Shut Down Volume 2

Shut Down Volume 2
Studio album by The Beach Boys
Released	March 2, 1964
Recorded	January 1–10, February 19–20, 1964, United Western Recorders and Gold Star Studios, Hollywood
Genre	Hot rod rock
Length	27:05
Label	Capitol
Producer	Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys chronology
Little Deuce Coupe (1963) Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) All Summer Long (1964)
The Beach Boys UK chronology
Surfin' Safari (1963) Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964)
Singles from Shut Down Vol. 2
"Fun, Fun, Fun"/"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" Released: February 3, 1964

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Shut Down Volume 2 is the fifth studio album by the Beach Boys, and the first of three they would release in 1964. Shut Down Volume 2 reached number 13 in the US charts during a chart stay of 38 weeks. The "Volume 2" in the album title refers to a multi-artist album featuring and named for the Beach Boys' song "Shut Down", released eight months earlier by the band's label.

Background

The name of the record is based on the Shut Down hot rod compilation released by Capitol in July 1963. The multi-artist compilation, including the Beach Boys songs "Shut Down" and "409", peaked at number seven on the Billboard album charts, showing for 44 weeks.^[2][3]

This was the first album to not include David Marks as a performing member, though he remained a legal member until September 27, 1967.^[4] While band mate Al Jardine had appeared on three of the previous four studio albums, this is the first to show him on a front sleeve photograph, taken by Capitol staff photographer George Jerman. The cover shows the band posing next to a selection of cars - notably, a Corvette Sting Ray owned by Dennis Wilson and Pontiac Grand Prix owned by brother Carl.

Music and lyrics

Recorded just as "Beatlemania" was reaching American shores, Shut Down Volume 2 was intended to solidify the Beach Boys' position as one of the most successful acts in America, furthering string tally of hit singles and albums they'd amassed over the past two years. The album was marketed as a "hot rod" collection after its predecessor Little Deuce Coupe and the compilation album Shut Down had performed successfully, despite this, less than half of the songs on the album mention cars.

Critics have cited points of Shut Down Volume 2 such as "Don't Worry Baby" (a response to "Be My Baby", produced by Phil Spector), "Fun, Fun, Fun" and the melancholic "The Warmth of the Sun" as being among the strongest songs in the Beach Boys' catalog. A cover of Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is notable for producer Brian Wilson's first use of the Wrecking Crew and "Pom Pom Play Girl" for Carl Wilson's first lead vocal on a Beach Boys song. It has been speculated that the album's relative poor chart showing was due in part to Capitol's focus on promotion for the Beatles at the expense of the Beach Boys. Some critics have also noted that the presence of tracks such as ""Cassius" Love vs. "Sonny" Wilson" (a mock-fight between Brian and Mike, referencing Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston which took place days before release of the album) and "Denny's Drums", that features Dennis Wilson soloing on his drum kit for a minute-and-a-half adversely affected the album's quality.

The multi-tracks for Shut Down Volume 2 went missing shortly after the album's release. In 2009, three reels of session out takes were unexpectedly retrieved with the help of biographer Jon Stebbins. New stereophonic mixes were created by producers Mark Linett and Alan Boyd for the compilation Summer Love Songs, which includes an alternate version of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" featuring a never-before-heard unused intro section as well as a new stereo mix of "Don't Worry Baby".

Commercial performance

Cited in part to the British invasion, the album peaked at 13 on the Billboard charts in the US (number 11 Record World, number 12 Cash Box). Shut Down Volume 2 didn't enter the Billboard albums chart until six weeks after release and stayed a shorter time in the charts (nine months) than their previous albums. Despite the band's relatively sluggish commercial performance at the start of 1964, by the middle of the year, the Beach Boys' career had recovered its self-generating momentum. Shut Down Volume 2 was listed by Cash Box as fourth-biggest selling rock album of 1964 and received Gold certification by the RIAA in 1966.

Alternate releases

Capitol released a 7-inch 33 1/3 "mini-LP" for jukeboxes with six tracks, the front album cover being the same, the back blank. Four jukebox strips were included. Side 1: "Keep an Eye on Summer" / "Fun, Fun, Fun" / "The Warmth of the Sun". Side 2: "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" / "In the Parkin' Lot" / "Don't Worry Baby".

In the early 1980s, as part of Capitol Records' repackage series of their Beach Boys albums, Shut Down Volume 2 was retitled Fun Fun Fun and had two tracks deleted: ""Cassius" Love vs. "Sonny" Wilson" and "In the Parkin' Lot."

The album was reissued in the 1990s with bonus tracks: a mono mix of "Fun, Fun, Fun", a German-language version of "In My Room" sung by the group, and the group's unreleased "I Do" written by Brian Wilson.^[5]

Live performances

Eight of the 12 songs on the album have been performed live by either the Beach Boys or Brian Wilson as a solo artist, making it one of the most heavily drawn from albums when it comes to live set lists.^[6]

Track listing

Personnel

The Beach Boys

• Al Jardine – harmony and backing vocals; bass guitar, rhythm guitar
• Mike Love – lead, harmony and backing vocals
• Brian Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; bass guitar; piano
• Carl Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; lead guitar
• Dennis Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; drums

Sales chart positions

Albums

Singles

References