Beach Boys (1977) The Night Was So Young

From their experimental Love You album, effectively a Brian Wilson solo record, dominated by his vocals, songwriting and enthusiasm for analogue synths, it all also has been successfully adapted to the usual themes, topics and tone of the Beach Boys; oh and also they sing on the all the songs also! While the jaunty, educational 'Solar System' has a bit of the old 60's baroque vibe and I bet He' So Nice has some awesome battling synth work, I prefer The Night Was So Young with it's gossamer flavour, the little guitar twangs, the wonderful choral backing and the delivery by the Carl and Brian full of wracked emotion and tortured souls. The Phil Spector styled production complete with big group vocals and percussion was still enormously atmospheric over the New Wave sounds coming in with their flat sound, Wilson managed to mix acoustic percussion, unfiltered vocals with a heavy synthesizer for maximum effect. I also enjoyed the handknit album cover which ironically resembles the kaleidoscopic designs of their 60's heyday though they were never a part of it, it also resembles 8 bit animation fittingly maybe Brian is a genius.