Beach Boys 14: Wild Honey

Having seen their credibility plummet in the wake of commercial failure and professional stagnation, the Beach Boys gathered forces and stopped trying to be hip. From here on their albums would be self-produced and performed, incorporating contributions from every band member, always with the hope that Brian Wilson would pitch in with some slab of genius. Each album would subsequently take longer to put together, and one or two decent songs, but usually never more than that, and often surrounded by just plain dull music.

Wild Honey was predominantly composed by Brian with Mike Love, and was a valiant attempt to make a simple rock ‘n roll album. Released exactly three (!) months after Smiley Smile, it was a nice try, but still sounds very cramped, and came in at just under 24 minutes. At least there were more drums.

Carl Wilson notably dominates the album, while Mike isn’t as prominent, probably because he was off meditating with the Maharishi. The title track is a cacophony of keyboards, while Carl shouts the lyrics overhead. (He uses the same approach on the otherwise straight cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made To Love Her” two tracks later.) “Aren’t You Glad” is a harmless little skip of a song, with Mike and Brian trading off in near-falsetto voices, but Carl belts the choruses for a real kick. “Country Air” seems to cover the same musical ground, but it also seems unfinished, as the verses consist of energetic humming. The actual words in the chorus follow on Smile theme, while the Chamberlin keyboard puts us in mind of 1967 Kinks. And “A Thing Or Two”—inexplicably described in the liner notes as “jazzy”—is just plain forced.

The best song is “Darlin’”, a decent hit song for once, despite Carl’s trouble hitting some of the high notes. Hal Blaine is back on board to nail down the rhythm section, and he is appreciated. The first instance of Brian writing a song describing his activities in real time comes in “I’d Love Just Once To See You”, with a musical arrangement that deserves better lyrics, even with the joke ending. “Here Comes The Night” is not the Them classic, but is at least catchy. “Let The Wind Blow” also seems to have developed from various discarded Smile ideas, which is fine, but the Leslie effect on the piano is becoming tiresome. Although Brian had nothing to do with “How She Boogalooed It”, it brings back the carefree feeling of their first albums, and two minutes later, “Mama Says” revives the tag from “Vegetables”.

A cult of Beach Boys fanatics will praise Wild Honey for its simple greatness, but that overlooks how insubstantial it is. One of the CD bonus tracks, a compilation of various attempts at a track called “Can’t Wait Too Long”, shows just how close yet out of grasp their potential had gone from them. Hence, the cult would be very excited when a CD set and accompanying digital releases would one day expand on this album even further.

The Beach Boys Wild Honey (1967)—2½
1990 CD reissue: same as 1967, plus Smiley Smile album and 6 extra tracks