'Beach Boys' Party!'

Nearing the end of 1965, Brian Wilson was on the brink of creating his masterwork. But the work that would become Pet Sounds was not yet completed, and the Beach Boys were contractually obligated to satisfy the record company with another LP. To appease Capitol Records, Brian and the Beach Boys released the non-album single "The Little Girl I Once Knew" in November 1965. The single did not chart high, unusual for the Beach Boys at that point in their career. It's commonly thought that radio play was the problem, as the record included two full stops into radio silence, perplexing deejays who at that time thought any silence to be an audience killer. Many considered the record to be one of the Boys' best, however, among them John Lennon of The Beatles.

Capitol Records insisted that the Boys release an album for the holiday season of 1965. Knowing that no new songs would be ready by that time, Brian decided to create an album of covers played in a "party" setting with acoustic instruments. Al Jardine and Carl Wilson played acoustic guitars and sang. Brian and Bruce Johnston played basses and sang, Mike Love contributed vocals, and Dennis played percussion and sang. Drummer Hal Blaine was also there, performing percussion parts with his ashtrays and bongos, as well as percussionist Ray Avery, also played bongos. Byrds Producer Terry Melcher played tambourine, as did roadie Ron Swallow. Brian's cousin Steve Korthof played bongos and tambourine. Later on Brian would invite the band's wives and girlfriends to create a party at the studio and overdubbed the party noise onto the tracks to make the listener feel they were at a party with the Beach Boys.

Beach Boys' Party! was released in November 1965. It's instructive to look at the cover choices they made Most were songs from their childhood, augmented by tributes to their contemporaries, the Beatles and Bob Dylan.

The album opens with a cover of "Hully Gully" by the Olympics written by Fred Smith and Cliff Goldsmith. Even a first listen to this track shows that this is going to be a strictly good time very informal record, a very different deal than side two of Beach Boys Today!

Next come a pair of covers of the Beach Boys' British friends/rivals The Beatles. First up is "I Should Have Known Better" followed by "Tell Me Why" with Al and Carl sharing lead vocals Both songs are originally from the soundtrack to the film A Hard Day's Night.

Following this they dip back into the 1950s catalog with "Papa Oom Mow Mow" originally by The Rivingtons and written by Carl White, Al Frazier, Sonny Harris and Turner Wilson Jr.

Next up is "Mountain Of Love" by Harold Dorman, who released the song as a single in 1960. In 1964, California musician Johnny Rivers had equal success with a version backed by members of the Wrecking Crew, who at the time of Party's creation were already at work on Pet Sounds. Mike takes the lead vocal and the track features prominent harmonica by Carl's brother-in-law Billy Hinsche, with a tambourine providing a lively backbeat.

Next up is another Beatles tune, this time taken from the soundtrack to that year's Beatle Film, Help! "Youve' Got To Hide Your Love Away" features lead vocals by Dennis, which was relatively rare at this point, but certainly not his first lead (notably, he was the lead singer of "Do You Want to Dance" on Beach Boys Today!).

Following this is the Everly Brothers' song "Devoted To You," written by the Everlies crack songwriting team, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. As with all vocal groups, the Beach Boys consider the Everly Brothers an important touchstone, and Brian and Mike together do an amazing two-part harmony with just an acoustic guitar for backing.

The Boys go back to the 1950s, novelty style, with "Alley Oop" by the Hollywood Argyles, written by Dallas Frazier. Mike sings lead on this track.

Next Brian chooses a track from studios of his hero (later a fallen hero), Phil Spector, creator of the Wall of Sound who had supervised many a Wrecking Crew session. Brian take the lead on The Crystals' "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," written by Spector and Leroy Bates. Brian takes the lead vocal on this one.

Following is an acoustic medley of Beach Boys songs, "I Get Around" and "Little Deuce Coupe" with changed lyrics. showing how non-seriously the group was taking this album. By this point in the album, the party is getting a touch stale as the joke lyrics don't add anything to enjoyment.

Fortunately, the next track is a big improvement: a cover of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" sung by Al Jardine. It is a fine cover of a generational anthem.

The final track on the album, and probably the only reason many people are aware of its existence at all is a cover of "Barbara Ann," originally performed by The Regents and written by Fred Fassert. The song features the twin falsettos of Brian and Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean. Dean wanted to keep his involvement on the track secret, considering he was technically a competing artist. Carl however shouts out loud on the track "Thanks Dean!" thus spoiling the secret.

Much to Brian's annoyance, "Barbara Ann" was released as a single from the album. Brian was about to take the Beach Boys in a much more serious direction, and really had mixed feelings when the track reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts. Carl later would express misgivings about the song, or at least having to constantly play it, as it became a mandatory stop on every Beach Boys stage setlist for the rest of time.

There are some interesting footnotes about the success of "Barbara Ann." One year later, the Who, whose drummer Keith Moon was a mammoth Beach Boys fan, did a similarly ramshackle cover of the song on their Ready Steady Who EP. And in 1973, the original Regents' Version was used by George Lucas for the soundtrack of his American Graffiti. That soundtrack and film closed out with the Beach Boys classic "All Summer Long."

As for the album it reached number 6 on the Billboard Charts. In the long run, however, the album was seen as inconsequential, its success tied to the Beach Boys' overwhelming popularity at the time. However, Capitol was satisfied and Brian was now free to pursue his masterwork.