The Beach Boys had become full-fledged rock stars by late 1963. The Capitol label\u2019s quest for new product was insatiable, and Brian Wilson and the group were under constant pressure to provide that product. Little Deuce Coupe<\/i> was the fourth Beach Boys album released within a year\u2019s time and arrived about a month after Surfer Girl<\/i>. While this deluge of material, mostly excellent, would sell in the millions, this constant pressure would wear on Brian Wilson over the next five years, producing ultimately catastrophic results.<\/p>\n
The Capitol Label had released a compilation album of car songs, featuring a couple of tunes by the Beach Boys, and it sold well. As a result, The Beach Boys decided to jump on this car song bandwagon. Little Deuce Coupe<\/i> is in a way the group\u2019s first theme album, as all the songs except \u201cBe True To Your School\u201d are stories about automobiles.<\/p>\n
The group would recycle four of their songs for this album. The title song, plus \u201c409,\u201d \u201cOur Car Club\u201d and \u201cShut Down\u201d all reappeared here. While all were strong songs, they had been heard before \u2013 and recently. <\/p>\n
With four songs already in place, they still needed eight more to create a full album. Production notes show that all eight were recorded the same day. While Brian Wilson tinkered with them for a week or so, it was still an amazing achievement. This creative burst would produce a number of creative and memorable \u2013 if mostly non-hit \u2013 songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cBallad Of Ole Betsy\u201d is a ode to an aging car that will ring familiar familiar; I still remember my first car and trading it in for a newer one. The unique aspect of this song is the first use of a capella, which presents the young Beach Boys in all their vocal and harmonic strength. <\/p>\n
The version of \u201cBe True To Your School\u201d here was an early one. It emerged as a classic Beach Boys single later on. One can\u2019t help but wonder if Brian Wilson just did not have enough time to finish the track. Looking at the ultimately completed product, it does give an excellent look at how Brian Wilson could refine a basic song when given enough time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpirit Of America\u201d was a biographical song about Craig Breedlove, who was trying to set a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah with his car, called The Spirit Of America. This song would later be the title song of a multi-platinum selling Beach Boys greatest hits album.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Go Showboat,\u201d while simplistic lyric-wise, has interesting chord changes plus a Brian Wilson and Mike Love duet. The song is about a car that cannot go fast, which is the antithesis of the Beach Boy automobile philosophy.<\/p>\n
Brian Wilson always mentions the Four Freshmen as one of his musical inspirations. Here he takes their song, \u201cTheir Hearts Were Full Of Spring,\u201d and substitutes his lyrics to create a \u201cA Young Man Is Gone,\u201d which is a tribute to James Dean, who died in a car crash. Again the use of a capella accents just how pure the early voices of the group members were and how well they fit together. <\/p>\n
\u201cCherry Cherry Coupe\u201d has always been my favorite song on Little Deuce Coupe<\/i>. There were no dramatic highs, just a smooth vocal by Mike Love with subtle backing. It just flows along and is relaxing in its own way. <\/p>\n
Little Deuce Coupe<\/i> was a quickly thrown together affair, and it shows in some ways. There is very little musical and technical advancement from Surfer Girl<\/i>. Having said that, Brian Wilson proved the even when hurried he could still produce an album that was superior from most of what was being released in 1963. Time was passing, and Brian Wilson was still learning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":29913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7136],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-41535","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-beach-boys","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41535"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}