Any artist, no matter the field, is better off when pursuing their individuality. Conforming to the standards of the time, be it the flavour of the month or the expected outline, is rarely interesting. It’s when a passionate display is made, that is what sticks with an audience. It’s not snobbery to say The Beach Boys will be remembered with a higher regard than, say, The Backstreet Boys. It’s no knock to the latter group, just a fact of life. Wild Honey had the difficult task of following up the band’s greatest album, Pet Sounds, and yet it serves as a perfectly liberating and wonderfully short experience. The aim here is not to match the inspiring and innovative work Brian Wilson laid out, but to continue down the path. Not every release has to be a major step in a confident, new direction. There can be a few shuffling steps along the way. Just twenty-three minutes long, and Wild Honey is a perfect spot of escapism.
Disastrous moments precede the making of Wild Honey. An aborted live album and the stagnation of Smiley Smile sessions left the band struggling for a complete release. Wild Honey feels like an antidote to those stresses. A chance to let loose and simply create with a sincerity which was lacking in those early works, which promised a party atmosphere. These are The Beach Boys accidentally innovating the full circle of artistry. We wade so far out into the waters that we find ourselves at a different but identical shore. Pet Sounds pushed the band and listeners to their breaking point. It still does. Wild Honey has a warm familiarity to it, like bumping into an old friend who charmingly refuses to point out the coffee stains on your shirt. It’s not an adaptation of genres that influenced The Beach Boys; it’s a chance to step back in time.
With both the title track and the follow-up song, Aren’t You Glad, there’s a return to the pop sound of their early years, but with the benefit of hearing their matured lyrical style. It’s a perfect blur which would be far more influential than The Beach Boys could have expected. Gentle but forthright instrumentals are found throughout, bridging the gap between iconic, experimental albums and the lighter thrills which artists at the time had abandoned to make bigger statements. Not everything has to be a masterwork. Wild Honey is all about reconnecting The Beach Boys with having fun, but not with the pop-chasing style featured on their dated, earliest works. A song like I Was Made to Love Her is a magnificent example of this. Short, sweet, and satisfying, you cannot ask for much more than that.
Catchy, too. Darlin’ is a standout piece but it doesn’t overshadow the acoustic majesty of I’d Love Just Once to See You. These are obvious love songs, and The Beach Boys, throughout Wild Honey, make that emotion their lead purpose. It’s what they work from when crafting this stripped-back album. Mama Says marks a dud end to Wild Honey, but don’t let that distract from an appealing, brief experience with The Beach Boys. Most of the choices they made for their albums from here were desperate attempts at capturing the magic Pet Sounds did. Not with instrumental selections or a clearer lyrical push, but by riding the coattails of artists they influenced with Wild Honey. This is The Beach Boys working as a brilliant team, though, something the band were keen to return to after the fractured feeling left by their best album. An incredible job of sounding effortless at a time when the band had to deliver with hits, and yet failed to do so.
