Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - History

History

After his dramatic and highly sophisticated shift in style on Side 2 of Today!, leader Brian Wilson was reportedly questioned by Capitol Records to what his musical intentions were, urging him to make more "Beach Boys style music" for the next album. It was clear at this point the group was categorized as a happy "fun in the sun" band that sang about exploits of the beach, girls and good times; thus Capitol maintained an insistence that any forthcoming effort would reflect these qualities.

While on the surface Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) appeared to be a return to the carefree themes of 1964's All Summer Long, Brian Wilson had produced carefully woven, intricate backing tracks beneath lighthearted vocals featured on such songs as "Amusement Parks USA", "Then I Kissed Her" and "Salt Lake City". These backing tracks were even more elaborately arranged than what was featured on the previous effort Today!. He also wrote and produced an instrumental featuring a lush string arrangement ("Summer Means New Love") and composed the all-familiar symphonic intro to their US #3 charting single "California Girls" (that intro being Brian's personal favorite of his entire songwriting career). In hindsight, it's clear that Wilson was developing his skills that would be fully realized on his signature effort Pet Sounds the following year.

The opening track, "The Girl from New York City" was a response to "The Boy from New York City", a hit by The Ad Libs earlier that year, and "Then I Kissed Her" was Brian's attempt to emulate the production style of Phil Spector. It became an unlikely #4 hit in the UK in 1967 and was Al Jardine's first of two lead vocals on the album; the second being a re-recording of Today! track Help Me, Ronda which underwent a minor title revision to become "Help Me, Rhonda". Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it would rise on the Billboard Top 40 charts to become The Beach Boys' second US number #1 charting single. "Girl Don't Tell Me", a Beatles-inspired song, featured Carl's second lead vocal on a Beach Boys album. Aside from "California Girls", the other notable major stylistic progression on Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) was "Let Him Run Wild", a Burt Bacharach-inspired track. Identical to the production style achieved on "California Girls", it became the flip-side song to that single.

The tongue-in-cheek track "I'm Bugged at My Ol' Man" was written as a not-too-subtle poke at the Wilsons' father Murry, who had been fired from his post as manager the previous year, though he did still occasionally show up to either support or criticize Brian in the studio.

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) also includes Bruce Johnston's first appearance on a Beach Boys album. As Brian's stage replacement, he was not considered an "official" member prior, but Brian Wilson appreciated Johnston's skills enough to have him contribute vocally and instrumentally on the album. Bruce would often accompany the group on photo shoots, but he was prohibited from having those pictures published on album covers due to a preexisting contract with Columbia Records. Consequently, his face would not grace the cover of a Beach Boys' album until Wild Honey in 1968. (Along with Johnston, Al Jardine is also missing from the Summer Days cover photo depicting the group on a sailboat; he had to miss the shoot due to illness.)

In the early 1980s, as part of Capitol Records' repackage series of their Beach Boys albums, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) was retitled California Girls and deleted two tracks: "Amusement Parks, USA" and "I'm Bugged at My Ol' Man". The album was re-released in 1990s paired with The Beach Boys Today!; this package featured extensive liner notes and bonus tracks from that period. 2012 saw another re-release, this time featuring the first true stereo mix of the album.