Boys of Summer

  The signs of summer are everywhere: longer days, baseball on the tube, restless teens ready for a break, and the smell of your neighbor’s barbecue blowing (at 70 miles an hour) into your backyard.  Freshly cut grass, water restrictions—you’ve gotta love it. 

  As spring fever gives way to the idle excesses of summer, children and adults alike grow more and more eager for a little fun in the sun.  And nothing—I repeat, nothing—says fun in the sun like The Beach Boys.  

  This weekend, the quintessential boys of summer will be taking the stage at Aggie Memorial Stadium for a Sunday evening show that’s sure to thrill the whole family.  The Beach Boys’ music speaks to the beach bum in all of us.  It transcends generations, and appeals to the teenager in all of us—that inner teen who is perpetually on a grail hunt, our quest for the holy trifecta of teen-hood: the fastest car, the perfect wave, the prettiest girl.  

  Generations of teens who have never even seen the ocean are drawn to The Beach Boys’ unique brand of surf music—and to the dream that lurks within it.  It is that dream with its mass appeal, and the group’s undeniable ability to capture it, that has given them 36 hits on the Top 40 charts during a career that spans more than 25 years.  With the exception, perhaps, of surf-guitar legend Dick Dale, no single act has done more to popularize surf-rock than The Beach Boys.

  In 1962 and 1963, surf-rock became the biggest craze to hit America since “The Twist,” and it would remain so until The Beatles stepped off that plane at JFK in February of 1964, marking the beginning of the British Invasion.  And while it may have been songs like “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Surfer Girl” that put The Beach Boys on the map, I think that their strongest music came later in their career with the 1966 album “Pet Sounds.”  That album, masterfully produced and alarmingly introspective, broke away from the pop-surf sound that fans had come to expect from the group.  It is seamlessly arranged so that the album is greater than the sum of its parts, and, in my opinion, is one of the greatest rock albums of all time.   The scene at Sunday’s concert will be a genuine summertime bash, complete with tailgating, barbecues, and cold drinks.  It’s my understanding that Burger Time’s Kevin McGrath with be grilling up free burgers for ticket-holders, and new regulations at the recently renovated stadium allow for beer sales during certain events.  When it comes to welcoming summer, what could be better than a burger from the grill, The Beach Boys and a frosty barley pop?

  Tickets for the concert are still available at the Pan-Am Box Office or online at www.ticketmaster.com.  This Sunday, there is only one way to ring in the sunny season.  After all, this could be your last chance to see one of Rock & Roll’s greatest bands in your own backyard.   

-From Pulse
   May 4, 2006

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The Album

  Last November, Kenny Chesney was onstage at the Country Music Awards.  He was accepting his award for “Album of the Year” for “When The Sun Goes Down.”  Now, I don’t usually go around quoting country singers—I learned long ago that it’s a good way to get yourself in trouble—but Mr. Chesney made a couple of valid points.

  Paraphrasing, he said that it was an honor in 2004 to be awarded “Album of the Year.”  With downloading—both legal and otherwise—becoming so prolific, he noted that we are in jeopardy of losing the concept of the album. 

  I recently read a quote from a music industry veteran who said, “The ‘Album of the Year’ today in all genres mostly means the collection from which the most singles were drawn.”  It hasn’t always been that way.  But I’m hesitant to dump all of the blame on the downloading teens and twentysomethings.  It seems the record industry should step up and take some responsibility as well.

  Downloaders are taking advantage of their options—options that have always been around.  Imagine someone, in 1964, standing onstage at the Grammys and saying, “With the sales of 45’s on the rise, it’s an honor…”  Before file-sharing hit the ground running (a la the glory days of Napster), there was already discontent in the hearts of music consumers.  The album was, more times than not, an exercise in mediocrity with a couple of standout singles.  Now the industry has figured out a way to rewrite history—blame the downloaders and the technology that facilitates them.

  Getting back to what Chesney said, the concept of “the album” is lost. And that’s a shame.  Whatever your taste, take a moment or two to think of the greatest albums you’ve ever heard.  It may be The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds,” or The Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers.”  Maybe a Beatles album.  Perhaps it’s “August and Everything After,” by Counting Crows, or Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”  Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew.”  Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” or Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet.”

  It’s possible that, with downloading on the rise, the idea of the album can be lost.  If you can just surf over to iTunes and get the song you heard on the radio for 99 cents, why would you pay seventeen bucks for an album you may not like?  The argument could be made that buying a CD in 2005 is only for fools and gambling addicts.

  There was once something called the “concept album.”  One of the best I ever heard was Frank Sinatra’s “Watertown.”  All of the songs on the album were set in the same small town, and the songs told the story of a couple going through a divorce.  These songs lose their meaning when you hear them outside their intended context.  The same goes for some of the songs on “Pet Sounds” or most Pink Floyd albums.  As singles, they are stripped of their power and context.

  As consumers of singles rather than CD’s, we are sending the message to record companies that it’s okay to fill an album with mediocre material.  As downloaders, we make it easy for them to point the finger of blame at the technology that allows it.

 -From Pulse
   June 2, 2005

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