There seems to be a consensus among mainstream music listeners that between the unreleased SmiLE sessions and (my contender for the Worst Song Ever Written Award) “Kokomo” was a bad period for The Beach Boys. The idea is that those years consisted mostly of Brian Wilson’s downward spiral into (further) insanity, Mike Love’s general assholeness, and Dennis Wilson letting one Charles Manson pen some lyrics.

I’m not here to say that stuff isn’t true; obviously it is; we’ve all seen the TV movie (“Hello, Dennis. My name is Charles Manson.”). As far as personal issues with the group, this was without a doubt their worst time. But very little of that synopsis (or the telefilm) includes anything about the actual music created during what was essentially the entirety of the 1970s, give or take a few years. And that’s a shame, because some of the best and most creative work of The Beach Boys (most notably from the three Wilson brothers) is featured on those albums; albums that were more or less anachronisms in a
time when disco and album-oriented rock reigned.

The post-SMiLE time is most notable for Brian becoming increasingly withdrawn from the group due to his struggles with mental illness. This opened the door for Carl Wilson to become the leader of the group and make the band more of a democracy, with each member allowed to flourish musically; this lead to some great songs from the Wilsons, and some awful songs from Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston.

Dennis wrote and sang the opening track to 1970’s Sunflower, “Slip on Through” a strangely dichotic rocker that doesn’t seem to fit together on first listen, almost like two songs slapped together; a syncopated verse with a major-key chorus. But when we hit the bridge and the song slowly builds back to the chorus (with Dennis’ powerful lead vocals at the forefront) the hairs on the back of your neck will stand on end and all fears about this drummer being an inferior songwriter to his brothers are cured—this is up there with any of Brian’s best compositions.

Carl gave us “Long Promised Road,” from 1971’s Surf’s Up, arguably the best album from this period. A wonderfully joyful and life-affirming song with a carpe diem message, the slow, ballad-y verses temper a classic, upbeat chorus and a trippy, but beautiful bridge and later a dueling synth and electric guitar solo.

By 1977’s Love You, Brian Wilson, who had been flaky at best on previous albums, was back in the fold, full force. Unfortunately, this would be the last truly great album The Beach Boys would make. Experimenting with synthesizers to a larger degree than they had in the past, the new instrument seemed to give a new vitality to the group. The synths don’t ever overpower the songs like some critics might have you believe; probably the heaviest use of synths is Brian’s classically childlike “I’ll Bet He’s Nice,” an immaculately written and recorded song, featuring the three Wilson brothers trading verses. The song could have easily been written in their pre-Pet Sounds heyday: “I’ll bet he’s nice / I’ll bet he’s twice / As nice as me and it makes me cry / Cause I remember you and I,” which may be more a testament to Wilson’s Peter Pan syndrome than anything else. The synths are used like synths are supposed to be used, and they certainly never eclipse the gorgeous, flawless harmonies by the brothers from Hawthorne, California.

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