Brian Wilson with Johnny Rotten – 1977 – THE BEACH BOYS LOVE YOU, By Tom Kipp

BrianWilsonJohnnyRotten — Brian Wilson with Johnny Rotten, 2012

In an always-bizarre and forever-endearing bit o’ serendipity, the last great Beach Boys LP, in fact the best one since either WILD HONEY or SUNFLOWER to this very day, and the 70s album most dominated by Brian Wilson, was THE BEACH BOYS LOVE YOU, released in April 1977, just as The Sex Pistols were gettin’ themselves thrown off A&M Records, about a month before the release of “God Save the Queen”, and about six months prior to the release of the almighty NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS…!

I only wish stellar LOVE YOU songs like “Johnny Carson”, “Mona”, “Solar System”, and “Let Us Go on This Way” could be elevated to The Canon, as their wit, heart, and sheer punch dwarfs so much of what is now worshipped re: Brian Wilson! The new FIFTY BIG ONES reunion tour cash-in compilation glosses over nearly every eccentric or even faintly obscure great in the band’s impressive oeuvre (“Girl, Don’t Tell Me”, “Let Him Run Wild”, “Feel Flows”, et many al., including of course anything at all from BEACH BOYS PARTY!, wherein they INVENTED the “unplugged” concept, save the obligatory #1 single, “Barbara Ann”) in favor of effluvia from their relatively brief commercial heyday (1962-66). Someone please save this body of work from its so-called/SoCal of the Mind fans & its Corporate Machinations!

– Tom Kipp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt_5Ld-lWEw