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The Beach Boys Love You by  ReleasedApril 11, 1977RecordedJanuary 7, 1970 – November 1973 (older recordings)
October 1976 – January 1977 (album sessions)Studio (Santa Monica) and  (Los Angeles) Length34:50/ chronology
(1976)The Beach Boys Love You
(1977)
(1978) from The Beach Boys Love You "" / ""
Released: May 30, 1977

The Beach Boys Love You is the 21st studio album by American  band , released April 11, 1977 on /. Often called the band's "" album, Love You is distinguished for its pioneering use of  and its juxtaposition of adolescent-oriented lyrics with the middle-aged band members' rough vocals.

The album was largely recorded in late 1976 at the band's . Originally planned as Brian Loves You, it is essentially a solo project by , who wrote almost all of the material and played nearly every instrument on the record, including keyboards, synthesizers, and drums. Love You marked the first time he was given full control of a Beach Boys album since the  sessions in 1967. His bandmates mainly served as additional vocalists, although  was credited as " producer".

Engineer  described the work as "serious", "autobiographical", and "frighteningly accurate" to Brian's personality. The subject matter of the 14 songs ranges from the  and  to  and babies. Wilson also included tributes to his wife, daughters, and , as well as his idols  and . Although it was met with near-unanimous critical acclaim, some listeners found the album's bizarre, childlike quality to be a detriment. The record sold poorly, peaking at number 53 on the U.S. .

Love You has since been recognized for contributions to  and . A follow-up, , was completed by the group, but left unreleased. Wilson later referred to Love You as his life-defining work, and his most creatively fulfilling since  (1966). It was the last album he wrote and produced until his first solo LP,  (1988), and his last that was created without significant interference from outsiders.

Background  producing  at  in early 1976.

Following a period of semi-inactivity, in late 1975, Wilson became a patient under psychologist 's radical 24-hour therapy program. Under Landy's care, he became more stable and socially engaged, with his productivity increasing once again. During the latter half of 1976, Wilson became a regular member of the band's touring line-up for the first time since 1964. The tagline "!" became a major promotional tool for the group's concert tours, as well as their July release , the first Beach Boys LP that reached the U.S. top 10 with new material since  (1966), and their first that credited Wilson as the sole producer since Pet Sounds.

15 Big Ones, which consisted of an equal share of cover songs and originals, came as a disappointment for most fans and the group members themselves. In a contemporary interview, Wilson acknowledged that the album was "nothing too deep", but promised that the band's next release would be "a masterpiece" on par with "" (1966). It was to be the second-to-last album owed to their record company, , as their contract had been set to expire in July 1977.

From July to August 1976, Wilson joined his bandmates on a U.S. tour, after which he produced a large collection of studio recordings, largely by himself while the other Beach Boys were preoccupied with their own personal and creative affairs. During this period, in late 1976,  recorded his first solo album  (1977),  produced 's Beached (1977),  taught , and  spent time with his family.

Asked in a December 1976 interview about his feelings on a solo career, Brian responded that he would like to release a solo album, however, he did not want to deal with the inner-band politics that would result from him becoming a solo artist. "They want to keep the material for the Beach Boys, too; a solo album would take away from Beach Boys sales. It would split the group up too much – and I don't think that would be good."

Release The Beach Boys performing a concert in Michigan, August 1978

On November 27, 1976, Wilson appeared as the featured musical guest on , during which he performed "Love Is a Woman", "", and "Good Vibrations". It was his first solo television appearance since 1967's . Producer  insisted that Wilson appear without his bandmates, who were playing their third night of sold-out concerts at nearby . Another solo appearance on , which included an interview with Wilson about his past drug use, was filmed days earlier, but was not broadcast until December 8. In early December, Landy was relieved from his services amid concerns of his raising fees and controversial treatment methods. On December 31, the band played a fifteenth anniversary celebration concert at the Los Angeles Forum, a performance that included "Airplane".

By 1977, the media hype ahead of the "Brian's Back" campaign from the previous year had been dissipated. As Love You approached completion, band manager Stephen Love arranged negotiations for the band to change labels with  once the group had fulfilled their contractual obligations to Warner Bros. Gaines writes, "Warner Brothers knew of the CBS deal by January 1977 ... Warner was so disgusted with the Beach Boys at this point that the group members were convinced the company was doing very little to promote the album." Released on April 11, Love You reached number 53 in the U.S. during a seven-week chart stay. One single, "Honkin' Down the Highway", was issued several weeks later with no chart showing.

Members of the group, including Mike Love, attributed the album's poor sales to Warner's lackluster promotional efforts. Gaines countered that, despite what the group thought of the company, "the best promotional campaign in the world couldn't have helped The Beach Boys Love You".

Critical reception Retrospective professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAA4/57.8/108/10 Contemporary

Love You was met with polarized reactions from the public. Schinder cited a "sharp divide" between fans and critics, some of whom saw the album as a work of "eccentric genius" whereas others "dismissed it as childish and trivial". Some listeners viewed the album as a near-punk rock statement and felt that it had been a refreshing change of pace given the dominance of  and "overproduced" pop that had dominated the mainstream for several years. Generally, the reactions from record reviewers were positive. Writing in his 1978 biography of the band,  said that Love You was "in the author's estimation and that of several critics ... the best released by the group since the '60s."

Favorable reviews were penned by numerous esteemed critics, including ' , 's , 's , 's , and 's Billy Altman. Bangs said it was the Beach Boys' "best album ever" and described them affectionately as a "diseased bunch of motherfuckers" who exhibit "a beauty so awesome that listening to them at their best is like being in some vast dream cathedral decorated with a thousand gleaming American pop culture icons." Altham's review stated that the album was "flawed but enjoyable. Brian Wilson still isn't singing as well as he used to, but his playing and composing talents have certainly returned from wherever they've been the past few years." , known as the "godmother of punk", contributed a review in  that was written in the form of a poem. 's reviewer decreed, "This album can appear insubstantial on early acquaintance, but further attention yields many riches."

This is really the first time since Pet Sounds that I've felt this thoroughly satisfied with an album. I think it gives a little bit, it has a little extra.

—Brian Wilson, 1977

Casual listeners generally found the album's idiosyncrasies to be a detriment, while some of the group's fans considered the rough vocals and production distracting. Peter Ames Carlin, then a junior high school student who had eagerly anticipated the album's release, recalled of his reaction, "This was his big return — all original songs; a complete Brian production. And you listen to it and you were like, 'What the hell is this?' It's so different." Wilson himself reviewed the album in the May 1977 issue of . His conclusions: "I like the new album better than the last one... It's a cleaner album; the tracks and the songs seem to come off cleaner."

One of the few negative reviews of the album, written by , was published in David Leaf's  Pet Sounds. In another negative review, by a writer for , the album was named "a real disappointment ... patronizing and disastrous, the kind of record to get out of a contract with. And that they have done." The writer accused other critics of writing inauthentic positive feedback toward the album, and praised Tearson for being "the only record reviewer who told it like it is. It took guts."

Retrospective

In the decades since its release, Love You has remained divisive among fans. It has developed a , and it is regarded by some as one of the band's best albums. Writing in his 2017 book The Words and Music of Brian Wilson, Christian Matijas-Mecca called it "extraordinary in its sheer originality and its rejection of contemporary trends in popular music", likening it to "the  of 1977". Matijas-Mecca added that Love You was "the most unexpected album" of 1977 and unlike anything else released that year, concluding that it "remains as surprising and refreshing today as it did upon its original release."  reviewer John Bush praised the album and believed that "The Night Was So Young," "I'll Bet He's Nice," and "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" form a suite during side two that possesses a breadth of emotional attachment to rival Pet Sounds.

A reviewer for Musician, Player, and Listener wrote in 1981: "In the bargain bins [the album] collected dust. That 1977 release is Brian Wilson's most ambitious and successful work of the decade. It ranks with 's , 's , and 's  as the best California rock albums of the decade." Referring to "naysayers" of Love You, the underground  Scram wrote "fuck [them] ... [the album showcases] a truly original mix of humor and sadness. The original numbers always dance just a step away from the cliché, dealing with simple lyrical themes that make you wonder why they had never been explored before." 's Keith Phipps relented: "there's something not-quite-right about men on the cusp of middle age hungering after a 'roller-skating child'—but its failure reveals a touching vulnerability beneath the sunny good-times image of an American institution", going on to say that "more often than not, Love You has a winning, human directness."

Aftermath and legacy

The recording of Love You remained the last time Brian Wilson took charge of a Beach Boys album. 's D. Erik Kempke said that it "stands in sharp contrast to the albums that preceded and followed it, because it was a product of genuine inspiration on Brian Wilson's part, with little outside interference." Carlin noted that, following Love You, Wilson would not write songs that reflected his musical, emotional, and intellectual interests to a similar degree until the aborted  from the 1990s. Matijas-Mecca characterized Wilson, embittered by the band's lack of support for his new music, as choosing "the path of least, or no, resistance when working with the Beach Boys" for the next several decades.

Among the band members, Brian later referred to it as his favorite Beach Boys album on repeated occasions, explaining in a 1998 interview, "That's when it all happened for me. That's where my heart lies. Love You, Jesus, that's the best album we ever made." In a 2000 interview, he said, "My favorites are 'I Wanna Pick You Up' and 'Ding Dang'. ... One of the shortest records we have ever made." Asked in 2009 for the records in his catalog that he felt had been underrated, he listed Love You and the tracks "Ding Dang", "Johnny Carson", "The Night Was So Young", and "I'll Bet He's Nice". Mike Love commented in his 2016 memoir that the album was "undeniably original but fragmented and just plain odd". In a 2013 interview, Al Jardine expressed enthusiasm for performing the entire Love You album in concert, going on to note, "those are some of the best songs we ever did."

Influence and other musicians

According to Dillon, Love You is considered to have influenced the development of new wave, while Clay Patrick McBride of  wrote that Wilson "helped invent synth-pop" with the album. Journalist Adam Theisan wrote that the album's "prescience" is one of its striking elements, having anticipated "new wave experiments, arty bands like  and synth-pop in general years before they hit the mainstream." Wilson remarked in a 2000 interview, "It's funny because now people are beginning to see that album as a classic - it was quite revolutionary in its use of synthesizers."

 of  first discovered the Beach Boys through Patti Smith's review of Love You. 's  praised the record as "a window into the heart of one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century." He named it his favorite Beach Boys album. Producer Alan Boyd opined, "It's a fascinating record. I've never heard a record before or since that sounded like it. It's got its own sonic texture that no one has ever tried to do before. ... Some of those songs and chord progressions are among the richest and the deepest that Brian ever did."

 recorded a cover of "Solar System" that was included on his  (2013), and he contributed his version of "I Wanna Pick You Up" to the multi-artist   (2000). Other songs covered in the compilation were "Honkin' Down the Highway" (), "Good Time" ( of ), and "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" (duet between  and ). In 1997,  released a cover of "I Wanna Pick You Up" as a single. 's live rendition of "Ding Dang" was released on the 2006 compilation .

Track listing

All tracks are written by , except where noted.

Side oneNo.TitleLead vocal(s)Length1."Let Us Go On This Way" (Brian Wilson, ) with Love1:582."Roller Skating Child"Love and C. Wilson, with 2:173."Mona"2:064.""Love and C. Wilson2:475."" (Wilson, )B. Wilson2:506.""Jardine2:487."" (Wilson, )Love0:57Side twoNo.TitleLead vocal(s)Length1.""B. Wilson2:492."The Night Was So Young"C. Wilson2:153."I'll Bet He's Nice"D. Wilson and B. Wilson with C. Wilson2:364."Let's Put Our Hearts Together"B. Wilson and 2:145.""D. Wilson with B. Wilson2:396."Airplane"Love and B. Wilson with C. Wilson3:057."Love Is a Woman"B. Wilson with Love2:57Total length:34:50