Beach Boys' Party!
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| Beach Boys' Party! | ||
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| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||
| Released | 8 November 1965 | |
| Recorded | 8-27 September 1965 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 31:10 | |
| Label | Capitol Records | |
| Producer(s) | Brian Wilson | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| The Beach Boys chronology | ||
| Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) (1965) |
Beach Boys' Party! (1965) |
Pet Sounds (1966) |
Beach Boys' Party! is an album of cover songs (featuring acoustic instruments), including three songs by The Beatles which was marketed during the lucrative Christmas season. It was the third album released by The Beach Boys in 1965 and their eleventh overall album. Although it was recorded in the studio, it is presented as an impromptu live recording of a party.
In August, after the release of Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) leader Brian Wilson was contemplating his next studio album. Capitol Records requested a new album for the holiday season. Since a live album, Beach Boys Concert, had already been released that year, the "live party" idea was selected. Sporadically throughout September, Wilson led the band and their friends rehearsed current or older hits (including revisiting The Rivingtons' "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow"). Although presented as a live recording, the individual songs were recorded carefully, and laughter and background chatter was mixed in during postproduction.
The album included versions of The Beatles' "Tell Me Why" and "I Should Have Known Better", The Everly Brothers' "Devoted To You", Phil Spector's "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" and a send-up of their own "I Get Around" and "Little Deuce Coupe". Beach Boys' Party! was meant as a fun album created without a single, because Wilson was readying "The Little Girl I Once Knew" for single release concurrently with the album.
The new single's inventive use of silence was disliked by radio programmers, causing "The Little Girl I Once Knew" to stop at US #20. The last track of Party!, a cover of The Regents's "Barbara Ann" was promptly issued as a single, and became a #2 smash in early 1966.
Beach Boys' Party! reached #6 in the US (though it never went gold). Beach Boys' Party! and its surprise hit single became The Beach Boys' biggest successes yet in the UK, both reaching #3 in early 1966 and making them stars in The Beatles' homeland.
In 1997, the Canadian Indie Rock group Sloan, released an EP entitled "Recorded Live At A Sloan Party! (AKA The Party Album)" as a bonus disc to the U.S. release of "One Chord To Another" in homage to The Beach Boys' Party! LP, Like the Beach Boy's Party! LP, Live At A Sloan Party! mixes acoustic versions of old classics and songs originally written and recorded by other artists.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Hully Gully" (Fred Smith/Cliff Goldsmith) – 2:22
- "I Should Have Known Better" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) – 1:40
- "Tell Me Why" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) – 1:46
- "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" (Carl White/Al Frazier/Sonny Harris/Turner Wilson Jr.) – 2:18
- "Mountain of Love" (Harold Dorman) – 2:51
- "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) – 2:56
- "Devoted To You" (Boudleaux Bryant) – 2:13
- "Alley Oop" (Dallas Frazier) – 2:56
- "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" (Phil Spector/Leroy Bates) – 3:05
- "Medley: I Get Around/Little Deuce Coupe" (Brian Wilson/Mike Love/Roger Christian) – 3:12
- "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (Bob Dylan) – 2:23
- "Barbara Ann" (Fred Fassert) – 3:23
- Featuring Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean on co-lead vocal with Brian Wilson
[edit] Singles
- "The Little Girl I Once Knew" b/w "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" (Capitol 5540), 8 November 1965 #20
("The Little Girl I Once Knew" never featured on a regular Beach Boys studio album)
- "Barbara Ann" b/w "Girl Don't Tell Me" (from Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) (Capitol 5561), 20 December 1965, US #2; UK #3
Beach Boys' Party! is now paired on CD with Stack-O-Tracks with bonus instrumental tracks.
Beach Boys' Party! (Capitol (D) MAS 2398) hit #6 in the US during a chart stay of 24 weeks. It reached #3 in the UK in March 1966.
[edit] Sources
- Beach Boys' Party!/Stack-O-Tracks CD booklet notes, David Leaf, c.1990.
- "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience", Timothy White, c. 1994.
- "Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story", Brian Wilson and Todd Gold, c. 1991.
- "Top Pop Singles 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
- "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
- All Music Guide.com
