From the intensity of the seriousness that the Beatles were developing, we now turn to "fun in the sun" on the beaches of California. The Beach Boys response to the British Invasion featured an "all American" image focused on fast cars, pretty girls in bikinis on the California beach, and a never ending summer. These were the guys we all wanted to be. Who wouldn't? Brian Wilson would later enter some dark periods following his immersion in the Pet Sounds project, but that is years away.
One of the other things we all loved was the vocals. While the standard rock band instrumentation was there (along with some more exotic instruments like the theremin), it was the incredibly cool vocals that captured and held our attention. In this particular song, there is not a great deal of repetition in the vocals other than the "good, good, good, good vibrations" of the chorus and that is part of what makes it so interesting. You never really were sure what was coming next. Part of Brian Wilson's songwriting genius was in making a song sound unified even when it had a lot of very different parts in it. The overwhelming sense I always got from Beach Boys records was that they were just having a blast - and I wanted to be a part of it!
No comments:
Post a Comment