ALBUM REVIEW: The Beach Boys - Shut Down Volume 2

    Nothing would be the same for the Beach Boys after January 14, 1964 - On this day, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles entered the Hot 100 at number 45, and by the beginning of February it had topped the charts. The British Invasion had begun, and America's top act suddenly looked like they were falling behind - the group's leader, Brian Wilson, knew it, too; Recalling the first time he heard "I Want to Hold Your Hand," Wilson stated "I immediately knew that everything had changed." Brian held a meeting with his songwriting partner Mike Love to discuss the challenges that they faced, with Brian even considering scrapping this very album that I'm writing about. The group's challenges were made ever more apparent when their single "Fun, Fun, Fun" was held off at number five on the charts - the top three spots belonged to the Fab Four. Because of the odd circumstances around this album's release, this is arguably the final time capsule into the Beach Boys music before the British Invasion would turn America's band upside down. In many ways, Shut Down Volume 2 is the ideal continuation from both the impressive Surfer Girl, as well as a solid rebound from the somewhat disappointing Little Deuce Coupe. Unfortunately, a track-listing that can sometimes find itself lacking holds this release back from being on par with Surfer Girl, but with gorgeous and thrilling highs it just might match its intensity.

    At the album's best, it's more than able to match the pop excitement of Surfer Girl while also maintaining introspective ballads that carry the same emotional bareness of moments like "In My Room." The highlights of these fast-paced moments is the previously mentioned lead single that is "Fun, Fun, Fun," an upbeat number about cars and hamburgers and driving the T-Bird around - it's about as quintessentially Beach Boys as you can possibly get. While I think moments like this contribute to the reputation that the group often gets libeled with to this very day, this stuff is pretty immaculate pop music. Another notable moment is the penultimate song on Side A, the gorgeous "Warmth of the Sun," a ballad of lost love as emotional and chilling as "In My Room," if not more so. "Don't Worry Baby" feels like a song somewhere in between with its faster pace, but with the same openness that usually is a key facet of the group's ballads.

    Of course, I think the album's only major flaw is that the filler on this album is particularly rough - I'd argue the filler is up there as some of the group's weakest tracks. Ignoring the only half-entertaining skit that is "'Cassius' Love vs. 'Sonny' Wilson," the group's cover of "Louie, Louie" is unforgivably bad - awful vocals and even worse performance makes this a particularly hard one to swallow. This is a song that's up there as my least favorite from the group. "Pom Pom Play Girl" is also easily one of the least appealing Beach Boys songs that I've heard - very bland to me. The closing instrumental, "Denny's Drums," is easily the least offensively bad, but there's only so much I can say about this rather bland drum solo - Dennis is a perfectly serviceable drummer for the group, but he's no Bonzo. The arguably just as bland "Shut Down, Part II" is also up there as one of the group's most flavorless bores of a tune. At least these moments are largely outweighed by hidden gems such as the interestingly structured "In the Parkin' Lot," and the beautiful deep cut that is "Keep an Eye on Summer," a song that really should've been the closer instead of the milquetoast "Denny's Drums."

    Shut Down Volume 2 is the final hurrah for the early days of the Beach Boys; following this release, Brian would be playing the most influential game of musical tennis with The Beatles for a handful of years, leaving this album preserved in the group's early days like an ancient bug encased in a beautiful layer of amber. While not quite as consistently enjoyable or effective as Surfer Girl is, the album still carries on the same musical maturity that it originated from, and gifts us with some true Beach Boys classics along the way. If I can say anything about it, it's that the album is better than I initially gave it credit for.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Shut Down Volume 2.