Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Studio album by
the Beach Boys
ReleasedJuly 5, 1965 (1965-07-05)
RecordedFebruary 24 – June 4, 1965
StudioWestern, Gold Star, and Columbia, Hollywood
Length26:42
LabelCapitol
ProducerBrian Wilson
The Beach Boys chronology
The Beach Boys Today!
(1965)		 Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
(1965)		 Beach Boys' Party!
(1965)
The Beach Boys UK chronology
Pet Sounds
(1966)		 Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
(1966)		 Best of The Beach Boys
(1966)
Singles from Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
  1. "Help Me, Rhonda"
    Released: April 5, 1965
  2. "California Girls" / "Let Him Run Wild"
    Released: July 12, 1965

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) is the ninth studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on July 5, 1965, on Capitol.[1] The band's previous album, The Beach Boys Today! (released March 1965), represented a departure for the group through its abandonment of themes related to surfing, cars, and teenage love,[2] but it sold below Capitol's expectations. In response, the label pressured the group to produce bigger hits.[3] Summer Days thus returned the band's music to simpler themes for one last album, with Brian Wilson combining Capitol's commercial demands with his artistic calling.[4]

Produced by Wilson, Summer Days reached number two on the US Billboard 200 and number four on the UK Albums Chart. Two singles were issued from the album: "Help Me, Rhonda", which became the group's second chart-topper in the US, and "California Girls", which peaked at number three.

Background

Carl Wilson reflected of Summer Days, "There was a time when it was uncool to be into the Beach Boys, and when we did that album, it started to bother us, doing this same stuff, because we thought we were trapped into having to sing about a certain thing."[5]

Unreleased material

One outtake from the album's sessions is known as "Sandy" or "Sherry She Needs Me",[6] and was written by Brian Wilson with Russ Titelman.[7] "Sherry She Needs Me" was revisited by the Beach Boys during 1976's The Beach Boys Love You sessions. The composition remained dormant until 1998, when it was finally finished by Wilson as "She Says That She Needs Me" for his 1998 Imagination solo album. The Beach Boys' version of "Sherry She Needs Me" was released in 2013 for the Made in California box set.[8]

Cover photo

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) includes Bruce Johnston's first appearance on a Beach Boys album. As Brian Wilson's stage replacement, he was not yet considered an "official" member, but Wilson appreciated Johnston's skills enough to have him contribute vocally and instrumentally on the album. Johnston would often accompany the group on photo shoots, but he was prohibited from having those pictures published on album covers due to a preexisting contract with Columbia Records. Johnston wouldn't even appear on a Beach Boys album until he appeared in a photo collage on the back cover of Pet Sounds, and wouldn't grace the front cover of one of their albums until 1968's Friends. Along with Johnston, Al Jardine is also missing from the Summer Days cover photo depicting the group on a sailboat, having missed the shoot due to illness.[9]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Blender[11]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[12]
MusicHound4/5[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[14]

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) proved to be another gold-selling success for the Beach Boys in the U.S., where it hit number 2 behind The Rolling Stones's Out of Our Heads. Along with 1963's Surfin' U.S.A. it remains the group's highest-charting studio album in the U.S. The following year, the album would reach number 4 in the United Kingdom. The album's lead single, "Help Me, Rhonda", topped the US Billboard Hot 100.[15]

In a 2011 reappraisal, BBC Music observed that the track listing of Summer Days reads "like a Greatest Hits," and felt the album is unfairly disparaged for being "simply loaded with proud pop songs." Comparing to the Beach Boys' later work: "If Pet Sounds is the critics’ favorite, Summer Days is perhaps the people's day at the beach."[16] That same year, the online journal Rocksucker praised the album, ranking it 4th in its list of "Ten Underappreciated Beach Boys LPs," but considers it "an inconsistent collection of which the high points are truly great and the low points ranging from merely good to just-about-passing-muster."[17]

Release history

In the early 1970s, as part of Capitol Records' repackage series of their Beach Boys albums, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) was retitled California Girls and deleted two tracks: "Amusement Parks U.S.A." and "I'm Bugged at My Ol' Man". In 1990, the album was reissued paired with The Beach Boys Today!; this package featured extensive liner notes and bonus tracks from that period.[4] In its 2012 reissue, the album received its first true stereo mix.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLead vocal(s)Length
1."The Girl from New York City"Mike Love1:54
2."Amusement Parks U.S.A."Love/Brian Wilson2:29
3."Then I Kissed Her" (Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry)Al Jardine2:15
4."Salt Lake City"Love/B. Wilson2:00
5."Girl Don't Tell Me" (B. Wilson)Carl Wilson2:19
6."Help Me, Rhonda"Jardine2:46
Side two
No.TitleLead vocal(s)Length
1."California Girls"Love/B. Wilson2:46
2."Let Him Run Wild"B. Wilson2:20
3."You're So Good to Me"B. Wilson2:14
4."Summer Means New Love" (B. Wilson)instrumental1:59
5."I'm Bugged at My Ol' Man" (B. Wilson)B. Wilson (credited as "Too Embarrassed" on back cover)2:17
6."And Your Dream Comes True"The Beach Boys1:04
Total length:26:42
The Beach Boys Today! / Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) 1990/2001 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLead vocal(s)Length
13."The Little Girl I Once Knew" (B. Wilson)B. Wilson, Jardine with C. Wilson2:40
14."Dance, Dance, Dance" (alternate take) (B. Wilson, Carl Wilson, Love)Love with B. Wilson2:02
15."I'm So Young" (alternate take) (William H. "Prez" Tyus, Jr.)B. Wilson2:29
16."Let Him Run Wild" (alternate take)B. Wilson2:18
17."Graduation Day" (Joe Sherman, Noel Sherman)Love with B. Wilson2:18
Total length:38:29

Notes

Personnel

Sourced from Musician's Union AFM contract sheets and surviving session audio, documented by Craig Slowinski.[19][20]

The Beach Boys

  • Al Jardine – lead, harmony and backing vocals; electric rhythm guitar; bass guitar; handclaps
  • Mike Love – lead, harmony and backing vocals; handclaps
  • Brian Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; bass guitar; acoustic upright piano; hammond organ; handclaps
  • Carl Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; lead, rhythm, acoustic and 12-string guitar; bass guitar; handclaps
  • Dennis Wilson – harmony and backing vocals; drums, tambourine, handclaps

Guests

Session musicians

Technical

Charts

Year Chart Position
1965 US Billboard 200 2[21]
1966 UK Top 40 Albums 4[22]

References

  1. ↑ Badman 2004, p. 96.
  2. ↑ Schinder 2007, p. 111.
  3. ↑ Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 89.
  4. 1 2 Leaf, David (1990). Today/Summer Days (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  5. ↑ Tobler 1978, pp. 24–25.
  6. ↑ Badman 2004, p. 86.
  7. ↑ "Russ Titelman 35th Anniversary Salute". Billboard. June 1996. p. 44.
  8. ↑ Sharp, Ken (2013). "Beach Boys Producers Alan Boyd, Dennis Wolfe, Mark Linett Discuss 'Made in California' (Q&A)". Rock Cellar. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Learn about The Beach Boys' 'Summer Days' album cover | Goldmine Magazine". Goldminemag.com. 2010-08-02. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
  10. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - The Beach Boys : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
  11. ↑ "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - The Beach Boys Review". Blender. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  12. ↑ The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Concise (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002, ed. Larkin, Colin.
  13. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 83. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  14. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 46. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  15. ↑ "The Beach Boys Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  16. ↑ Roberts, Chris (2011). "Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  17. ↑ Abrams, Jonny (2011). "Ten Underappreciated Beach Boys LPs: Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!)". Rocksucker. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  18. ↑ Doe, Andrew G. "Album Archiveq". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly.
  19. ↑ Slowinski, Craig (2009). "The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)" (PDF). Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  20. ↑ Slowinski, Craig (2007). "The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today!" (PDF). Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - The Beach Boys: Awards". AllMusic.
  22. ↑ "UK Top 40 Hit Database". EveryHit.

Bibliography

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