Pet Sounds and the unfinished Smile loom large over The Beach Boys’ album catalog in the 60s. Their early LPs showed off musical and vocal brilliance but didn’t push the lyrical envelope. By the end of the decade, Brian Wilson’s struggles caused a transition period, one where the other members of the group started to find themselves as creators. Sitting almost in the middle of all that is Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) Released 60 years ago this month, it found the band just about ready to max out their potential, only to be held back by commercial concerns and their own lyrical limitations.

Constructive ‘Summer’

It’s kind of startling to realize that Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) was the ninth studio album released by The Beach Boys. Consider that their debut album had been released less than three years earlier. Based on that, you can understand why they sometimes struggled to put together filler-free LPs.

Of course, at the time, the LP played second fiddle to the single in the pop music hierarchy. In that respect, The Beach Boys were only following the trend when they churned out LPs. By 1965, they had settled on their preferred strategy. While most of the band toured, Brian Wilson stayed at home and composed. That way, the album would be ready to record immediately upon their return.

In some cases, he’d get the process started by recording tracks with the Wrecking Crew musicians who were always at the ready in LA. By 1965, Brian was advancing by leaps and bounds in terms of his compositional, production, and arrangement skills. Those ace players helped him bring all that to fruition.

Between Two Eras

Lyrics were another story. Never fully comfortable penning his own words, he’d often collaborate with Mike Love. While Love certainly had a knack for a pithy turn of phrase, he often settled for the same teen-friendly themes that the band had been exploring since their earliest days. Capitol Records also pushed them to keep things light and simple.

As a result, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) alternates between brilliance and banality. After one more rushed affair (Beach Boys’ Party!), Brian would dig in his heels, find a more daring lyricist in Tony Asher, and put Pet Sounds together. In that respect, this album both ended one era and offered glimpses of the next for this legendary group.

Exploring the Music of ‘Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) offers up two of the band’s finest singles as its top recommending factor. Give credit to Al Jardine for insisting that the band re-record “Help Me, Rhonda”. The new version unlocked the song’s rhythmic buoyancy and melodic brilliance.

Meanwhile, “California Girls” gives a stellar indication of Brian Wilson’s thrilling musical ingenuity. Each section of the music stands out from the one before. He was leaving behind the typical verse-chorus-bridge structure of pop music, a strategy he would explore to great lengths on both Pet Sounds and the Smile recordings. You can hear “California Girls” breaking down these barriers even as it remains ridiculously catchy.

Elsewhere, the tender ballads “Let Him Run Wild” and “Girl Don’t Tell Me”, the latter the recipient of a brilliant lead vocal by Carl Wilson, cop some of the wounded-soul vibes that would characterize Pet Sounds. “You’re So Good To Me” stands out as well with its energetic “la-la-la” backing vocals.

The rest of the album? It’s forgettable at best. Still, half an album’s worth of the brilliance that The Beach Boys were about to uncork in much more consistent amounts is more than enough to make Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) a must-listen.

Photo by Herb Ball/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images