{"id":556247,"date":"2026-04-29T04:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T04:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/556247\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T04:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T04:03:11","slug":"review-the-beach-boys-we-gotta-groove-the-brother-studio-years-part-2-adult-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/556247\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Beach Boys, \u201cWe Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years\u201d Part 2 \u2013 \u201cAdult\/Child”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"Beach<\/a>BUY NOW FROM UDISCOVERMUSIC.COM<\/p>\n

Few long-running groups can claim one mythical \u201clost album.\u201d\u00a0 But for decades, The Beach Boys were able to claim two.\u00a0 The first, of course, was SMiLE \u2013 the late Brian Wilson\u2019s masterwork<\/a> in the wake of Pet Sounds that pushed the envelope of popular music and conventional song structure.\u00a0 The second was a very different album from a very different Brian Wilson.\u00a0 It\u2019s finally seen its first near-complete release from Capitol\/UMe as part of The Beach Boys\u2019 3CD\/3LP box set We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years which also chronicles the making of 1976\u2019s 15 Big Ones and 1977\u2019s The Beach Boys Love You.\u00a0 (Please see Part One of this review<\/a>.)\u00a0 The album was Adult\/Child.<\/p>\n

While not as cohesive as Love You, Adult\/Child showcases an extension of that LP\u2019s highly personal, often idiosyncratic songwriting.\u00a0 Had it been released in 1977, Adult\/Child would have featured original songs, meaningful covers, and leftovers from the early part of the decade.\u00a0 Its sessions were split between tracks recorded by primarily by Brian and his brothers Carl and Dennis, and lush orchestral charts reuniting him with arranger-conductor Dick Reynolds.\u00a0 An early hero of Brian\u2019s for his work with The Four Freshmen, Reynolds provided the timeless orchestrations for The Beach Boys Christmas Album in 1964.<\/p>\n

Even as he navigated the often-tumultuous ups and downs of his personal life, Brian Wilson wasn\u2019t one to repeat himself.\u00a0 Whereas The Beach Boys Love You embraced a forward-thinking D.I.Y. aesthetic, a number of tracks intended for Adult\/Child would instead harken back to the big band sounds of Brian\u2019s youth.\u00a0 Demos of \u201cIt\u2019s Over Now\u201d and \u201cStill I Dream of It,\u201d with Brian accompanying himself on grand piano, were recorded late in 1976; those raw, unadorned demos appear on We Gotta Groove, as well.\u00a0 The set doesn\u2019t present a \u201cfinished\u201d album but rather a curated immersion into the sessions.<\/p>\n

Both aspects of the Adult\/Child equation are in evidence on the track that opens the set on both CD and vinyl LP.\u00a0 Carl takes the lead on \u201cLife Is for the Living,\u201d a big, bright, and bold paean to health. Its vivacious melody is matched by Reynolds\u2019 brassy orchestration (four trumpets, four trombones, and four French horns).\u00a0 The \u201cchild\u201d comes into play with the earnest, goofy lyric that implores the listener, \u201cDon\u2019t sit around on your ass smokin\u2019 grass\u201d and \u201cCut out the sweets and start eating three times a day.\u201d\u00a0 If \u201cLife Is for the Living\u201d might have opened Adult\/Child on a buoyant note, Wilson\u2019s soul was laid bare on its two most heartbreakingly beautiful tracks.<\/p>\n

Brian composed a standards-worthy melody with \u201cIt\u2019s Over Now,\u201d inspiring Carl to deliver one of his most affecting vocals.\u00a0 (Brian and then-wife Marilyn also sing on the track, too.)\u00a0 Lyrically, it\u2019s a cry of desperation arising from the dissolution of a relationship, but Wilson\u2019s turns of phrase are filled with sheer anguish (\u201cI need to take this fear and force it down\u2026\u201d or \u201cAnd though I played the role, I lost my soul\/It\u2019s still within your heart\u201d) and naked vulnerability.\u00a0 Reynolds sets it to a sensitive chart, with The Wrecking Crew\u2019s Dennis Budimir lending a spacey flourish thanks to the phaser on his electric guitar.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill I Dream of It\u201d is just as ravishing and just as wrenching.\u00a0 Brian\u2019s lyrics are in a Love You-like slice-of-life vein (\u201cTime for supper now\/Day\u2019s been hard and I\u2019m so tired\/I feel like eating now\u2026\u201d) but with a pronounced spirituality and disarming innocence (\u201cWhen I was younger my mother told me Jesus loved the world\/And if that\u2019s true then, why hasn\u2019t he helped me find a girl?\u201d).\u00a0 Fluttering woodwinds and ethereal backing vocals add haunting qualities to Wilson\u2019s plea: \u201cStill I dream of it\/Of that happy day when I can say I\u2019ve fallen in love\/And it haunts me so\/Like a dream that\u2019s somehow linked to all the stars above\u2026\u201d Like so much of his best work, \u201cStill I Dream of It\u201d is, in essence, a prayer: \u201cSomeday I\u2019ll find my world\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynolds also arranged a sweet cover of the Mitchell Parish\/Peter DeRose standard \u201cDeep Purple,\u201d marked by a tremulous Brian lead and more cosmic guitar from Budimir, and a lovely, mellow Wilson instrumental with a pastoral feel, \u201cNew England Waltz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Beach<\/a>BUY NOW FROM UDISCOVERMUSIC.COM<\/p>\n

The remaining tracks on Adult\/Child might have led Mike Love to make the conclusion quoted by Howie Edelson in his stellar liner notes: \u201cBrian came in with random things that didn\u2019t necessarily fit together\u2026I think there were just too many random ideas.\u201d\u00a0 Whereas the Reynolds-arranged tracks are a cohesive whole, they\u2019re barely one side of a record\u2019s length.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not to say that the remaining material wasn\u2019t equally as compelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been songs about celebration\/But if you ask me, I can\u2019t see why\/There\u2019s too much pain, too much pain in my heart now\/Ooh, you\u2019re gonna have to prove it to me,\u201d goes the lyric to \u201cEverybody Wants to Live.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a stripped-down track featuring just the Wilsons and Billy Hinsche on vocals and instruments, and musically and lyrically it might have been a better fit for Love You, but it\u2019s another insight into Brian\u2019s state of mind during this creatively fertile period. \u201cLines\u201d is rough and undeveloped but there\u2019s an insistent, almost Bacharach-esque quality to the melody before it turns into pure Wilson and then takes a further shift into rock-and-roll.\u00a0 (All that in less than two minutes!)\u00a0 Wilson\u2019s mind was constantly on the go.<\/p>\n

The \u201cChild\u201d in Adult\/Child is indulged on \u201cIt\u2019s Trying to Say,\u201d with its baseball references and lyrical affirmations sung by Dennis at his most gravelly, and Brian\u2019s beloved folk song\/nursery rhyme \u201cShortenin\u2019 Bread.\u201d\u00a0 (The decidedly politically incorrect \u201cHey Little Tomboy,\u201d which eventually appeared on 1978\u2019s M.I.U. Album, was also mooted at one time for Adult\/Child but has been left off of this presentation without comment.\u00a0 The Wilson\/Love \u201cH.E.L.P. Is on the Way,\u201d recorded in 1970 and released in 1993, was another candidate for the album.)<\/p>\n

With just nine completed songs here, Adult\/Child has been rounded out with various odds and ends.\u00a0 There\u2019s much to savor in Dick Reynolds\u2019 backing tracks which appear on both the CD and LP versions.\u00a0 The CD then offers further treasures including Carl pouring his heart into a lyrically unfinished version of Dennis\u2019 \u201cHoly Man\u201d that makes one yearn for what never was.\u00a0 Despite its incomplete nature, the majesty of the song shines through.\u00a0 (In 2009, Foo Fighters\u2019 Taylor Hawkins finally added vocals to the track; ten years later, Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen further embellished the original recording.)\u00a0 There are a few fascinating cuts of Carl woodshedding at Brother as well as the gorgeous \u201c10,000 Years Ago,\u201d a Dennis\/Mike co-write heard in instrumental form. Its dramatic sweep cedes to a funky groove, which is perfectly in line with the experimental feel that characterizes so much of this period.<\/p>\n

We Gotta Groove also premiers a chunky, synthy backing track of The Spencer Davis Group\u2019s \u201cGimme Some Lovin\u2019,\u201d and a 1975 piano-and-vocal version of \u201cIn the Back of My Mind\u201d with Brian accompanied on piano by \u201cAlong Comes Mary\u201d composer Tandyn Almer.\u00a0 Credit where it\u2019s due throughout this set to Brother Studios engineers Earle Mankey and Stephen Moffitt who so beautifully captured the recordings here.\u00a0 Brian\u2019s old friend, engineer Chuck Britz, also was at the desk for some of the tracks.<\/p>\n

Produced by James Saez and Howie Edelson and engineered and mixed by Saez, We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years boasts a striking design by Paul Moore to complement the audio and written contents.\u00a0 Edelson\u2019s notes join rare photos and memorabilia in the 40-page, full-sized squarebound booklet that accompanies the 3CD\/3LP set.\u00a0 The CDs are housed in an LP-sized folder within the slipcase featuring the studio\u2019s distinctive stained-glass artwork.<\/p>\n

We Gotta Groove compellingly revisits this period in which Brian Wilson, changed but no less a strong presence, returned to The Beach Boys\u2019 creative orbit.\u00a0 This is a story of someone turning adversity into art; the man who famously proclaimed he \u201cjust wasn\u2019t made for these times\u201d nonetheless persevered with his brothers, cousin, and friends to create music made for every time.\u00a0 Brian\u2019s presence was still felt on The Beach Boys\u2019 next effort, M.I.U. Album, and less so on 1979\u2019s L.A. (Light Album) which marked the return of Bruce Johnston into the creative fold; Bruce would take the helm as solo producer for 1980\u2019s Keepin\u2019 the Summer Alive, the final Beach Boys album to feature Dennis Wilson (albeit in a limited capacity via a more than decade-old track) before his untimely death.\u00a0 One hopes UMe\u2019s series will continue to reevaluate these albums and cast further light on the hidden gems from their sessions.\u00a0 In the meantime, We Gotta Groove is a poignant celebration of the memory of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson and the enduring music they created with Mike Love and Al Jardine.\u00a0 Now, get in shape and plug your head into life!<\/p>\n

We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years\u00a0is available for order now from uDiscoverMusic.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUY NOW FROM UDISCOVERMUSIC.COM Few long-running groups can claim one mythical \u201clost album.\u201d\u00a0 But for decades, The Beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-556247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}