Album Review: "That's Why God Made The Radio"

The Beach Boys are back!

I have to admit that when I heard that The Beach Boys were releasing their first studio album in like a million years, I had my doubts.  I had the thought that The Beach Boys recording a new album FIFTY YEARS after their first one, and forty-six years after their epic, "Pet Sounds", well, I had visions that this would be the musical equivalent of Willie Mays playing center field for the Mets.  However, Brian Wilson was back and fully involved in the writing, singing and recording of the album, "That's Why God Made the Radio", and I did read some fairly good reviews of the album, so I went to the record store (my desk, laptop, and iTunes) and made the purchase.

And I gotta tell you...The Beach Boys are back!  Oh, there may be no classic tunes like Good Vibrations, Wouldn't It Be Nice, or Warmth of the Sun, and this album may not be an equal to "Pet Sounds", but it is a far, far cry from Willie Mays as a Met.

The Beach Boys do not try to be twenty-something kids on this one.  You know that these are older - if not just plan "old" - men singing songs of love and good times, and, yes, we also get songs about  summer, the ocean and beaches, but with a wistful tone, a tone that says we're not kids any more.  The opening track is called "Think About the Days" and it sort of sets the tone for what is to follow.  Some of the great tunes on the album are "Spring Vacation", "Daybreak Over the Ocean", "Beaches in Mind", and "Summer's Gone".  It is this wistful nature of these songs that really appealed to me, and make this a really good album.  That, and that unmistakable "sound" of Brian Wilson and the rest of the Beach Boys.

I am sure that the only people who are going to buy this album are people like me, people on the far side of age 50,  which means this album will probably not be a huge commercial success for the Beach Boys, and I suspect that they knew that going into the venture.  I am glad that the Boys put all of their familial and artistic and business squabbles aside for this effort to make this album.  It makes a statement of sorts that I will enjoy listening to time and again.