Beach Boys Return via Middle of the Road

The Beach Boys reunited for the Grammys and are currently readying a new album and tour.   I was a Beach Boys fan.   The first single I ever bought was “Help Me, Rhonda.”  Actually, my grandmother bought it for me while we shopped at Grants Department store in Wilmington, Mass.    Although I think Pet Sounds is the most overrated album ever,  “Good Vibrations” vies with the Stones’ “Satisfaction” as the best single ever.

However, their new single is just out and one has to think, this is the best we get after 20 years?   “That’s Why God Made Radio” the title track to their forthcoming CD,  is a soporific sedative of banal sentiment that harkens neither to their golden years of surf music nor their high-water mark of “Good Vibrations.”  The harmonies are still there and the voices,  perhaps startlingly, unchanged.  Is there a Dorian Gray 45 RPM  single in their attic that is disintegrating for their sins? Unless Brian Wilson works some magic on their new album, it looks to be another aging rock band chucking up product for sale.

Here’s a promo video that is pretty unsatisfying although it overs a few tantalizing behind-the-scenes snippets.

~© 2012 John Diliberto ((( echoes )))

For some good Vibrations hear Thierry David’s  Stellar Connection.  It’s the Echoes CD of the Month for April.  You can enjoy great music like this by by becoming a member of the Echoes CD of the Month Club.  Follow the link and see what you’ve been missing.

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Tags: Beach Boys, Surf Music