{"id":542047,"date":"2026-03-24T09:18:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/542047\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:18:21","slug":"review-the-beach-boys-we-gotta-groove-the-brother-studio-years-part-1-15-big-ones-the-beach-boys-love-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/542047\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Beach Boys, “We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years” Part 1 – “15 Big Ones,” “The Beach Boys Love You”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

What I remember is \u201cBrian\u2019s Back\u201d was a campaign for a record company, but it was far more than that for all the rest of us. \u2013 Mike Love, February 12, 2026<\/p>\n

At the recent Grammy Museum event celebrating the release of The Beach Boys\u2019 latest box set<\/a>, the 3CD\/3LP We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years, a visibly emotional Mike Love recounted the media frenzy that surrounded Brian Wilson\u2019s so-called comeback.\u00a0 The Beach Boys\u2019 onetime leader and creative visionary had largely retreated from the producer\u2019s chair after the shelved SMiLE sessions; as of 1967\u2019s Smiley Smile, the credit \u201cProduced by The Beach Boys\u201d had become standard.\u00a0 (1969\u2019s 20\/20 credited its individual productions, including various songs helmed by the solo Brian as well as with Al Jardine and Carl Wilson.)\u00a0 Then, 1976\u2019s 15 Big Ones arrived in a flurry of publicity bearing the legend \u201cProduced by Brian Wilson.\u201d\u00a0 It was the first new full-length album by The Beach Boys to have that credit since 1966\u2019s Pet Sounds.<\/p>\n

In his (then-) unreleased song \u201cBrian\u2019s Back,\u201d Love sang, \u201cThey say Brian is back\/But I never knew that he was gone,\u201d and there was some truth in that.\u00a0 Wilson\u2019s songs had played a part on all four of the band\u2019s first albums of the new decade (1970\u2019s Sunflower, 1971\u2019s Surf\u2019s Up, 1972\u2019s Carl and The Passions \u2013 \u201cSo Tough,\u201d and 1973\u2019s Holland).\u00a0 But Wilson was struggling with both his life and music.\u00a0 15 Big Ones was the first step on a long and hard-won road back to health, happiness, and productivity, and it\u2019s part of the story so vividly chronicled on We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years.<\/p>\n

The studio in question was built by The Beach Boys on the site of an art museum-turned-porno house in Santa Monica, California, not far from the city\u2019s famed Third Street Promenade.\u00a0 Designed and led by engineer Stephen Moffitt, it welcomed artists from Elton John to Eric Carmen, and provided a home for the musical explorations of the bandmates including, most particularly, Dennis Wilson.\u00a0 The Brother Studio sessions for 15 Big Ones began in January 1976, culminating in the July release of an album which ultimately blended original songs (some by Wilson, some not) with new recordings of the group\u2019s favorite oldies.\u00a0 That album takes a back seat here, though, to the arguably more fascinating ones that followed.\u00a0 Rather than including 15 Big Ones in full, We Gotta Groove addresses the period with an LP\u2019s worth of remixes, outtakes, and backing tracks from the sessions.\u00a0 (These comprise the first half of the box\u2019s third CD and are reprised on both sides of one LP.) 15 Big Ones remains available on digital platforms and on various previously-issued physical editions.<\/p>\n

\"BeachThe original album\u2019s emotional highlight was the touching revival of Carole King, Gerry Goffin, and Phil Spector\u2019s \u201cJust Once in My Life\u201d on which Carl and Brian filled in for The Righteous Brothers\u2019 Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield.\u00a0 It\u2019s heard in an extended new mix which emphasizes their brotherly blend as well as in a backing track mix showcasing Brian\u2019s stripped-down but still majestic \u2013 even righteous \u2013 arrangement.\u00a0 The desperation in Brian\u2019s voice is heartbreakingly palpable.\u00a0 He indulged his love of Spector\u2019s Wall of Sound in a more cheery fashion on \u201cChapel of Love.\u201d\u00a0 A fresh mix brings out additional detail in the strong and layered vocal arrangement and features cold ending instead of the original\u2019s fade.<\/p>\n

A number of outtakes make their official premieres here, too.\u00a0 A raw, throaty \u201cMony, Mony\u201d was built by Brian around a drum machine beat; Mike leads \u201cRunning Bear\u201d (a 1959 \u201cdeath disc\u201d) with Steve Douglas on the honking saxophone and a pronounced lack of any harmonies.\u00a0 Al Jardine is out front on both a vibrant \u201cShake, Rattle, and Roll\u201d and a languid \u201cOn Broadway.\u201d\u00a0 With its lounge mood and lush production style, \u201cOn Broadway\u201d is the biggest departure from the chunky, electronic sound of 15 Big Ones.\u00a0 (Wrecking Crew members are heard on these tracks including Ray Pohlman, Julius Wechter, Steve Douglas, and Jay Migliori on \u201cShake\u201d and Pohlman, Douglas, and Hal Blaine on \u201cBroadway.\u201d)\u00a0 Dennis cuts loose on \u201cSea Cruise;\u201d the notes indicate that Mike Love also recorded an as-yet-unreleased vocal on the Huey \u201cPiano\u201d Smith classic.\u00a0 Brian\u2019s original song \u201cShort Skirts\u201d has background vocals and a complement of woodwinds but no proper lyrics; still, it\u2019s an enjoyable and melodic rocker.<\/p>\n

A top ten crowd-pleaser in America\u2019s bicentennial year, 15 Big Ones turned out to be a palate cleanser of sorts.\u00a0 The Beach Boys\u2019 next long-player would be defiantly original \u2013 and the final released album with Wilson as principal songwriter and producer for over a decade.\u00a0 It was mooted as Brian Loves You and released as The Beach Boys Love You.\u00a0 \u201cIdiosyncratic\u201d isn\u2019t nearly strong enough a word for this suite of spellbinding, off-kilter, baffling, spiritual, earthy, ethereal, intensely personal, and utterly singular songs \u2013 each and every one of which was written (or co-written) and produced by Brian Wilson.\u00a0 Moreover, most of the heavily keyboard-and-drums instrumentation was performed by the solo Wilson, lending the LP is a lo-fi\/DIY aesthetic that proved influential in the years to come.<\/p>\n

\"BeachAll sides of Brian Wilson were on display during the burst of creativity that led to Love You.\u00a0 Some of its songs reflect an arrested development sensibility (\u201cRoller Skatin\u2019 Child,\u201d \u201cI Wanna Pick You Up\u201d) that might be discomfiting coming from any other artist.\u00a0 A straight line can be drawn from the literal, seemingly mundane lyrics of Brian\u2019s 1968 bossa nova \u201cBusy Doin\u2019 Nothin\u2019\u201d (\u201cI wrote a number down\/But I lost it\/So I searched through my pocketbook\/I couldn\u2019t find it\/So I sat and concentrated on the number\/And slowly it came to me\/So I dialed it\u201d) to those of \u201cJohnny Carson,\u201d described in Howie Edelson\u2019s stellar liner notes by Jardine as \u201csilly\u201d and Love as \u201cbizarre\u201d (\u201cHe sits behind his microphone\/Johnny Carson\/He speaks in such a manly tone\/Johnny Carson\u2026\u201d).\u00a0 A distinctive blend of the innocuous and the off-putting runs through the songs of Love You yet they share the unmistakable DNA of their author at his most raw and genuine.\u00a0 The Beach Boys Love You finds the beauty in fragility.<\/p>\n

A Phil Spector homage, \u201cMona,\u201d captures the spirit of early rock-and-roll.\u00a0 Wilson and Jardine\u2019s \u201cGood Time\u201d dated back to 1970 and as such feels out of place but brings the buoyant feeling its title promises.\u00a0 The presentation of the full album on We Gotta Groove highlights the fact that the group was intimately involved in bringing Brian\u2019s vision to life; Jardine stands out singing lead on the goofy \u201cHonkin\u2019 Down the Highway,\u201d and Brian shares the vocals with Mike and Carl on the driving \u201cLet Us Go on This Way.\u201d\u00a0 Its angelic chorus harmonies contrast with the rocking verses, much as the swooning chorus of \u201cSolar System\u201d adds an unexpected touch of loveliness to the childlike lyric (\u201cSolar system\/Brings us wisdom\u2026\u201d).\u00a0 Dennis and Brian\u2019s rough timbres on the tinkling \u201cI\u2019ll Bet He\u2019s Nice\u201d are juxtaposed with Carl\u2019s honeyed tone on the song\u2019s bridge, much as Brian\u2019s scratchy but vulnerable, emotional voice gets a boost from then-wife Marilyn\u2019s on the sweet \u201cLet\u2019s Put Our Hearts Together.\u201d\u00a0 Best of all is the yearning \u201cThe Night Was So Young,\u201d a stunning revisit of the rich Pet Sounds aesthetic ten years later and the most fully-realized ballad of Wilson\u2019s 1970s.<\/p>\n

The original 1977 mix of Love You appears here on CD and LP, and is joined by ten bonus cuts on CD.\u00a0 These include a number of outtakes which are officially previously unreleased but nonetheless familiar to longtime Beach Boys collectors such as the clattering \u201cLazy Lizzie,\u201d an ode to \u201cMarilyn Rovell,\u201d the oldies \u201cRuby Baby\u201d (also recorded and set aside on Beach Boys Party) and \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feelin\u2019,\u201d and \u201cSherry, She Needs Me,\u201d a co-write with Russ Titelman which originated in 1965 which Wilson would reimagine as \u201cShe Says That She Needs Me\u201d on his 1998 album Imagination.\u00a0 \u201cSherry\u201d is moving in any iteration; Brian musters his best falsetto of the Love You era for it, and sings both parts of \u201cLovin\u2019 Feelin\u2019\u201d in a frayed voice that\u2019s simultaneously anguished and affecting.\u00a0 He pounds the piano with nearly as much evident passion.\u00a0 The workaday lyrics of \u201cMarilyn Rovell\u201d fit right into the Love You spirit, walking a fine line of misogyny that never once comes off as mean-spirited.<\/p>\n

Further treasures on the box set\u2019s second CD include an alternate mix of \u201cJohnny Carson\u201d with Ed Carter\u2019s rock-and-roll guitar intro and \u201cLove Is a Woman\u201d with an earnest, youthful lead from Jardine.\u00a0 Three outtakes have been freshly mixed: the box\u2019s title track \u201cWe Gotta Groove,\u201d with its herky-jerky rhythms and robust Love vocal; the goofy \u201cHey There Mama;\u201d and an early version of \u201cDing-Dang\u201d called \u201cClangin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spate of Love You alternate mixes fill out the box set\u2019s third CD including \u201cdeconstructed\u201d versions of \u201cHad to Phone Ya\u201d and \u201cMona,\u201d the latter focusing on Dennis\u2019 lead vocal.\u00a0 The late, great Billy Hinsche gets a well-deserved moment in the spotlight as he admirably fills Al\u2019s shoes to sing \u201cHonkin\u2019 Down the Highway.\u201d\u00a0 The rollicking sessions for \u201cDing-Dang\u201d and a soaring, vocals-only mix of \u201cThe Night Was So Young\u201d are both delights.\u00a0 Brian\u2019s cassette demos for Love You bridge the gap between that album and the one that would have followed it, Adult\/Child.\u00a0 These stark piano-and-vocal takes of cuts including \u201cLove Is a Woman,\u201d \u201cAirplane,\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s Put Out Hearts Together,\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll Bet He\u2019s Nice\u201d offer fly-on-the-wall moments of tenderness and pure, unplanned beauty.\u00a0 Adult\/Child would take the intensely personal songwriting of Love You to the next level.<\/p>\n

Watch this space for Part 2 of this review exploring the sessions for The Beach Boys\u2019 originally-unreleased Adult\/Child album and more!<\/p>\n

We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years is available for pre-order now from uDiscoverMusic.com. Pre-orders for the latest pressing should ship around Friday, March 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUY NOW FROM UDISCOVERMUSIC.COM What I remember is \u201cBrian\u2019s Back\u201d was a campaign for a record company, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-542047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}