All Summer Long by The Beach Boys

With The Beatles changing the course of popular music in 1964, Brian Wilson stepped up his game, writing several of The Beach Boys\' best tracks, including \"I Get Around,\" \"All Summer Long,\" \"Wendy,\" \"Don\'t Back Down,\" \"We\'ll Run Away,\" and \"Little Honda.\" Where Wilson and Mike Love steered early Beach Boys albums toward celebrations of beach culture with joyous, infectious vocal lines, Wilson began showing his emotive side with increasing frequency as the years passed. While \"I Get Around\" is driven by ebullient and imaginative vocal harmonies, many of the other fine tunes have a wistful, longing quality that adds an extra dimension to this good-time cars \'n\' girls party band. The album format, however, wasn\'t yet an established art form, and tracks like the slight \"Drive-In,\" the comedic \"Our Favorite Recording Sessions,\" and the oddly nostalgic \"Do You Remember\" (which looks back at music only eight years old at most) are nowhere near the level of, say, \"Girls on the Beach,\" a Brian Wilson tune sung by Brian and brother Dennis.

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The nostalgic "All Summer Long," another great production, seemed (whether intentionally or not) like a sort of farewell to the frivolous California beach culture that had supplied the lyrical grist for most of their music up to this point, with a longing, regretful chorus that was totally at odds with the bouncy arrangement.

<p>Drugs, mental illness, incongruous jazz combos - the recent batch of reissues aren't pretty, says Alexis Petridis.</p>