Originally published by L.S. Media. June 9th 2012
L.S. Media Rating ****
The world may have moved on, a different vibe purveys the charts and the streets of the American west coast and more importantly the music scene. Somehow though, no matter what the decade, The Beach Boys make it possible to believe that summer is never that far away.
The band’s 29th studio album, That’s Why God Made The Radio, is full of tunes that remind you why at one time they were vying with Liverpool’s own Beatles for the biggest band in the world. At one time they very nearly succeeded with the incredible album Pet Sounds. Almost 47 years on from that sensational record, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Bruce Johnston and Mike Love return to deliver songs that may seem out of step with today’s much faster, less idealistic world but there is room for hope in anyone’s life. Why deprive anyone of that! The band are of course missing the much loved brothers Carl and Dennis Wilson who passed on in 1998 and 1983 respectively but the incredible vocal harmonies that set the highest of standards in the 1960’s is still there for all to hear.
The songs might be three or four minute pop songs, a throwback in style to earlier chart success but class never dates, and as long as the vocals and playing ability is still unerringly excellent then fashion and style really doesn’t matter.
Like the Eagles a decade later, The Beach Boys retain a core belief to their approach to making music, make them smile is all that it takes to give the audience, no matter their age something to hang onto as they listen to the music.
In That’s Why God Made The Radio, the tracks have that key basic element tied very firmly to each chord, every note and each harmony. The songs may not have any particular message, no hidden agenda for critics to pour over and suggest that this means this and that means that, however on songs such as Daybreak Over the Ocean, the amazing Shelter and the gentle upbeat feel of Spring Vacation all that is needed is the memories and the knowledge of a past that’s never really out of touch, no matter how many decades have gone past.
The Beach Boys may be unfashionable but after 50 years they still know how to make their audience smile.
Ian D. Hall