Music / The Beach Boys Love You

Love is a woman / So give her all your love tonight

Aeugh !

— Opening lyric of Let Us Go On This Way

The Beach Boys Love You is the twenty-first album by The Beach Boys and came out in 1977. It is the second part of what is considered the "Brian's Back" trilogy in the band's career (15 Big Ones being the first album and Adult Child being the potential third album which didn't get released). It was originally a Brian Wilson solo project where he played almost all the instruments on it (and most of the other Beach Boys are only credited on the vocals). This is why Love You has been compared to Pet Sounds since Brian had a major creative control on the album's direction (while his fellow Beach Boys didn't contribute much besides vocal duties and a few songs co-written).

The themes of Love You are various but most of them are of an autobiographic kind. With most of the lyrics written by Brian, it talks about adult love ("Let's Put Our Hearts Together") juvenile love ("Let Us Go On This Way" and "Roller Skating Child"), adultery ("The Night Was So Young"), the solar system and TV Host Johnny Carson.

Released to weak sales, the album has been however saluted by the critics and it is now considered a pioneering record in the genre of Synth-Pop and New Wave due to its extensive use of synthesizers. It is one of Brian's favorite albums and is also considered the last great album in the Beach Boys' career.

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Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Let Us Go On This Way" (1:58)
2. "Roller Skating Child" (2:17)
3. "Mona" (2:06)
4. "Johnny Carson" (2:47)
5. "Good Time" (2:50)
6. "Honkin' Down the Highway" (2:48)
7. "Ding Dang" (0:57)

Side Two

1. "Solar System" (2:49)
2. "The Night Was So Young" (2:15)
3. "I'll Bet He's Nice" (2:36)
4. "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" (2:14)
5. "I Wanna Pick You Up" (2:39)
6. "Airplane" (3:05)
7. "Love Is a Woman" (2:57)

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Principal Members:

• Al Jardine - lead vocals
• Mike Love - lead vocals
• Brian Wilson - lead vocals, piano, synthesizers, guitar, bass, organ
• Carl Wilson - lead vocals
• Dennis Wilson - lead vocals

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Gooood pleeeeaaaaaase, let us trope on this waaaaaaaaaay:

• Artistic License – Space: "Solar System".
  Then there's the Milky Way, that's where the angels play
• Astrologer: Solar System, according to one of Brian's recallings, was written after he attended an astrology class:
  What do the planets mean? And have you ever seen
  Sunrise in the morn, it shined when you were born.
• Broken Record: "Ding Dang":
  Ding (ding), Dang (whoo!)
  Ding and a ding dong
  • and "Airplane"’s outro:
  I can’t wait (I can’t wait)
  To see her face
• Celebrity Song: "Johnny Carson".
• Compliment Backfire: "Johnny Carson" was written as a sincere tribute to the late-night talk-show host and how he's been an idol for many people for many years. While the Beach Boys never got invited on Carson's show, he did listen to the song and while he didn't hate it, he viewed it as something just done for the fun of it, dismissing it as "not a work of art".
• The Cover Changes the Gender: "Good Time" was originally written and recorded in 1970 but was never released. The song was first released in 1972 by the band American Spring (featuring Marilyn Rovell, Brian's then wife, and her sister Diane). The Beach Boys version has girlfriends named Penny and Betty while the American Spring version has boyfriends named Eddy and Orion.
• Design Student's Orgasm: The technicolor cover art was provided by Dean Torrence (of Jan and Dean fame).
• Educational Song: "Solar System" has some lyrics which are now outdated due to Pluto's status as a dwarf planet, but most of it correctly explains about said system with some slight artistic liberties.
• Intercourse with You: "Roller Skating Child"
  And we'll make sweet love when the sun goes down / We'll even do more when your mamma's not around
• Let's Duet: "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" has Brian Wilson and Marilyn Rovell (who were married at the time) sharing lead vocals on a love song.
• Limited Lyrics Song: "Ding Dang":
  Ding (ding), Dang (whoo!)
  Ding and a ding dong
  Ding (ding), Dang (whoo!)
  Ding and a ding dong
  I love a girl, I love her so madly
  I treat her so fine but she treats me so badly
• Lyrical Cold Open: "Roller Skating Child" and "I'll Bet He's Nice".
• Minimalist Cast: Compared to their last album 15 Big Ones which had various additional personnel (including the Beach Boys' touring band or some members of the Wrecking Crew who played on Pet Sounds), Love You has most of its instrumentation handled by Brian alone. The remaining Beach Boys (as well as Brian's wife Marilyn Rovell) only sing, and the entirety of the tracklist is written by Brian (with Beach Boys Al Jardine and Mike Love co-writing two tracks and Roger McGuinn from The Byrds co-writing "Ding Dang").
• Miniscule Rocking: "Ding Dang", on top of being an absurd song with an even more absurd background, is the second shortest song in the Beach Boys' discography after "Meant For You" (from the Friends album).
• Mood Whiplash: "Airplane" has a slow, serene build-up while the outro is rhythmic and uplifting.
• Mundane Made Awesome: "Honkin' Down The Highway" is one of the catchiest songs about driving down a highway in order to see your girlfriend.
• New Sound Album: The strong use of synths on all the tracks (except Good Time which is an outtake from seven years priors to the album's release) makes this album stand out from the entire Beach Boys discography.
• One-Woman Song: "Mona"
• One-Word Title: "Mona" and "Airplane"
• Shout-Out: "Johnny Carson", quite simply.
• Silly Love Songs: "Let' s Put Our Hearts Together" and "Love Is A Woman".
• Single Stanza Song: "Ding Dang"
• Special Guest: Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds fame) co-wrote "Ding Dang" while Marilyn Rovell (Brian Wilson's wife and member of American Spring) sings with her husband on "Let's Put Our Hearts Together".
• Special Thanks: the inner sleeve of the album contains a message dedicated to Brian from his fellow Beach Boys along with a picture of him being kissed by his then-wife Marilyn Rovell during a party:
  TO BRIAN WHOM WE LOVE WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS
  We wish to express our appreciation, and acknowledge your willingness to create and support totally the completion of these songs. We thank you for sharing yourself and your music with us, and all those who love you as well. An unspeakable joy being with you in your expression of the music you put out there for everyone. Brian, we feel honored and grateful and we love you.
• Step Up to the Microphone: Brian Wilson's wife (at the time) Marilyn Rovell sings on "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" along with her husband (at the time)
• Studio Chatter: On the first few seconds of "Ding Dang".
• Vocal Tag Team: The entire band provides lead vocals on this album (and with a fair balance between the 5 members).
  • All three Wilson brothers co-lead on "I'll Bet He's Nice".
• Voice Change Surprise: If you don't know that "Good Time" is a song originally recorded for the 1970 album Sunflower, you may think Brian suddenly lost his coarse voice and regained his falsetto during a first listen of the album.

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