One of their shortest albums at this point in their career, but also one of their best, The Beach Boys roar into form throughout All Summer Long. It is a moment of change which would steer the band away from pop-chasing trivialities. Their surfboards and their cruise control cars are not quite on the bonfire yet, but the band sounds refreshed. After the clumsy, safety wheels-on-like experience of Shut Down Volume 2, the surfer-turned-car-lover posers try and have some fun in the sun once more. Seasons change. So too does the image of The Beach Boys. From one popular set to another as Brian Wilson slowly hums in the background, working out how to escape the cycle of meandering radio play woes. He manages it, along with the rest of the band, on All Summer Long, the first Beach Boys album worth listening to.
A statement of what to expect is made in the very first notes of All Summer Long. I Get Around is a tremendous ode to summer, the thrill of travel and taking trips up and down the strip. Even the suggestions of finding a hip new sound, the faux nature of it, is unable to collapse the instrumental thrills and tremendous, summery harmonies. The fun suggestions on the title track bring an end to the summer, not a start. They had been having fun all summer long, and the seasonal change to come was adapted to well by The Beach Boys. Their Christmas album was not far off, showing they are, indeed, aware of the weather. Heavier drums on Hushabye pair well with the harmonies, once more a staple part of The Beach Boys’ sound which is given a bit of a clearer artistic direction beyond chart-chasing. That is the welcome difference-maker for All Summer Long.
Still there are hang-ups of the old sound. Little Honda still has a love for the open road, a snippet which may as well be sponsored by the motor company in the title. It undoes a bit of the goodwill preceding it, but it is nowhere as terrible as the car-based snoozefests heard on Little Deuce Coupe. The band more than makes up for it with adept and sincere stories of love and freedom, with We’ll Run Away a beautiful surprise buried on All Summer Long. It may still be a sticky, positivity-laden piece, but the slower tempo, the lighter thrills to follow on Carl’s Big Chance, are nice. Passable quality on the likes of Wendy and a shout for “great balls of fire” on Do You Remember makes for a reasonably light cut of songs to follow.
Their praise for Chuck Berry is not backed by any suggestions of instrumental influence. Relatively tame recordings were bound to follow, but the first half of All Summer Long is a roaring success. A suggestion of where The Beach Boys could go, sonically that is. They are still harbouring their love for fun in the sun even as clouds appear on the skyline. They are resilient to change, and it is their biggest downfall. Hits-laden radio appeal is not as radical as it was back then, though the likes of Girls on the Beach and Drive-In are hardly standouts, let alone challenges to the time. Strange inclusions on an album slowly separating The Beach Boys from the striped shirts and pastel chinos.
For a band seemingly on autopilot until All Summer Long, the kick of life The Beach Boys receive on this is like the mounting pressure which created Pet Sounds. The moment and mood here are different, of course, but there is a finality in this lighter tone, a desire to break from chasing the times and instead create them. A soft suggestion of this can be found in the transition between Our Favourite Recording Sessions to closer Don’t Back Down. There is a flicker of new life in the band, which would come good just two years later. Harmonise, hit out at the world, all of it was waiting to burst in the studio, mainly championed by Wilson, but you can hear other members starting to feel sick of the slick radio sound.
