“Girl Don’t Tell Me” taken from the LP ‘Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)’ | (Capitol Records T 2354) July 1965
The Beach Boys | Girl Don’t Tell Me | (Capitol) 1965 | This was The Beach Boys ninth studio album. Can you believe that? It’s only mid 1965 and they’re onto their ninth studio album. No wonder writer, arranger and producer Brian Wilson was starting to have mental health issues. That’s a lot of weight and responsibility on a young guy.
This album is regarded as something of a Beach Boys benchmark but I find songs like ’Amusement Parks U.S.A’, ’I’m Bugged At My Ol’ Man’ and ’And You Dreams Come True’ annoying. They’re just not my scene.
My personal favourite song on the album is ’Girl Don’t Tell Me’, which has a lead vocal by Carl Wilson. They should have stayed with this kind of sound a little more.
The Beach Boys | Girl Don’t Tell Me | (Capitol) 1965
The re-recorded ’Help Me Rhonda’ and ’California Girls’ are also highlights. Both have complex vocal arrangements and a progressive production for 1965. No one sounded quite like The Beach Boys when they were firing from both barrels. The ’sound’ on ’California Girls’ was a signal for things to come on the 1966 album ’Pet Sounds.’
This album was another success reaching #2 in USA behind The Rolling Stones ’Out Of Our Heads’, in Great Britain it reached Top 5.
A message from Brian Wilson:
As I’m writing this, Carl, Ron Swallow (our travelin’ buddy and wardrobe man) and three girls along with Earl Leaf are sitting around the coffee table singing Beatles songs. But my mind is somewhere else right now. I’m still working on ideas for this album.
We had an unbelievable hassle trying to finish up the songs, especially after a three week tour.
You should have seen Mike diggin’ his own voice when we played back ’The Girl From New York City’ in the studio last week. He was movin’ and groovin’ like he used to in the locker room at Dorsey High, I’m glad I finally wrote a song Carl dug singin’.
I thought Al pulled off ’Then I Kissed Her’ purty good too. And then there’s Denny who fell asleep in his camper truck parked outside the studio he was supposed to sing a lead. Hope you like our efforts this time. Thanks.
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