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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2019 14:37:08 GMT -5
8.
Their first "classic" album that sounds like a purposeful, cohesive body of work. I love it.
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Post by Beach Boys Fan on Jan 6, 2019 6:24:16 GMT -5
9. Cool songs with cool attitude. If DBD got replaced with alternate, would be groovy.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2019 9:19:05 GMT -5
All Summer Long rates a perfect 10, talk track and all.
Edited, because it deserves more words than that.
There might be a few tracks on here that on their own don't deserve a 10. But I'm not going to name them, because I think it doesn't matter when it comes to this album. The whole absolutely is greater than the sum of its parts in this case. It might be the truest, purest example of the Beach Boys venn diagram: Surfing, Cars and Girls. It's my number 1 go-to when I want to listen to something from the pre-Pet Sounds period. Even the "filler" songs, what few there are, sound great. I actually really enjoy Carl's Big Chance and Do You Remember (I said I wasn't going to name them and then I did, LOL, woops).
My personal highlights: I Get Around, All Summer Long, Hushabye, Little Honda, Wendy, Don't Back Down
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2019 12:47:35 GMT -5
I give this a strong 9. It is the ultimate pre-'65 summer album. Mostly strong songs, and a few weaker ones, but no clunkers. A fairly even album throughout, and a fun listen.
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Post by filledeplage on Jan 6, 2019 13:03:56 GMT -5
Gave it a 9 as well. - first #1 single "I Get Around" came out a couple of months before this LP.
"I Get Around" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.
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Post by drbeachboy (Dirk) on Jan 6, 2019 15:52:20 GMT -5
If you want to know what it was like to be a teenager in the U.S. in 1964, then Shut Down Vol. 2 and All Summer Long pretty much sum it up. As Surflower mentioned above, this album is about Surfin’, Cars, Girls and having fun. The title song alone almost encapsulates the feeling of the whole album. 1964 is the year that Brian and the band moved to the upper echelon of Rock and Roll stardom.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2019 8:24:45 GMT -5
When our CD player died back in the early 2000s (we now have a new one) I used to regularly play the mono vinyl version of All Summer Long (on permanent loan from my brother). On reflection, the most satisfying moment was the very end of side two, where the tag of "Don't Back Down" goes on for several seconds longer than in the cruelly truncated stereo version. The three "talk" tracks tend to get a lot of flak but in two instances they serve a purpose (in my view). In the case of "Our Favorite Recording Sessions", it all hinges on Brian's "note", the one he forgot. It's the first pitched note you hear in the following track, the afore-mentioned "DBD". A felicitous touch. I wonder if was planned that way? Lovely album. Favourite track? The criminally underrated "Girls On The Beach". Does "The Lord's Prayer" really have the most complex vocal harmonies? Surely that honour goes to the stunning changes in "GOTB", beginning at 1:28. I agree with surflower--and I'm in a good mood. 10.
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Post by kds on Jan 7, 2019 13:07:27 GMT -5
All Summer Long is the last, and in my opinion best, of The Beach Boys early sun in the fun albums. The title tracks just sounds like summer.
I give it a nine. Running theme for BB LPs. One or two tracks away from being a 10. In this case, Our Favorite Recording Sessions.
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Post by Jason (The Real Beach Boy) on Mar 28, 2019 11:41:44 GMT -5
9. The saddest "happy" album ever. Only the Beach Boys could make an album about the joy of summer sound melancholy. Amazing stuff. How can you not LOVE Drive-In?
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Post by bobbreckwoldt on Jun 1, 2022 11:58:53 GMT -5
Fabulous. One of my favourites. Never get bored of it.
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Post by E on Jun 1, 2022 13:52:04 GMT -5
The quintessential 'early' Beach Boys album
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Post by AGD on Jun 2, 2022 5:37:12 GMT -5
This really is "the quintessential soundtrack of summer".
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Post by boogieboarder on Jun 4, 2022 18:15:57 GMT -5
I gave it a ten. Even if two songs are filler, you’ve got 10 songs that aren’t. How many albums have 10 great songs? My only problem is that if I rate half a dozen Beach Boys albums as ten, I need to rate Pet Sounds as eleven. Can’t you change the poll to allow us to give Pet Sounds an eleven?
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Post by Maci Eascra on Nov 28, 2022 20:46:48 GMT -5
The quintessential 'early' Beach Boys album This was really the first album that embraced what it meant to be an album. There are great songs earlier, collected together, and then a bit of filler to make an album. It was All Summer Long that showed a maturing band that wasn't quite evolving out of a surf sound, but mastering that genre in a cohesive LP. Today then starts the evolution into Pet Sounds and a more psychedelic direction, but this album is special as a pinnacle for the early Beach Boys.
Now there is a bit of filler still. Do You Remember and Our Favorite Recording Sessions are really just padding the length. But it really pulls together as a summer soundtrack and this is now a maturing band with Brian exploring instrumentation, harmonies and structure with more depth. Wendy was really the first Beach Boys song that just grabbed me. I had a sister with that name, so perhaps that was why a very young me just gravitated toward the song, but I Get Around, the title track and Little Honda are classics. The album shines for me with Girls on the Beach, not with the lyrics or music, but it features some phenomenal harmonies and really connects earlier Doo-wop to the surf sound and shows what the group can do vocally.
8/10 from me and it's a very strong album, and actually didn't produce all that many singles despite topping the charts. Make some sense when the goal is to produce an album. Brian is coming into his own here as a producer with a bigger vision. Mike said not to f@#k with the formula. All Summer Long is the formula, done about as well as anybody could ever do.
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Post by jk on Nov 29, 2022 5:02:38 GMT -5
The quintessential 'early' Beach Boys album This was really the first album that embraced what it meant to be an album. There are great songs earlier, collected together, and then a bit of filler to make an album. It was All Summer Long that showed a maturing band that wasn't quite evolving out of a surf sound, but mastering that genre in a cohesive LP. Today then starts the evolution into Pet Sounds and a more psychedelic direction, but this album is special as a pinnacle for the early Beach Boys.
Now there is a bit of filler still. Do You Remember and Our Favorite Recording Sessions are really just padding the length. But it really pulls together as a summer soundtrack and this is now a maturing band with Brian exploring instrumentation, harmonies and structure with more depth. Wendy was really the first Beach Boys song that just grabbed me. I had a sister with that name, so perhaps that was why a very young me just gravitated toward the song, but I Get Around, the title track and Little Honda are classics. The album shines for me with Girls on the Beach, not with the lyrics or music, but it features some phenomenal harmonies and really connects earlier Doo-wop to the surf sound and shows what the group can do vocally.
8/10 from me and it's a very strong album, and actually didn't produce all that many singles despite topping the charts. Make some sense when the goal is to produce an album. Brian is coming into his own here as a producer with a bigger vision. Mike said not to f@#k with the formula. All Summer Long is the formula, done about as well as anybody could ever do.
Great to see the album review threads doing so well -- and getting such thoughtful treatment! Reply #6 is mine from my previous sojourn here and I still stand by what I said then (in this slightly edited version) and my score of 10: When our CD player died back in the early 2000s I used to regularly play the mono vinyl version of All Summer Long (on permanent loan from my brother). On reflection, the most satisfying moment was the very end of side two, where the tag of "Don't Back Down" goes on for several seconds longer than in the cruelly truncated stereo version.
The three "talk" tracks in the BB discography tend to get a lot of flak but in two instances they still serve a purpose (in my view). In the case of "Our Favorite Recording Sessions", it all hinges on Brian's "note", the one he forgot. It's the first pitched note you hear in the following track, the afore-mentioned "DBD". A felicitous touch. I wonder if was planned that way?
Lovely album. Favourite track? The criminally underrated "Girls On The Beach". Does "The Lord's Prayer" really have the most complex vocal harmonies? Surely that honour goes to the stunning changes in "GOTB", most particularly just after the bridge? That modulation within a modulation is surely in a field of one. As is the harmonic structure of "The Shift"... Sorry to learn about your loss.
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Post by Awesoman on Feb 27, 2023 8:02:17 GMT -5
This is really a fantastic album that successfully captures everything that had made the band popular at that given time. You've got your summertime beach songs (the title track, the lush spiritual sequel to "Surfer Girl" that is "Girls On The Beach", and the underrated "Don't Back Down"), some car songs ("Little Honda" and the iconic "I Get Around") as well as several other good-to-great songs that captured the essence of youth ("Drive-In", "Hushabye"). There might be a few fillerish songs on here as well but they don't really detract from all the great stuff. This album really complements 𝑆ℎ𝑢𝑡 𝐷𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑉𝑜𝑙. 2 quite nicely. These two albums represent the Beach Boys at the height of their commercial success.
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Post by surfermike on Nov 25, 2023 11:50:07 GMT -5
A fantastic album. It’s in my top 5 BB albums.
Side question…how much is the original cover with Don’t Break Down worth? I was given a copy that’s in decent shape, sleeve-wise. The LP is worn out. I’m sure a collector might desire it, just for the sleeve.
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