Music / L.A. (Light Album)

All us people

Now we're just livin'

The world keeps turnin'

And we're all learnin'

- "Good Timin'"

L.A. (Light Album) is the twenty-third album of The Beach Boys and was released in 1979. This is the first album the band released through the CBS Records label after 9 years and 7 LPs issued on Reprise Records.

L.A. is notorious for its tumultuous recording which lead former member Bruce Johnston to rejoin the band and produce the rest of the album. There is very little involvement from Brian Wilson whose mental health was hitting a new low, but his brother Dennis was working on his second album Bambu and Beach Boys manager James William Guercio feared that it wouldn’t be completed so he decided to include two songs from this album to L.A., marking some sort of come-back for Dennis who had a minor involvement in the band’s previous LP M.I.U. Album.

Like its title suggests, L.A. is deeply ingrained in soft-rock and has a majority of ballads on its tracklist. One song standing out is the disco rendition of "Here Comes The Night" a track originally written for the Wild Honey album. Whether it is The Beach Boys’ choice to jump on the disco trend or its humongous length of almost 11 minutes (making it the longest track in the band’s discography), the disco-flavored Here Comes The Night is considered the centerpiece of this album. Another particular track is "Shortenin’ Bread", a rearrangement of an old nursery rhyme which was Brian’s obsession through the 70s and had different versions recorded until finally being released on this album.

Reception of the album was, just like M.I.U. Album, poor. Despite charting higher than its predecessor, it was still a commercial deception and out of all 10 tracks on the album, only "Lady Lynda" would stand out as a staple for most concerts involving Al Jardine (before divorcing with said Lynda and rewriting the song as a Lady Liberty tribute which was soon forgotten).

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Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Good Timin’" (2:12)
2. "Lady Lynda" (3:58)
3. "Full Sail" (2:56)
4. "Angel Come Home" (3:39)
5. "Love Surrounds Me" (3:41)
6. "Sumahama'' (4:07)

Side Two

1. "Here Comes The Night" (10:51)
2. "Baby Blue" (3:25)
3. "Goin’ South" (3:16)
4. "Shortenin’ Bread" (2:49)

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Principal Members:

• Al Jardine
• Bruce Johnston
• Mike Love
• Brian Wilson
• Carl Wilson
• Dennis Wilson

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Here come the tropes (oh) here come the tropes (oh oh):

• Cover Version: The band recorded a cover of Neil Sedaka's "Calendar Girl" which didn't make it to the album's final cut. However, another version of the cover was released on Mike Love's debut LP Looking Back with Love.
• Demoted to Extra: Brian had to step down due to his mental ailing condition and thus, he is mostly credited on songs he wrote years before the album's conception.
  • Mike Love, however, stands out by providing lead vocals on only one track ("Sumahama") when he usually sings on more than 3 tracks on other Beach Boys albums.
• Disco Sucks: On one of the rare occasions where the band played the disco version of "Here Comes The Night"clive, you can hear someone in the audience booing the performance and shouting "Disco sucks !".
• Dungeon Masters Girlfriend: Karen Lamm, Dennis’ then girlfriend, has a writing credit on "Baby Blue".
• Epic Rocking: "Here Comes The Night" clocks in at almost 11 minutes, making it the longest track in The Beach Boys' entire discography.
• Fade Out: Only "Lady Lynda", "Here Comes The Night" and "Goin’ South" don’t end with a fade-out.
• Folk Music: "Shortenin' Bread" is a plantation song dating back to at least the 1890s. Brian had an obession with it throughout the 70s, and the base riff of this song would reappear many times in the Beach Boys' discography (as well as Brian's).
• Gratuitous Japanese: "Sumahama" features Mike Love singing the chorus in japanese near the end.
• Location Song: "Sumahama" (which is the name of a beach in the Hyogo prefecture of Japan).
• Lyrical Cold Open: "Goin’ South".
• Meaningful Name: Light Album fits with the soft tone for most of the album, but the intials also reference Los Angeles, a landmark of Southern California and the city where all original Beach Boys grew up close to.
• Misplaced Wildlife: One can wonder why "Here Comes The Night" has monkey noises during a bridge.
• Oddball In The Album: The disco remake of "Here Comes The Night", easily. Standing out by its genre but also by its length of almost 11 minutes.
• One-Woman Song: "Lady Lynda".
• One-Word Title: "Sumahama".
• Oriental Riff: Featured on the intro and the riff of "Sumahama".
• Precision F-Strike: One of the album's outtakes, "Drip Drop", showcases Brian swearing, something the band wouldn't allow (especially Mike who always aspired to write "clean lyrics"):
  Cried so hard
  Teardrops on my bed
  Let' s go motherfucker!
• Special Guest: Christine McVie (from Fleetwood Mac) sings backing vocals on "Baby Blue".
• The Power of Love: "Here Comes The Night":
  But our love grows on and on
  Stars who shine in love
  Are making you mine to love
  I've never felt a love so strong
• Wutai: "Sumahama".