys Party! album. It took them 3 weeks for them to record an acoustic covers album, while the Beatles recorded Rubber Soul ( an album of all-original material) in just 1 month. Looking forward to part 3 where you'll cover the Pet Sounds album and maybe the aborted Smile sessions.

The three albums in the trilogy you discuss were all released within a 12 month time span. Imagine if they’d only released a single album during that time with only the best tracks from all three. What an album that would have been!

As a 73 year old BBs fan, your idea of a trilogy (ASL, BBT, SDSN) is genius! I never thought of it that way...but you're right...

About this phase of the Beach Boys' discography I don't understand the reason why after the originally stereo albuns in 1963 and 1964 (in the case of the "All Summer Long" album, with the exceptions of "I get around" and the title track.itself); the wonderful.1965 albuns, "Today" and "Summer Days And Summer Nights" had both their original.release in mono. This tendency would be keeped in the 1966 "Pet Sounds" album. All the best, my friend Matt.

I didn’t know “I Get Around” was from 1964! I always thought it was from 1966. I remember it was played endlessly that summer. I guess it was summer of ’64 or '65. lol

Greetings Matt ✌️ On the topic of The Beach Boys Party Album one can say that this was the first Unplugged Album way before MTV - I dont know if you have heard this spoof on RU-vid Matt of John Lennon's New Years Eve Party singing songs of Band On The Run (with Yoko singing along) its hilarious!!!😂🤣😅

I reconnected with a record collector friend after 25 years & he told me he watches your videos as religiously as I do

I don’t agree with all of your takes here, but I’m glad firstly that you gave this wonderful year of ‘65 a while episode (how many other bands did you do that for? How many others deserved it?), and secondly that the next period or two will get the attention deserved. Looks like this series could go somewhere between five and eight episodes. Won-won-wonderful!!!

I've always had an affinity for the "Today" album. And I agree they should've found something (anything) else to end it with. Also regarding "The Little Girl..." I never realised how much space aka dead air there is on that track. So you may have a point there about the DJ's aversion to it.

A Great part 2 Matt, looking forward to part-3. I have a question for you about The Beach Boys father and manager, Murray. Is it true that he sold The Beach Boys publishing rights behind their backs, which made Brian Wilson have a nervous breakdown? Thanks, Jim Clemente