Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)

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 combining Capitol's commercial demands with his artistic calling.[4]

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Studio album by
The Beach Boys
ReleasedJuly 5, 1965 (1965-07-05)
RecordedFebruary 24 – June 4, 1965
StudioUnited Western Recorders, Gold Star Studios, and CBS Columbia Square, Hollywood
GenreRock
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

Produced by Brian Wilson, Summer Days reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 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.

Unreleased material

One outtake from the album's sessions is known as "Sandy" or "Sherry She Needs Me",[5] and was written by Brian Wilson with Russ Titelman alongside "Guess I'm Dumb".[6] "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.[7]

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. Consequently, his image would not appear on the jacket of a Beach Boys' album until he was pictured on the back cover of Pet Sounds in 1966. 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.[8]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Blender[10]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[11]
MusicHound4/5[12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]

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.[14]

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."[15] 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."[16]

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 vocalsLength
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 vocalsLength
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
2001 CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
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" (J. Sherman/N. Sherman)Love with B. Wilson2:18

Mike Love was not originally credited for "The Girl from New York City", "Amusement Parks U.S.A.", "Salt Lake City", "Help Me, Rhonda", "California Girls", "Let Him Run Wild", and "You're So Good to Me". Credit was awarded to him for these songs after a 1990s lawsuit,[17]

Personnel

Sourced from Musician's Union AFM contract sheets and surviving session audio, documented by Craig Slowinski.[18][19]

The Beach Boys
  • Al Jardine – lead, harmony and backing vocals; electric rhythm guitar; hand claps; bass guitar on "You're So Good to Me"
  • Mike Love – lead, harmony and backing vocals; hand claps
  • Brian Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; bass guitar on "Then I Kissed Her" and "Girl Don't Tell Me";[20] upright piano; Hammond organ; hand claps, timpani
  • Carl Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; lead, rhythm, acoustic and twelve-string guitar; hand claps
  • Dennis Wilson – harmony and backing vocals; drums on "Then I Kissed Her", "Girl Don't Tell Me" and "You're So Good To Me",[21] tambourine, hand claps
Additional musicians and production staff

Charts
Albums
Year Chart Position
1965 US Billboard 200 Albums Chart 2[22]
1966 UK Top 40 Album Chart 4[23]
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1965 "Help Me, Rhonda" US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart 1
1965 "California Girls" US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart 3

References
  1. Badman 2004, p. 96.
  2. Schinder 2007, p. 111.
  3. Wilson & Greenman 2016, p. 89.
  4. Leaf, David (1990). Today/Summer Days (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  5. Badman 2004, p. 86.
  6. "Russ Titelman 35th Anniversary Salute". Billboard: 44. June 1996.
  7. Sharp, Ken (2013). "Beach Boys Producers Alan Boyd, Dennis Wolfe, Mark Linett Discuss 'Made in California' (Q&A)". Rock Cellar. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  8. "Learn about The Beach Boys' 'Summer Days' album cover | Goldmine Magazine". Goldminemag.com. 2010-08-02. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
  9. Unterberger, Richie. "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - The Beach Boys : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-28.
  10. "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - The Beach Boys Review,". Blender. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  11. The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Concise (4th Edition), Virgin Books (UK), 2002, ed. Larkin, Colin.
  12. 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.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  13. 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.
  14. "The Beach Boys Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  15. Roberts, Chris (2011). "Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  16. Abrams, Jonny (2011). "Ten Underappreciated Beach Boys LPs: Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!)". Rocksucker. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  17. Doe, Andrew G. "Album Archiveq". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly.
  18. Slowinski, Craig (2009). "The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)" (PDF). Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  19. Slowinski, Craig (2007). "The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today!" (PDF). Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  20. Slowinski, Craig (2006). "I need help with my "Brian bass discography"". Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  21. http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/custommusic2/craigslowinskicom3.pdf
  22. "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - The Beach Boys: Awards". AllMusic.
  23. "UK Top 40 Hit Database". EveryHit.

Bibliography
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