In December, while on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, Brian suffered a panic attack brought on by the stress of continuous road travel, writing, and producing. In January 1965, he announced his withdrawal from touring to concentrate entirely on songwriting and record production. For the last few days…
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To appease Capitol’s demands for a Beach Boys LP for the 1965 Christmas season, Brian conceived Beach Boys’ Party! , a live-in-the-studio album consisting mostly of acoustic covers of 1950s rock and R&B songs, in addition to covers of three Beatles songs, Bob Dylan ‘s ” The Times They Are…
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Rutherford in September 1964
In June 1964, Brian recorded the bulk of The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album with a forty-one-piece studio orchestra in collaboration with Four Freshmen arranger Dick Reynolds . The album was a response to Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You (1963). Released in December, the Beach Boys’ album was divided…
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Brian wrote his last surf song for nearly four years, ” Don’t Back Down “, in April 1964. That month, during recording of the single ” I Get Around “, the band dismissed Murry as their manager. He remained in close contact with the group, offering unsolicited advice on their…
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The surf music craze, along with the careers of nearly all surf acts, was slowly replaced by the British Invasion . Following a successful Australasian tour in January and February 1964, the Beach Boys returned home to face their new competition, the Beatles . Both groups shared the same record…
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Banks and Gabriel arrived at the school in September 1963
In January 1963, the Beach Boys recorded their first top-ten single, ” Surfin’ U.S.A. “, which began their long run of highly successful recording efforts. It was during the sessions for this single that Brian made the production decision from that point on to use double tracking on the group’s…
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After being turned down by Dot and Liberty , the Beach Boys signed a seven-year contract with Capitol Records under executive and staff producer Nick Venet . On June 4, 1962, the Beach Boys debuted on Capitol with their second single, “Surfin’ Safari” backed with “409”. “Surfin’ Safari” rose to…
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In early 1962, Morgan requested that some of the members add vocals to a couple of instrumental tracks that he had recorded with other musicians. This led to the creation of the short-lived group Kenny & the Cadets, which Brian led under the pseudonym “Kenny”. The other members were Carl,…
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