The Beach Boys
Beach Boy's Party

THE REVIEW

"The Beach Boy's Party" (1965) is a sublime jamboree. It's fun, enjoyable, and moving like few others, but it's nothing more than a handful of more or less famous covers, recorded with an acoustic guitar, a couple of tambourines, some clinking glasses, and other unidentified knick-knacks used as improvised percussion.

Imagine the Beach Boys getting together one evening on the beach, around a fire, with some girls, a joint or two, and a guitar, imagine them singing in this setting and you probably have something similar to the contents of this album.
The intention to give the audience a "party" feeling (complete with party pictures on the cover) is so successful that you really get the impression that the record was recorded amateurishly at Mike Love's house as if it were impromptu (which is what they tried to make people believe). The reality is slightly more prosaic, and it's interesting to mention as a mere music-historiographical curiosity.

After the release of "Summer Days", Brian Wilson was working on something very ambitious, a project that would require much more time compared to their previous standards: none other than the legendary "Pet Sounds". However, the Beach Boys were bound to record contracts that demanded Christmas commercial releases and other such niceties (they weren't the only ones, similar contractual leashes were had by almost everyone, from Elvis to the Beatles); they had already played the Live card the previous Christmas, and for that year, they had to come up with something different without disturbing and/or slowing down the creative operation of "Pet Sounds". The decision was therefore made to record an acoustic album of covers live, minimizing production times; a couple of studio sessions in September '65 and even for that year, they earned their Christmas cake.

Despite being the product of a mean commercial operation, The Beach Boy's Party has its value.
The carefree execution of the tracks creates a sense of intimacy and engagement, as if the Band is playing right in front of you. The pieces are all well-sung as one would expect from a talented vocal group like the Beach Boys, but there's an overriding atmosphere of "messing around" (if you'll pardon the term) that renders everything delightfully amateurish and chaotic.

The album ranges from Doo-wop and Rock'n'roll classics like "Hully Gully", "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow", "Alley Opp", "Mountain of love", to softer moments like the sweet "Devote to you" by the Everly Brothers, the famous "The Times They Are a Changin" by Bob Dylan, and "There's no other (like my baby)" by Phil Spector; then there are three tracks by the Beatles, "I Should Have Known Better", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", and "Tell Me Why", a medley from their repertoire "I get around - Little deuce coupe", and finally "Barbara Ann", a piece by a certain Fred Fassert released a few years earlier (1961), a piece that would find eternal glory thanks to this very version by the Beach Boys (it will forever be associated with them, much like Twist and Shout is associated with the Beatles).

In short... a commendable pop diversion, carefree like a party among friends, nothing more, nothing less. 

Rating 7.5/10