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In My Stadium
I’ve had several days off work in a row (took holiday time because I’m on the brink of collapse from exhaustion) and have spent those days intending, but not succeeding, to write pieces on Batman...
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The Beach Boys: A Guide, Part 1: Introduction and Surfin’ Safari/Surfin’ USA
I’m going to review every available Beach Boys CD, including the solo albums, to try to provide a buyers’ guide to the band’s music. (I’m also restarting my Doctor Who reviews and trying to do at least...
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The Beach Boys On CD 2: Surfer Girl/Shut Down Vol 2
It shows how fast the pop music industry moved in the early 1960s that the Beach Boys released their third and fourth albums in the same month, September 1963, less than a year after their first....
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The Beach Boys On CD 3: Little Deuce Coupe/All Summer Long
A revised version of this essay appears in my book The Beach Boys On CD. If you like this, please consider buying it. Hardback Paperback PDF Kindle (US) Kindle (UK) Kindle (DE) All other ebook formats...
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California Dreaming: 409
The Beach Boys didn’t really capitalise on their initial success. Surfin’ was released in November, and they did two shows in December (one of them a two-song set in the intermission of a Dick Dale...
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California Dreaming: Little Honda
By late 1963 Gary Usher’s writing partnership with Brian Wilson was more or less at an end. He had been manoeuvred aside by Murry Wilson, who always wanted to keep as much of the Beach Boys’ success in...
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California Dreaming: So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star?
But is it about the Monkees or not? With Gene Clark gone from the band, the Byrds’ star was fading. Without their lead singer and most commercial songwriter, their last two singles had only reached...
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California Dreaming: My World Fell Down
Gary Usher was looking for a creative outlet. Since the surf and hot-rod fad had died down, Usher had been working as a staff producer for Columbia Records, where he had worked on Simon &...
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California Dreaming: You Know I’ve Found A Way
After the minor success of My World Fell Down, Gary Usher wanted to repeat the formula, and recorded a song titled Hotel Indiscreet which had much the same feel. Hotel Indiscreet featured another...
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