Review of That's Why God Made the Radio

The Beach Boys have decided to reform and tour for their 50th anniversary. As their ages all hover around the 70 mark, this is undoubtedly the last hurrah. I will pass on seeing this tour. 30 years ago, their concert vocals were terrible; I can't imagine they've improved.

As is de rigueur with these reunions, the Boys have recorded a new album. A new album declares, We are not just cashing in on a nostalgia tour, but our creative juices are still flowing and we have something to say in new music. Yadda-yadda.

Most of these new albums are mediocre. Often only a couple of songs are even done in that tour and then forgotten forever. It's still the old hits that fans come to see and that's what they get.

(I wanted to make an exception for The Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden, but it hasn't worn well enough for me to even listen to it in the last year.)

That's Why God Made the Radio is no different. Reports are that only the title track and "Isn't It Time" have made the set list. This tour is definitely about nostalgia. She will have fun, fun, fun every night (until daddy...oh, never mind).

This is not a bad album; it is certainly a pleasant enough listen. There's just not a lot to it. The lyrics are still about girls and beaches and going steady (at age 70? really?). In fact, listening to the words on most songs could cause you to wince or even laugh at their ridiculousness. Brian Wilson wrote more mature lyrics in 1966 than in the 2000s (exception: "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" is a clever look at reality TV).

Bruce Johnston was quoted as saying that this album sounded a lot like Sunflower, so I gave that album a listen immediately afterward. Nope. Sunflower is not my favorite Beach Boys album but it had more musical variety, better lyrics and themes, and more inspired performances.

The other thing this album is not musically is a return to the 60s wall-of-sound production that Brian Wilson pioneered, most famously on Pet Sounds. There are no odd instruments or even dozens of them on any track. Musically, it is a fairly straight-ahead new-millenium approach.

The most interesting part of the album, for me, is the closing mini-suite. It ends with "Summer's Gone" which really sounds like a elegy to be be played at Brian's funeral when he is finally completely gone from this earth.

I doubt they will do this song in concert because it would probably be too depressing. But as the album serves as a touchstone for the band to re-claim its ancient legacy, this song then puts it to rest.