By Howie Edelson
No one’s ever needed a reason to play The Beach Boys' music. Amazingly, it goes down smoothly no matter what the mood or month.
Although there were divergences into topics like ecology, the solar system, vegetables, hot rods, and the (obvious) surfing-- there has always been one binding theme throughout The Beach Boys' catalog. . .
Love.
It’s nearly always about love.
Valentine’s Day only underscores the fact that The Beach Boys set the standard for romance. For every rocker that would cause the arenas to shake with explosive energy – there would be just as many ballads that would find couples swooning in the aisles, swaying to the music that charted the course of their own relationships.
The Beach Boys, sporting their signature lush harmonies, Brian Wilson’s flawless productions, and featuring a great many tunes written by Brian and his first cousin, primary collaborator (and 2025 Songwriters Hall Of Famer) Mike Love – have come to define the sound of discovering, falling, and being. . . in love.
Whether it was Brian taking the lead on his “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Surfer Girl,” Al Jardine giving The Crystals a run for their money on the revamped “Then I Kissed Her,” Dennis Wilson on his beloved evergreen “Forever” – or baby brother Carl Wilson reinventing The Ronettes’ “I Can Hear Music”; this band cornered the market on undeniable heartbreakers.
But it was the unbeatable songwriting team of Brian Wilson and Mike Love that forged a path in the 1960s and ‘70s as connoisseurs of the modern love song – with countless unforgettable tunes, including, “The Warmth Of The Sun,” “Please Let Me Wonder,” “Here Today,” “Kiss Me Baby,” “All I Wanna Do,” “And Your Dreams Come True,” “Aren’t You Glad,” and such (still) under-the radar classics as “Sweet Sunday Kinda Love.”
The late, great Carl Wilson touched on the power The Beach Boys’ music has had with its fans, explaining,
“I think that part of it is spiritual. There’s a part that connects to people on a very deep level. There’s a simplicity, a child-like quality to a lot of the songs that I think touches people in a very subliminal way.”
Brian Wilson described the key elements of the group’s sound:
"I think the magic is Mike Love's vocal performances on our songs, and Carl, and Dennis, and Bruce, and Al and I should be congratulated for some really good background singing.”
Al Jardine saw the group's mid-to-late-'60s material as setting the course for where The Beach Boys were headed in the new decade:
“The songs were more ethereal, in my opinion. Musically, we devolved to a degree and went back to the basics and we were looking for that natural effect. Those kind of songs (like) ‘Let The Wind Blow’ – they’re more natural, easy listening. A whole different direction, a transcendent thing. We just took a direction that lent itself to the natural world.”
The Beach Boys' 1973 Holland album features one of the most beautiful ballads in the entire Beach Boys’ canon – a true song for the ages – and perhaps the greatest wedding song never heard by the masses – the exquisite Dennis Wilson / Mike Love collaboration, “Only With You” – beautifully sung by Carl.
Mike Love, who over the years only wrote three songs with his younger cousin, explained how he and Dennis connected creatively:
“I was co-writing with his brother all those years and being successful and (Dennis) would turn to me occasionally – I mean, he did his own thing lyrically, but for those songs he specifically turned to me for lyrical input. It was as simple as that."
In 1980, three years before his death, Dennis Wilson remembered connecting very deeply with his older brother, Brian, while being introduced to the music composed for Pet Sounds:
“The first time I really got what he was doing was ‘God Only Knows.’ It's like we talked about something very esoteric. Like a family or a brother has a secret, but allows you to know it in an art form. It was a concept in -- almost theorem. He was able to organize his thoughts to a point where they're hypnotic but yet entertaining, meaningful, and spiritual, too. The heart.”
The Beach Boys remain the truest heart music. Share it with the one you love, that’s why it’s here.
Happy Valentine’s Day!