The Beach Boys Go Back Again

It’s a complicated business, loving the Beach Boys. There’s the constant internal dialogue about Mike Love, for one thing. Understanding what it is exactly that makes him such a uniquely upsetting entity is way beyond the scope of this article, but this pictorial here, entitled “Top 22 Pictures of Mike Love Looking Like a Douche”, almost captures the flavour. On the other hand, he has been in the band since day one. You kind of want him there (kind of). The other big problem is the appalling quality of their music from about the mid-’70s onwards, give or take the odd act of freewheeling insanity like 1977′s Beach Boys Love You. Equally, it’d also be unfair to ignore—in my case, at least—that even cologne-scented dross like Al Jardine’s 1979 hit “Lady Lynda” can exert some sort of weird appeal. In the end, I guess, we all have our own ways of dealing with the stickier aspects of the Beach Boys question.

As it happens, Mr. Jardine supplies the lead vocal on one of the most impressive tracks from the band’s 50th anniversary reunion album, That’s Why God Made the Radio. “From There to Back Again” is the record’s closest thing to a pocket symphony, winding from its low key opening bars to a fairly ecstatic finish in just over three amazingly efficient minutes. It’s adventurous, but relaxed, and it feels appropriate for a man of Jardine’s age, as do the other two numbers in the reflective suite that ends side 2. The rest of That’s Why God Made the Radio—er, not so much. There are certainly some peaks on the record, which marks the first time that Brian Wilson and Mike Love have worked together in any significant way for some—what, 25 years? The latter provides precisely none of those peaks, taking the lead on two instantly disposable, characteristically wafer-thin tracks. Original(-ish) members Bruce Johnston and David Marks also make their return, although the record naturally belongs—absent his two deceased brothers—to Brian Wilson, who’s still on the super-productive and totally unlikely tear that started with 2004′s re-recording of Smile.

When the album works, it’s mostly in spite of the dry rot of nostalgia gnawing away at its foundations. If you want vintage Beach Boys, surely you can just listen to actual vintage Beach Boys. Or you can listen to The Explorer’s Club, who do it almost as well, and certainly as pointlessly. Yet title track and first single, “That’s Why God Made the Radio”—featuring a disarmingly wobbly lead vocal from Wilson—is pretty irresistible, with a chorus that’s actually the verse from “All Summer Long” slowed down and given a shot of melancholy (melancholy, of course, always being one of Wilson’s greatest assets). But then there’s “Spring Vacation,” which is cloying, lazy, and mindlessly sentimental—all the things that make being a Beach Boys fan such an ongoing pain in the ass, as a matter of fact. Fortunately, Wilson and co. manage at least one other convincing triumph on That’s Why God Made the Radio with “Isn’t It Time.” It’s a relatively minor production compared to the title track, but anyone who loves 1967′s Wild Honey (a personal favourite for me) will groove on the stripped down approach. More importantly, “Isn’t It Time” sounds less like the Beach Boys covering themselves, and more like fully engaged artists enjoying a warm blast of inspiration. No dry rot there, in other words, and barely any Mike Love at all.

The Tyee, June 2012