Endless Summer (The Beach Boys album)

Endless Summer
Greatest hits album by The Beach Boys
Released	June 24, 1974
Recorded	April 1962–June 1965
Genre	Rock
Length	46:50 (LP) / 51:09 (CD)
Label	Capitol
Producer	Brian Wilson, Nick Venet
The Beach Boys chronology
The Beach Boys in Concert (1973) Endless Summer (1974) Spirit of America (1975)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	[2]

Endless Summer is a compilation album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1974. A collection of hits from the band's 1962–65 period, Endless Summer was compiled by their old label Capitol Records while the Beach Boys were contracted with Reprise Records. Its unexpected success bore immediate consequences on the band's then-progressive musical direction.

Four months after release, the album reached #1, and reclaimed the band's commercial glory in the United States, spending 155 weeks on the Billboard album chart. It became the group's second chart-topping album in the US, being certified 3x platinum by the RIAA for shipping over three million copies in the US.

Background

In 1992, Mike Love noted, "They were going to do a Best Of The Beach Boys Volume Three in 19- , whatever the hell it was, and I came in there and went, "Wait a second, call it Endless Summer, instead of being Volume Three which sound nauseating to me. Endless Summer has a whole other vibe to it and sold several million copies just with the switch of the title. But then I'm a title guy anyway."^[3]

Artwork

Initial pressings of this album contained a poster depicting an airplane flying a Beach Boys banner. While the album is limited entirely to the band's sixties material, the cover artwork reflected the Beach Boys' seventies appearance. The artwork illustrator was Keith McConnell (who also did the artwork for their follow-ups, Spirit Of America and Sunshine Dream). With vegetation in the foreground, it also seems to evoke images of the band's late 1960s Smiley Smile album, although none of the songs on the original pressing are from Smiley Smile ("Good Vibrations" was added to the CD release of the album in 1987).

Releases

Although originally released as a double album (two LPs in a gatefold sleeve) in the USA, the album was released in the UK on a single LP with ten songs on each side.

The cassette version differs slightly as to the sequence of tracks. Side 1 features all tracks from Sides 1 & 2 in the same order plus "I Get Around" from Side 3. Side 2 includes the remaining tracks from Sides 3 & 4 in the same order with the exception of "Girls on the Beach" and "Wendy" which were 'swapped'.

The song "Help Me, Ronda," the version from the album The Beach Boys Today!, which was the one included in this album, was retitled "Help Me, Rhonda," like the hit single version. It was featured as one of two Beach Boys tracks in a promotional-only various artists compilation album issued by Capitol records entitled The Greatest Music Ever Sold (Capitol SPRO-8511/8512), that was distributed to record stores during the 1976 Holiday season as part of Capitol's "Greatest Music Ever Sold" campaign, which promoted 15 "Best Of" albums released by the record label. The song was once again retitled "Help Me, Rhonda," for this compilation album. "Dance, Dance, Dance" from Spirit of America was the other Beach Boys song to be included.

Track listing

All songs written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, except where noted.

Side A
No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	"Surfin' Safari"	Surfin' Safari, 1962	2:05
2.	"Surfer Girl" (Brian Wilson)	Surfer Girl, 1963	2:26
3.	"Catch a Wave"	Surfer Girl	2:07
4.	"The Warmth of the Sun"	Shut Down Volume 2, 1964	2:51
5.	"Surfin' U.S.A." (B. Wilson/Chuck Berry)	Surfin' U.S.A., 1963	2:27

Side B
No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	"Be True to Your School"	Little Deuce Coupe, 1963	2:07
2.	"Little Deuce Coupe" (B. Wilson/Roger Christian)	Surfer Girl	1:38
3.	"In My Room" (B. Wilson/Gary Usher)	Surfer Girl	2:11
4.	"Shut Down" (B. Wilson/Christian)	Surfin' U.S.A.	1:49
5.	"Fun, Fun, Fun"	Shut Down Volume 2	2:16

Side C
No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	"I Get Around"	All Summer Long, 1964	2:12
2.	"Girls on the Beach" (B. Wilson)	All Summer Long	2:24
3.	"Wendy"	All Summer Long	2:16
4.	"Let Him Run Wild"	Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), 1965	2:20
5.	"Don't Worry Baby" (B. Wilson/Christian)	Shut Down Volume 2	2:47

Side D
No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	"California Girls"	Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)	2:38
2.	"Girl Don't Tell Me" (B. Wilson)	Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)	2:19
3.	"Help Me, Rhonda"	The Beach Boys Today!, 1965	3:08
4.	"You're So Good to Me"	Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)	2:14
5.	"All Summer Long"	All Summer Long	2:06

1987 CD bonus track
No.	Title	Original album	Length
21.	"Good Vibrations"	Smiley Smile, 1967	3:35

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1974	Billboard 200	1

References

1. Eder, Bruce. Endless Summer at AllMusic
2. "The Beach Boys: Album Guide | Rolling Stone Music". Rolling Stone. 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
3. http://troun.tripod.com/mikelove.html