| L.A. (Light Album) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||||
| Released | March 19, 1979 | |||
| Recorded | July 1978 - January 1979 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 41:33 | |||
| Label | Brother/Caribou/CBS | |||
| Producer | Bruce Johnston, The Beach Boys, James William Guercio | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
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L.A. (Light Album) is The Beach Boys' twenty-third studio album, their last released in the 1970's, and their first as part of their contract with CBS Records. Although Brother Records was still in operation, their manager at the time, former Chicago producer James William Guercio had his Caribou Records label distribute the album in conjunction with Brother.
Also co-producing with Guercio and The Beach Boys was Bruce Johnston, who had left the band in early 1972. Johnston was brought in when it became clear that the ailing Brian Wilson was in no fit state to produce the album. Johnston has been with the Beach Boys ever since.
L.A. (Light Album) (Brother/Caribou/CBS JZ 35752) reached #100 in the US during a chart stay of thirteen weeks, and is now paired on CD with M.I.U. Album. As of September 2011, the album appears to be out of print.
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Despite a new $8 million contract with CBS Records calling for Brian Wilson to write and produce 75% of the songs on each new album, his contributions to L.A. (Light Album) are minimal. His presence on the album as a vocalist has only been confirmed on one song, "Angel Come Home", though he probably played piano on the single "Good Timin'" which was co-written by him with brother Carl, but had been recorded four years earlier. His arrangement of the traditional song "Shortenin' Bread" was also old. The vocals for both songs were recorded without Brian. "Good Timin'" hit #40 in the US.
Both "Baby Blue" and "Love Surrounds Me" were originally recorded for Dennis Wilson's never-released second solo album, Bambu. These would be the last Dennis Wilson songs released before his death in 1983.
L.A. (Light Album) spawned a top-ten hit in the UK with Al Jardine's Bach-inspired "Lady Lynda", written for his wife, and later rerecorded as "Lady Liberty" after their divorce. Jardine recently revealed that Dennis Wilson made an uncredited contribution to the song's lush string arrangement. Mike Love's Japanese-flavored "Sumahama" was also a UK single chart entry later in 1979.
Possibly the album's most controversial moment was an eleven-minute disco recasting of Wild Honey's "Here Comes the Night" that caused considerable consternation among fans. The song was only played live during a few dates at New York City's Radio City Music Hall in March 1979 before being dropped from the live set due to adverse audience reaction. Nevertheless, an abridged 4:34 version made the charts in the US as the lead single, peaking at #44.
L.A. (Light Album) peaked at #100 in the US, and #32 in the UK.
| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| Robert Christgau | (C+) link |
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead Vocals | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Good Timin'" | Brian Wilson/Carl Wilson | C. Wilson | 2:12 | |||||
| 2. | "Lady Lynda" | Johann Sebastian Bach/arr. Al Jardine/Ron Altbach | Jardine | 3:58 | |||||
| 3. | "Full Sail" | C. Wilson/Geoffrey Cushing-Murray | C. Wilson | 2:56 | |||||
| 4. | "Angel Come Home" | C. Wilson/Cushing-Murray | Dennis Wilson | 3:39 | |||||
| 5. | "Love Surrounds Me" | D. Wilson/Cushing-Murray | D. Wilson | 3:41 | |||||
| 6. | "Sumahama" | Mike Love | Love | 4:30 | |||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead Vocals | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Here Comes the Night" | B. Wilson/Love | C. Wilson/Jardine | 10:51 | |||||
| 2. | "Baby Blue" | D. Wilson/Gregg Jakobson/Karen Lamm | C. Wilson/D. Wilson | 3:25 | |||||
| 3. | "Goin' South" | C. Wilson/Cushing-Murray | C. Wilson | 3:16 | |||||
| 4. | "Shortenin' Bread" | Trad., arr. B. Wilson | C. Wilson/D. Wilson | 2:49 | |||||