Thursday, July 24, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

CDVS

Ahhh, summer--a time (or perhaps an excuse) for cutting work, pounding cheap suds and hooking up in the back of the family roadster. And perhaps no band has celebrated the sweaty season with more gusto than the Beach Boys, who--before plummeting into shame and obscurity with two decades of desperate bids for readmittance into the mainstream ("Kokomo" being the most public measure of their shameful decline)--actually made some pretty good music. It wasn't just bubblegum surf-pop, either. With the onset of the '60s and the advent of synthesized hallucinogens, the Beach Boys soared to the forefront of American musical production, crafting complex, polyphonic songs that lost none of their simple, sing-along charm.

Like on Pet Sounds. Influenced by the flood of British Invasion boppers washing up on American shores, the Beach Boys set out to make a record with all the sophistication (but not the stodginess) of the Beatles' Rubber Soul--an objective achieved by adding bicycle bells, paper clips, barking dogs and soda cans to the album's ambitious instrumentation. The effects are stunning (particularly when combined with the Wilson brothers' wistful falsetto), and Pet Sounds produced some of the Boys' most lasting hits: "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Sloop John B" and "Caroline, No" to name a few. Predictably, the "Surfin' Safari" set didn't quite know what to make of this new sound, and Pet Sounds proved a relatively poor seller. In retrospect, though, it remains the Beach Boys' magnum opus--essential listening for anyone curious about the inimitable evolution of American pop.

Certainly The Thrills got their fair share of Beach Boys as they were growing up, because, despite making their homes in Dublin, Ireland, they sound like they spent their youths slacking about and shooting curls up and down the Cali coast. Piloted by lead singer Colin Deasy's pre-pubescent lilt, The Thrills' debut So Much for the City gives sunshine pop a long-overdue saltwater enema (and without sounding corny or derivative). Well, maybe a little corny but it's all part of the fun. Just try to listen to "Big Sur" without singing, whistling or humming along. After two or three rounds, you'll be driving to work with the song on repeat and a string-bikini smile on your face. Same with "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)," "Don't Steal Our Sun" and "Hollywood Kids." No, it's not going to reinvent pop music, but it'll remind you what it feels like to have sand between your toes.--Newt Briggs